How to Paraphrase

There are many different processes that can be used for paraphrasing. Here are two sets of steps.
You will be creating your own steps for how to paraphrase using instructions that makes are clear
to you.

Steps to Paraphrase - Vanier College

1. Read and reread the text until you understand its meaning completely
2. Put the text away, and without looking at it, try to paraphrase it.
3. Look at the original text and compare it to your version. Make sure your version is
accurately expressing all the information as the original, but in your own terms and
words. You cannot just change the sentence structure and keep the same words, nor can
you change the words, but keep the same sentence structure.
4. If you are using specific terms or unique words from the original texts, enclose those
words in quotation marks.
5. At the beginning of the first sentence in which you paraphrase, make it clear that what is
coming next in someone elses idea (according to Smith, in his 2003 study, Robinson
proved)
6. At the end of the last sentence containing the paraphrased material, insert a parenthetical
citation to show where the material comes from.
Source: http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/tlc/tipsheets/writing/paraphrasing.pdf

Steps to Plagiarism Used in the Following Activities

1. Read the passage.
2. Look up new words.
3. List keywords that you can replace with a synonym.
4. List the main ideas.
5. Make note of special words that you will use in the original form.
6. Create the paraphrase without looking at the original paragraph.

7. Check that you have not plagiarized and redo step 6 if needed.
8. Cite your source.

INTERVENTIONS FOR READING COMPREHENSION

PARAPHRASING STRATEGY

Appropriate Grade Level: 3rd to 12th Grade

Purpose: Improve understanding of expository materials by getting the main ideas through
paraphrasing.

Description:
The paraphrasing strategy helps students recall the main ideas and specific facts of
materials they read. There are three steps for teaching this strategy. (described below)

Materials:
1. A scripted lesson;
2. Cue cards for learning and generalizing the strategy;
3. Worksheets.

Steps:
1. Read a paragraph.
Read the paragraph silently. As you read, be sure to think what the words mean.

2. Ask yourself, "What were the main ideas and details of this paragraph?"
After reading the paragraph, ask yourself, "What were the main ideas and details?"
This question helps you to think about what you just read. You can also look
quickly back over the paragraph to help you find the main idea and the details
related to the main idea.
3. Put the main idea and details in your own words.
Now put the main idea and details into your own words. This will help you
remember the information. Try to give at least two details related to the main idea.
The acronym for these steps is RAP. (Paraphrasing is like rapping or talking to yourself.)
Some rules that help find the main idea are:

Look for it in the first sentence of the paragraph.

Look for repetitions of the same word or words in the whole paragraph.

Evaluation of Effectiveness:
Compare the students' scores on comprehension questions or skill sheets or reading tests
before and after implementation of this intervention.

Source:
Bos, C.S. & Vaughn, S. (2002). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior
problems. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Examples of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing involves taking a set of facts or opinions and rewording them. When paraphrasing,
it is important to keep the original meaning and to present it in a new form. Basically, you are
simply writing something in your own words that expresses the original idea.
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Paraphrasing Blocks of Text

Paraphrasing can be done with individual sentences or entire paragraphs. There are several
examples of paraphrasing listed below for both long and short blocks of text.

Paraphrasing Sentences
Here are some sentences that have been paraphrased:

Original: Her life spanned years of incredible change for women.

Paraphrase: Mary lived through an era of liberating reform for women.

Original: Giraffes like Acacia leaves and hay and they can consume 75 pounds of food a
day.

Paraphrase: A giraffe can eat up to 75 pounds of Acacia leaves and hay everyday.

Original: Any trip to Italy should include a visit to Tuscany to sample their exquisite
wines.

Paraphrase: Be sure to include a Tuscan wine-tasting experience when visiting Italy.

Paraphrasing Paragraphs
Duke's online website provides many examples of paraphrasing in order to help students
understand the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism.
Here is an example of paraphrasing of a longer passage taken from the Duke website.
Original Passage:

In The Sopranos, the mob is besieged as much by inner infidelity as it is by the federal
government. Early in the series, the greatest threat to Tony's Family is his own biological family.
One of his closest associates turns witness for the FBI, his mother colludes with his uncle to
contract a hit on Tony, and his kids click through Web sites that track the federal crackdown in
Tony's gangland.
Paraphrased Passage:
In the first season of The Sopranos, Tony Sopranos mobster activities are more threatened by
members of his biological family than by agents of the federal government. This familial betrayal
is multi-pronged. Tonys closest friend and associate is an FBI informant, his mother and uncle
are conspiring to have him killed, and his children are surfing the Web for information about his
activities.
The main point of this passage is that problems within the family are as bad as or even worse
than problems caused by the federal government. Details about this betrayal include one family
member turning informant, a hit being put out on Tony by family members, and Tonys kids
tracking his activities.
Here is a summary of some of the changes made during the paraphrasing process:

Early in the series = first season

More threatened = greatest threat

Closest friend and associate = one family member

His mother colludes with his uncle = his mother and uncle are conspiring

His kids click through Web sites = his children are surfing the Web

Avoiding Plagiarism
There is a fine line between plagiarism and paraphrasing. If the wording of the paraphrase is too
close to the wording of the original content, then it is plagiarism. The main ideas need to come
through, but the wording has to be your own.
To use another persons writing in your own can be accomplished with quotes and citations. A
quote will need to be the exact wording and the author and source will need to be identified.
Paraphrasing usually makes the passage shorter than the original. Another option is to use a
summary that is much shorter than the original and is an overview of the main points.
Definition:

A restatement of a text in another form or other words, often to simplify or clarify meaning.

Etymology:
From the Greek, "alongside" + "show, explain"

Examples & Observations:

"Some guy hit my fender the other day, and I said unto him, 'Be fruitful, and multiply.'
But not in those words.
(Woody Allen)

"When I put down words that I say somebody said they needn't be the exact words, just
what you might call the meaning."
(Mark Harris, The Southpaw. Bobbs-Merrill, 1953)

"I've often heard Steve [Jobs] explain why Apple's products look so good or work so well
by telling the 'show car' anecdote. 'You see a show car,' he would say (I'm paraphrasing
here, but this is pretty close to his words), 'and you think, "That's a great design, it's got
great lines." Four or five years later, the car is in the showroom and in television ads, and
it sucks. And you wonder what happened. They had it. They had it, and then they lost.'"
(Jay Elliot with William Simon, The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation.
Vanguard, 2011)

"The other important joke for me is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx, but I
think it appears originally in Freud's Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious. And it goes
like this--I'm paraphrasing--'I would never want to belong to any club that would have
someone like me for a member.' That's the key joke of my adult life in terms of my
relationships with women."
(Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in Annie Hall, 1977)

"A summary, written in your own words, briefly restates the writer's main points.
Paraphrase, although written in your own words, is used to relate the details or the
progression of an idea in your source. Quotation, used sparingly, can lend credibility to
your work or capture a memorable passage."
(L. Behrens, A Sequence for Academic Writing. Longman, 2009)

How to Paraphrase a Text

"Paraphrase passages that present important points, explanations, or arguments but that
don't contain memorable or straightforward wording. Follow these steps:
1. Quickly review the passage to get a sense of the whole, and then go through the
passage carefully, sentence by sentence.
2. State the ideas in your own words, defining words as needed.
3. If necessary, edit for clarity, but don't change the meaning.
4. If you borrow phrases directly, put them in quotation marks.
5. Check your paraphrase against the original for accurate tone and meaning."
(R. VanderMey, The College Writer. Houghton, 2007)

Paraphrase as a Rhetorical Exercise

"A paraphrase differs from a translation in not being a transfer from one language to
another. . . . We generally associate with paraphrase the notion of an expansion of the
original thought by definitions, periphrasis, examples, etc., with a view to making it more
intelligible; but this is not essential. Here is meant the simpler form, in which the pupil
reproduces in his own words the complete thought of an author, without attempting to
explain it or to imitate the style.
"It has been frequently urged against this exercise, that, in thus substituting other words
for those of an accurate writer, we must necessarily choose such as are less expressive of
the sense. It has, however, been defended by one of the greatest rhetoricians--Quintilian."
(Andrew D. Hepburn, Manual of English Rhetoric, 1875)

Monty Python and Computer Paraphrasing

"In the famous sketch from the TV show 'Monty Python's Flying Circus,' the actor John
Cleese had many ways of saying a parrot was dead, among them, 'This parrot is no more,'
'He's expired and gone to meet his maker,' and 'His metabolic processes are now history.'
"Computers can't do nearly that well at paraphrasing. English sentences with the same
meaning take so many different forms that it has been difficult to get computers to
recognize paraphrases, much less produce them.
"Now, using several methods, including statistical techniques borrowed from gene

analysis, two researchers have created a program that can automatically generate
paraphrases of English sentences."
(A. Eisenberg, "Get Me Rewrite!" The New York Times, Dec. 25, 2003)

How to Avoid Plagiarism:

Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Paraphrasing and summarizing are very similar. Both involve taking ideas, words or
phrases from a source and crafting them into new sentences within your writing. In
addition, summarizing includes condensing the source material into just a few lines.
Whether paraphrasing or summarizing, credit is always given to the author.
Below is a passage taken from Raymond S. Nickerson's "How We Know-and Sometimes
Misjudge-What Others Know: Imputing One's Own Knowledge to Others."
Psychological Bulletin 125.6 (1999): p737.
In order to communicate effectively with other people, one must have a
reasonably accurate idea of what they do and do not know that is pertinent to the
communication. Treating people as though they have knowledge that they do not
have can result in miscommunication and perhaps embarrassment. On the other
hand, a fundamental rule of conversation, at least according to a Gricean view, is
that one generally does not convey to others information that one can assume they
already have.
Here is an example of what would be considered plagiarism of this passage:
For effective communication, it is necessary to have a fairly accurate idea of what
our listerners know or do not know that is pertinent to the communication. If we
assume that people know something they do not, then miscommunication and
perhaps embarrassment may result (Nickerson, 1999).
The writer in this example has used too many of Nickerson's original words and phrases
such as "effective communication," "accurate idea," "know or do not know," "pertinent,"
"miscommunication," and "embarrassment." Also note that the passage doesn't have an
opening tag to indicate where use of the Nickerson's material begins. A citation at the end
of a paragraph is not sufficent to indicate what is being credited to Nickerson.
Here is an example, in APA style, that is considered acceptable paraphrasing of this
passage:
Nickerson (1999) suggests that effective communication depends on a generally
accurate knowledge of what the audience knows. If a speaker assumes too much
knowledge about the subject, the audience will either misunderstand or be
bewildered; however, assuming too little knowledge among those in the audience
may cause them to feel patronized (p.737).
Here the writer re-words Nickerson's idea about what determines effective
communication. The writer re-phrases "generally accurate knowledge" into "reasonably
accurate idea." In the second sentence, the writer re-words Nickerson's ideas about
miscommunication and embarrassment using instead the words "misunderstand,"
"bewildered," and "patronized." Nickerson is given credit from the beginning as the
originator of the ideas. This is an example of a successful paraphrase because the writer

understands the ideas espoused by Nickerson, and is able to put them into her own words
while being careful to give him credit.
Here is an example, in APA style, that would be considered acceptable summarizing
of this passage:
Nickerson (1999) argues that clear communication hinges upon what an audience
does and does not know. It is crucial to assume the audience has neither too much
nor too little knowledge of the subject, or the communication may be inhibited by
either confusion or offense (p. 737).
Notice that the writer both paraphrases Nickerson's ideas about effective communication
and compresses them into two sentences. Like paraphrasing, summarizing passages is a
tricky endeavor and takes lots of practice. If you're ever in doubt about whether your
summary or paraphrase might be accidental plagiarism, ask your teacher.

How to Avoid Plagiarism:

Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Paraphrasing and summarizing are very similar. Both involve taking ideas, words or
phrases from a source and crafting them into new sentences within your writing. In
addition, summarizing includes condensing the source material into just a few lines.
Whether paraphrasing or summarizing, credit is always given to the author.
Below is a passage taken from Raymond S. Nickerson's "How We Know-and Sometimes
Misjudge-What Others Know: Imputing One's Own Knowledge to Others."
Psychological Bulletin 125.6 (1999): p737.
In order to communicate effectively with other people, one must have a reasonably
accurate idea of what they do and do not know that is pertinent to the communication.
Treating people as though they have knowledge that they do not have can result in
miscommunication and perhaps embarrassment. On the other hand, a fundamental rule of
conversation, at least according to a Gricean view, is that one generally does not convey
to others information that one can assume they already have.
Here is an example of what would be considered plagiarism of this passage:
For effective communication, it is necessary to have a fairly accurate idea of what our
listerners know or do not know that is pertinent to the communication. If we assume that
people know something they do not, then miscommunication and perhaps embarrassment
may result (Nickerson, 1999).
The writer in this example has used too many of Nickerson's original words and phrases
such as "effective communication," "accurate idea," "know or do not know," "pertinent,"
"miscommunication," and "embarrassment." Also note that the passage doesn't have an
opening tag to indicate where use of the Nickerson's material begins. A citation at the end
of a paragraph is not sufficent to indicate what is being credited to Nickerson.
Here is an example, in APA style, that is considered acceptable paraphrasing of this
passage:
Nickerson (1999) suggests that effective communication depends on a generally accurate
knowledge of what the audience knows. If a speaker assumes too much knowledge about
the subject, the audience will either misunderstand or be bewildered; however, assuming
too little knowledge among those in the audience may cause them to feel patronized
(p.737).

Here the writer re-words Nickerson's idea about what determines effective
communication. The writer re-phrases "generally accurate knowledge" into "reasonably
accurate idea." In the second sentence, the writer re-words Nickerson's ideas about
miscommunication and embarrassment using instead the words "misunderstand,"
"bewildered," and "patronized." Nickerson is given credit from the beginning as the
originator of the ideas. This is an example of a successful paraphrase because the writer
understands the ideas espoused by Nickerson, and is able to put them into her own words
while being careful to give him credit.
Here is an example, in APA style, that would be considered acceptable summarizing
of this passage:
Nickerson (1999) argues that clear communication hinges upon what an audience does
and does not know. It is crucial to assume the audience has neither too much nor too little
knowledge of the subject, or the communication may be inhibited by either confusion or
offense (p. 737).
Notice that the writer both paraphrases Nickerson's ideas about effective communication
and compresses them into two sentences. Like paraphrasing, summarizing passages is a
tricky endeavor and takes lots of practice. If you're ever in doubt about whether your
summary or paraphrase might be accidental plagiarism, ask your teacher.