  It is one way of incorporating borrowed information or ideas into your research paper.  A paraphrase is putting someone else’s thoughts or words into your own words and voice.  It is a more detailed than a summary because it focuses not on the main points but more details.  It is a tool for ensuring that you fully understand what the original text said. What is paraphrasing?

  Paraphrasing is not just inserting a few synonyms for some of the words in a passage.  It is not rearranging the order of the words in a sentence.  It is not taking someone else’s ideas or information, using them and then claiming them to be your own ideas.  Paraphrasing still requires you to cite where you found the idea or information. What paraphrasing is not!

  Reread the original passage several times. It is okay to reread because that is a great skill to use when reading difficult material. It, also, gives you the chance to get a good grasp of what information is in the passage.  After you’ve read the passage several times, set it aside and write your own version. Don’t have the passage in front of you, or you will find yourself putting in too many of the same words or just inserting synonyms. How do I paraphrase?

  Write down a word or two to remind you of where you will want to use this information in the paper. If you don’t do this step, then when you start to write the paper, you’ll forget why you found that information so important.  Look at the original passage and make certain your paraphrase accurately captures the important information in a new form.  If you borrowed a few unique terms or phrases from the source, then go ahead and put quotation marks around those words. How do I paraphrase?

  Be sure you record the source (including the page if is a book or a paragraph number if it is a database or website).  Remember even though you are paraphrasing, or using you own words and voice, you still must cite your source. If you don’t cite your source, then you have committed PLAGIARISM! How do I paraphrase?

   So what are some helpful tools for remembering this stuff?

  Summarizing, like paraphrasing, takes ideas and information and requires you to put information into your own words and voice.  Summarizing is not as detailed as paraphrasing.  It has you put the main points of a passage in your own words. It is a broad overview of the material. What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?

  Even with a summary, you have to cite your source.  What happens if you don’t cite either the book with the page number or the database/website with the paragraph number? PLAGIARISM Remember to cite your sources!