Paraphrasing, according to MIT, is “taking the words of another source and restating them, using your own vocabulary. In this way, you keep the meaning of the original text, but do not copy its exact wording.”

As learned previously in plagiarism, paraphrasing is very crucial when trying to avoid a huge issue like plagiarism, which is obvious from the fact that we created this entire module for paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing is a powerful tool because it allows you to convey the same meaning but in your own words, which are different from the way the same information was presented in the original text.

That is why it is used more frequently than direct quoting in academic and technical writing, especially in sections like the introduction and literature review, where you heavily rely on other sources’ presentations of ideas. Proper paraphrasing maintains the original meaning while using your own vocabulary, avoiding copying the exact phrasing. The third essential component is to properly and fully cite your source to give full credit to the original authors.

How to paraphrase:

A number of university guides, along with many of my professor mentors, recommend the following as a gold standard:

• First, you logically need to understand the text. Thoroughly read the original material to fully grasp what it means. Once you understand it, set it aside. Then, rely on your memory to jot down the ideas you understood. This way, you won’t be copying verbatim. While doing this, ensure you understand the passage as a whole before breaking it into smaller ideas or phrases.

Sometimes, you may feel tempted or think that the original wording is the best way to present the idea, and that paraphrasing might make it worse. While this may be true in rare cases, you should learn, over time, how to effectively rewrite ideas. Remember, it should be rare to use quotation marks in academic papers, so you cannot keep copying text as it is.

Here’s a guide on how to differentiate:

You may be wondering if there are specific steps you can systematically undertake to help you with this. The answer is, luckily, yes—you can use the following strategies:

• Use synonyms for all non-generic words. Other words, such as world, food, or science, are overly basic that it may be difficult for us to find a synonym to.
• Alter the structure of the sentence.
• Alter the voice from active to passive, and vice versa.
• Alter clauses to phrases, and vice versa.
• Alter parts of speech.

Here are examples provided by MIT, with slightly altered versions:

Example 1: Globalization (Thurow, 1993)

• Original: “Because of their unique perspective, Americans fear globalization less than anyone else, and as a consequence they think about it less than anyone else. When Americans do think about globalization, they think of the global economy as an enlarged version of the American economy.”
• Plagiarism: “According to Lester Thurow (1993) Americans fear globalization less than people from other countries and as a consequence spend less time thinking about it. Indeed, Americans see globalization as an enlarged version of their own economy.”