PPT #5 – Paraphrasing

PARAPHRASING
• A restatement in your own words of an idea or item
of information from the work of another person.
• A method of conveying the original meaning but
change the words and sentence structure.

• A more detailed restatement than a summary,

which focuses concisely on a single main idea.
IN PARAPHRASING, MAKE SURE TO…
• Identify a relevant theme or point,
depending on your purpose;
• Write the point in your own words;
• Focus on the meaning of an idea or
argument; and
• Include a reference to the original
author.
SO THEREFORE, PARAPHRASING…
• is a restatement • is not changing a couple of
words
• is having the same or different
length as the original • is not deleting a couple of
words or phrases
• is written with different words
• is not rearranging the order of
• is often reorganized the words
• is faithful to the author’s
intended meaning

• is reader-friendly
PITFALLS IN PARAPHRASING:
1. Describing an author's idea/argument but not
explaining the significance to your own argument, or
the point that you are trying to make;

2. Using too many of the original author's words, this

includes using the same structure;

3. Not distinguishing between the author's point and

your own viewpoint; and

4. Providing too much detail.

TECHNIQUES IN MASTERING PARAPHRASING
1. Choose words deliberately. Think about how the author
uses language; is he or she effective in communicating
with you as a reader? How can you restate key themes or
ideas in a way that is effective for your audience by using
different words?
2. Look up synonyms. Synonyms are any set of words that
have the same or very similar meanings. For example, “It is
raining” could be paraphrased using words like storming,
drizzling, pouring, precipitating, or sprinkling. Most word
processors have a thesaurus function.
TECHNIQUES IN MASTERING PARAPHRASING
3. Replace words with definitions. “Terrigenous nutrient
inputs may greatly increase the productivity of coastal
marine systems.” Defining ‘terrigenous’ results in “Land
derived nutrient inputs...” This is particularly useful when
translating jargon for a less specialized audience.
4. Use different word forms. Sometimes, altering word
choice can alter the meaning of a phrase beyond what
you would like to convey. “Manuel happily accepted the
dinner invitation” could be rewritten as “Being invited to
dinner made Manuel happy”.
TECHNIQUES IN MASTERING PARAPHRASING
5. Play with numbers. Is there a different way to express a
time period or a number? “Throughout the past century”
can become “Over the last 100 years”. “Beginning in 1990”
could be “Over the past two decades”. Twenty-four
becomes two dozen.
6. Vary sentence structure. “Acting as a rogue state, North
Korea persists in developing nuclear weapons capabilities”
becomes: “North Korea continues to fall out of favor in the
international community by pursuing nuclear weapons.”
Note that word choice must be considered also, and
changing the structure of a sentence may more easily
allow use of a synonym, or a definition.
TECHNIQUES IN MASTERING PARAPHRASING
7. Integrate or separate sentences. “Regular yoga sessions
build muscle and improve range of motion. Yoga is also
great for developing personal awareness.” These can be
combined more directly into “Practicing yoga increases
strength, flexibility, and mindfulness.”
8. Remember to use citations. Even if beautifully
paraphrased, any information incorporated into your
writing beyond what is considered common knowledge in
your field should be credited to the original author.
Commonly, credit is given using citations with an
appended bibliography.
EXAMPLE:
Original:
• Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a
result they overuse quotation in the final research paper. Probably
only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly
quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of
exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.
• Lester, J. D.Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976) 46-47
EXAMPLE:
A. Acceptable paraphrase:
In research papers, students
often quote excessively, failing
to keep quoted material down
to a desirable level. Since the
problem usually originates during
note taking, it is essential to
minimize the material recorded
verbatim (Lester, 1976).
B. A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many
direct quotations when they
take notes, resulting in too many
of them in the final research
paper. In fact, probably only
about 10% of the final copy
should consist of directly quoted
material. So it is important to limit
the amount of source material
copied while taking notes
(Lester, 1976).
REFERENCES:
Lab, P. (2021). Paraphrasing // Purdue Writing Lab. Retrieved 20
July 2021, from
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/using_researc
h/quoting_paraphrasing_and_summarizing/paraphrasing.html#:~
:text=Students%20often%20use%20too%20many,material%20copi
ed%20while%20taking%20notes.
Paraphrasing and Plagiarism: What the writing guides say. (2021).
Retrieved 20 July 2021, from
https://ori.hhs.gov/education/products/roig_st_johns/paraphrasin
g%20and%20plagiarism.html
Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting:
http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/sumparquo.html