TIPS ON HOW TO PARAPHRASE – 5 Essential Steps To Paraphrase Effectively

TIPS ON HOW TO PARAPHRASE – 5 Essential Steps To Paraphrase Effectively

Paraphrasing is all about using the ideas or research of other writers but putting them into your own words. It’s more commonly used by writers than quoting because paraphrasing allows them to show readers that they comprehended what they read while also ensuring that the entire text is written in a consistent style.

When you paraphrase, you use your own words to explain one of your sources’ claims, following its line of reasoning and idea sequence. The goal of a paraphrase is to convey the original message’s meaning while also demonstrating that you understand the passage well enough to restate it.

The paraphrased content should provide the reader with an accurate understanding of the author’s position on the subject. Your job is to uncover and explain all of the facts and arguments surrounding your topic. A paraphrase is usually the same length as or slightly shorter than the original content.

Paraphrasing involves the following,

• Changing the passage’s wording without changing its meaning. Keywords such as names and field terminology may remain unchanged, but all other words must be renamed.
• Keeping the basic logic of the argument, the sequence of ideas, and the examples from the passage in mind.
• Conveying the author’s meaning and opinion accurately.
• Keeping the length close to that of the original passage.

Remember to include the source of the information. Even if it is in your words, the concept belongs to someone else, and the source must be acknowledged.

Paraphrasing and summarising are different writing strategies that require you to put another author’s argument in your own words. This strategy can assist you in better understanding and communicating that message to your reader without relying solely on direct quotes.

Even though they are closely connected, summary and paraphrasing are quite different, while, paraphrasing is the process of expressing someone else’s ideas in your own words while retaining the same essential meaning, summarising is the process of taking a lengthy passage of text from someone else and condensing the main ideas in your own words, Quoting, on the other hand, is putting someone else’s exact words in quotation marks.

Summaries are used for entire pieces and focus on capturing the big picture of an argument, whereas paraphrases are sometimes used for short passages and specific claims in an argument.

All writers must carefully weigh the pros and cons of each approach to integrating the ideas of others into their work. Indeed, different approaches fare better depending on the nature of the material being written about, the sources being used, and the goals of the author.

Include parenthetical citations for all paraphrases, summaries, and quotations used in your paper, as well as a separate works cited page. If a writer summarises or paraphrases, they may not properly cite their source. They may believe it is unnecessary because they are using their own words.

It is the responsibility of the writer to properly credit the source whenever they use the words or ideas of another writer. In this work, we will discuss some important tips for paraphrasing effectively.

A good paraphrase must have the following qualities.

First, it must be unique; paraphrases should not simply reword the original text but should also feature new words, phrases, and sentence structures.

Second, be objective; don’t inject your personal bias into your paraphrases.

It must be exact; your paraphrases should be word-for-word recreations of the original in terms of meaning, tone, and emphasis.

Fourth, a good paraphrase should be complete, including all the main points from the source.

How To Paraphrase Effectively

Every writer needs to be aware of the five essential steps necessary for paraphrasing any text:

1. Read the passage over and over again until you fully grasp its meaning. When reading, focus on the big picture rather than stopping to jot down key phrases or ideas.
2. Take down some notes on the main ideas: Make a list of terms you remember from the original passage.
3. Once you’ve fully understood the passage and extracted its main ideas, rewrite it in your own words and terminology without referring back to the original.
4. Check your work against the original passage you’re paraphrasing so you can make any necessary adjustments and make sure you’ve captured the main ideas.
5. If you want to use the source in your paper, be sure to record its details (including the page number) alongside the paraphrase.

Using synonyms and closely related words to paraphrase a text demonstrates that you have a sizable vocabulary; you can make use of a thesaurus if you like, but don’t go crazy! It is not expected that you will eliminate every single word from the source material; in fact, it is often necessary to retain some of the original text’s wording.

Take care when replacing a word with a synonym to ensure that the meaning remains the same.

Including new information or expanding on previous explanations is not acceptable; a paraphrase must accurately convey the original meaning. You should elaborate on the paraphrase in your subsequent conversation, rather than in the paraphrase itself.

The straw man fallacy is committed when a writer oversimplifies or otherwise misrepresents a source to make it more debatable. The straw man fallacy is committed when a writer oversimplifies or otherwise misrepresents a source to make it more debatable. Even if you dislike the original, you should still be careful to paraphrase it fairly.

Conclusion

Now that you know the tips on how to paraphrase, it is important to note that Plagiarism occurs even if one merely alters a few words or incorporates a few phrases from the source into one’s paraphrase. One way to change the overall structure of a sentence is by switching it from active to passive voice, or vice versa.

When a paraphrased text is so similar to the original that it could have been written by the same person, this is called “patchwriting,” and it is plagiarism, so changing the structure of the sentence is also necessary for effective paraphrasing.