Paraphrasing Putting the Author’s Idea in Your Words

What Is Paraphrasing? Paraphrasing is restating a text in your own words. Paraphrasing allows you to gain a better understanding of a text, especially if the text uses archaic, difficult, or unfamiliar words cite an author’s ideas in your own writing without directly quoting the author’s words

Paraphrase—Don’t Plagiarize! To plagiarize is to copy a writer’s ideas, word choices, and sentence structures without crediting the writer. To avoid plagiarizing, give the writer credit and use your words and sentence structures to capture the text’s meaning. Original text: “The school counselor advises college-bound students to tour the campuses of prospective universities.” Poor paraphrase: The school counselor is advising all college- bound students to take campus tours of prospective universities. Good paraphrase: According to the school counselor, students should tour the campuses of universities that they’re interested in attending.

Preparing to Paraphrase Before you paraphrase, identify the main idea of the passage define any unfamiliar words re-read and clarify any confusing sentences

How to Paraphrase Follow these steps to paraphrase a text: 1.Identify all major ideas and important details. 2.Replace unfamiliar, difficult, or outdated words or phrases. 3.Simplify the sentence structures, and use your own words to restate the sentences in a different way. 4.Check to make sure you have maintained the meaning and tone or mood of the original text.

Let’s Practice Step 1: Identify all major ideas and important details. Goodness answers to the theological virtue charity, and admits no excess, but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel nor man come in danger by it. The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man; insomuch that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures.... from “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature” by Francis Bacon

Step 2: Replace unfamiliar, difficult, or outdated words or phrases. Let’s Practice Goodness answers to the theological virtue charity, and admits no excess, but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel nor man come in danger by it. The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man; insomuch that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures.... from “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature” by Francis Bacon

Let’s Practice Step 3: Simplify the sentence structures and use your own words to restate the sentence in a different way. Goodness answers to the theological virtue charity, and admits no excess, but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel nor man come in danger by it. The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man; insomuch that if it issue not towards men, it will take unto other living creatures.... from “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature” by Francis Bacon

Let’s Practice Step 4: Check to make sure you have maintained the meaning and tone or mood of the original text. Goodness corresponds to the Christian ideal of charity. It cannot be overused, but it can be used wrongly. The angels fell because they wanted too much power. Man fell because he wanted too much knowledge, but no one can be harmed by too much charity because charity cannot be overused. People have such a natural tendency to be good that if they aren’t good to other people, they will be good to other living things.

On Your Own Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon.... That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. from “Of Revenge” by Francis Bacon Use the four steps you just learned to paraphrase this passage.

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