Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Paraphrasing to Avoid
Plagiarism
A. Skill Presentation
Plagiarism is when you take another writer’s words and present them as your own. Plagiarism is not
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Paraphrasing allows you to incorporate another writer’s ideas in your own writing. Here are some tips
to help you paraphrase.
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ORIGINAL: Human body heat is an inexpensive and renewable energy source.
PARAPHRASE: One cheap and replaceable energy source is heat from the human body.
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B. Over to You
1 Read the original sentence and a possible paraphrase. Look at the changes the writer
has made, and answer the questions below.
Original: These pipes transfer excess body heat from one building to another.
Paraphrase: Additional body heat is moved from building to building by these pipes.
1 Which synonyms has the writer used for transfer and excess?
2 Which words in the original sentence has the writer replaced with from building to building?
2 Read the paragraph. Which of these words and phrases could be used as synonyms to
paraphrase the underlined words?
An 1inexpensive and 2renewable source of energy is wind 3power. It is an 4excellent
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alternative to 6fossil fuels. It is 7clean and will not 8harm 9our planet.
Earth energy very good fuels like gas and oil cheap negatively impact
substitute will continue to be available won’t produce pollution
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CHECK!
Paraphrasing is an effective technique to avoid plagiarism. To paraphrase:
1 use in place of key words.
2 change the of the words in a sentence.
3 do not include new or leave out .
2 Read the original sentences and check (✓) the best paraphrase.
1 “EV” is the abbreviation for “electric vehicle.”
a. A shorter way to write or say “electric vehicle” is “EV.”
b. Electric vehicles can be called “EV” in certain situations.
2 Energy comes from the sun as both light and heat.
a. The sun provides power in the forms of both warmth and light.
b. Sunlight is a good alternative energy source and is also renewable.
3 Riding a bike is one way to avoid contributing to pollution, and it can be healthy.
a. One way to avoid polluting the air is to ride a bike, and it may also help improve
a person’s health.
b. Bike riding is better than driving a car because it is a healthy way to lose weight.
4 The use of renewable energy is becoming more common worldwide.
a. More countries are using renewable energy, but there is still not enough global
participation.
b. All around the world, it is increasingly common to use energy that is renewable.
5 Water is a frequently used resource that provides energy to 28 million people.
a. Water is often used as a source of energy and gives power to almost 30 million
consumers.
b. People do not appreciate water as an energy source because so many consumers
use it.
1 Which statement is true? 7 Electric vehicles are faster than many people
a. Plagiarism is an effective writing may think.
technique. Which of these is an acceptable paraphrase
b. Students who plagiarize will likely for this sentence?
face serious consequences. a. Electric vehicles are faster than
c. Plagiarism is using relevant many people think.
information from outside sources. b. The majority of people may not
realize how fast electric cars are.
2 What does a paraphrase let writers do? c. People think that cars with
a. incorporate other writers’ ideas in gasoline engines are faster than
their own writing electric vehicles.
b. plagiarize without breaking rules
c. copy someone else’s sentences 8 The sun gives our planet heat and light.
Which of these is an acceptable paraphrase
3 Which tip can help a writer paraphrase? for this sentence?
a. Memorize the original sentence. a. The Earth receives both light and
b. Replace words from the original warmth from the sun.
sentence with synonyms. b. Our planet is warmed by the sun.
c. Never change the word order of c. Sunlight is important to the Earth
the original sentence. for two reasons.