In This Chapter
What Is Paraphrasing?
Paraphrase is a restatement of an idea in roughly the same length as the author originally described it. It’s the information in your own words. Paraphrasing gives a writer more control over incorporating a source into their writing and contributes to the cohesiveness of a draft.
Paraphrases allow you to use specific information from a source (ideas from a paragraph or several consecutive paragraphs) in your own words.
Features of Paraphrases
Paraphrases Are Translations
If summaries are descriptions of a source, paraphrases are more like a translation. If you have ever learned a second language, you know that all languages have different sentence structure rules. Simply translating a sentence word-for-word will often lead you to a translation that is awkward or unintelligible. Just as translations rarely go word-by-word, paraphrases should retain the detail and meaning of a source’s idea but expressed in the writer’s own words and voice.
Paraphrases Use Original Wording and Organization
Paraphrases of the text should be expressed completely in your own words, with your own sentence structure, in your own way. You should not simply “word swap”, that is, replace a few words from the original with synonyms. Paraphrases that do not vary the organization or sentence structure from the original are considered plagiarism.
If you must use a few of the author’s words within your paraphrase, they must have quotation marks around them. Any time you use three or more words together from the original, use quotation marks to indicate the author’s original language.
Paraphrases Require Clear Signal Phrases
Paraphrases should be introduced with a signal phrase to let your readers know where the paraphrased material begins. If you include a paraphrase without a signal phrase, your reader will not be able to tell which ideas belong to you (the writer) and which belong to the source you are citing from.
Paraphrases Require Parenthetical Citations
Paraphrases should be followed by parenthetical citations. Unlike summaries, paraphrases are more specific aspects of a text or source. You should use parenthetical citations to indicate the end of the paraphrase. A good practice is to include the title of the source in your signal phrase and the author’s name in a parentheses at the end of the paraphrase. By including both, you can sandwich your source information and create clear indications of where your own ideas begin and end.
Paraphrases Require Analysis
As with a quote, you need to explain to your reader why the paraphrased material is significant to the point you are making in your paper.
Why Should I Paraphrase?
You may be asking yourself, why should I bother with paraphrasing when I could just quote? For many student writers, quoting seems like a more effective–and certainly an easier–way of integrating sources to support an argument. However, because college-level academic writing often requires the use of complex and sophi