What is Paraphrasing?
- Taking the ideas of another person and expressing them in your own words.
- A much more specific re-wording than a summary, which focuses on one central idea. A paraphrase goes into the details, with more complexity and information.
- A reasonable way to borrow from another source, if accompanied by source documentation.
How do I Choose Between Paraphrasing and Quotations?
- Paraphrasing is preferred when there isn’t great expression or idea in the piece of writing. Quotations should be used when the original author had a powerful, unique form of expression you want to preserve.
- Use paraphrasing when it will function as well as a quotation.
Use of Paraphrasing in a Paper
(Taken from the Purdue Online Writing Lab, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_quotprsum.html)
Writers frequently intertwine summaries, paraphrases, and quotations. As part of a summary of an article, a chapter, or a book, a writer might include paraphrases of various key points blended with quotations of striking or suggestive phrases as in the following example:
In his famous and influential work On the Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud argues that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" (47), expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a process known as the "dream work" (44). According to Freud, actual but unacceptable desires are censored internally and subjected to coding through layers of condensation and displacement before emerging in a kind of rebus puzzle in the dream itself (21).
Examples of Paraphrasing and Direct Quotes
| Direct Quote |
Paraphrase |
| "The protest provided a wonderful opportunity for those interpreters to assist the deaf community" (Gannon 95). |
The DPN protest was a great opportunity for deaf people to bond with interpreters (Gannon 95). |
| According to King Jordan, "Deaf people can do anything but hear" (72). |
I. King Jordan asserts that Deaf people can succeed in life (72). |
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
- Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
- Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
- Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
- Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
- Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
- Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper. (Purdue Online Writing Lab, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_paraphr.html)
Examples of Paraphrasing and Summary
| Original Quotation |
Paraphrase |
| |
Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47. |
Legitimate Paraphrase
In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).
Acceptable Summary
Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
A Plagiarized Version
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes. |
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“Rarely, if ever, do we develop ideas in our individual minds, free of the effects and influences of others’ previous findings, claims, and analyses. This is not to suggest that writers never forge new ideas; rather, the majority of one’s thoughts—and certainly the intellectual thinking that we do in university settings—is prompted, shaped, and changed in response to and in light of what has already been stated by others. Our ideas emerge in response to reading others’ texts, in sites of conversation and verbal exchange, with and against the grain of the words and formulations of others.” (Duke University Library Page, http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/plagiarism.htm)
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