Paraphrasing [Writing Skill]

Many people find it dificult to write things in their own words and end up copying. This unit will help you learn to write information and ideas you have read in textbooks without copying.

What is a paraphrase?

A paraphrase is when you write published materials in your own words without changing its original meaning. It is usually about the same length as the original, as opposed to a summary which is usually much shorter. It is important that the sentence structure and the vocabulary are not too similar to the original.

The main way to paraphrase is to:

* change the structure of the paragraph
* change the words.

It is not enough to do just one of these, you need to change the structure and the words. You must do this to avoid plagiarism.

Avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism is when you copy directly from someone else's work without acknowledging (citing) the original author. In other words you take credit for someone else's work. In academic writing, this is the same as cheating on an exam.

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Changing the structure of a paragraph

Use the following steps to change the structure of a paragraph.

Write down the main ideas & concepts

* Read the paragraph and write down the main points or words. Do not copy down entire sentences.

Put the original away

* Put the paragraph / book away and using the main points, write your paraphrase from memory. This means that you are not copying the text word for word.

Check your version against the original

* To avoid accidental plagiarism, check what you have written against the original text. You should check that they are not the same as well to see if you have left anything out.