21.4: Paraphrasing

The benefits of paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is the most common way to integrate the ideas found in your sources. A paraphrase re-states information and ideas from a source using your own wording and sentence structure. This technique will help you follow the 80/20% rule, filling 80% of your essay with your own voice. 

Paraphrasing offers a way to maintain your own writing style and voice throughout the writing.  It helps cut down on the number of different styles from different sources, creating a sleeker, easier reading experience for your reader.  Most of all, though, paraphrasing is a means of helping you understand what your sources are saying, in order to incorporate that information into your own writing.  You must understand the source’s ideas fully to rewrite them clearly. 

Paraphrasing is like summarizing; however, summaries condense the original down to the essential or main ideas, while paraphrases simply re-states a portion of text.  A paraphrase is usually about the same length as the original piece of text; however, it can be longer. 

Paraphrasing vs. Patchwriting

It is important to check your paraphrase against the source material to make sure it is both accurate and original. Inexperienced writers sometimes use the thesaurus method of paraphrasing—that is, they simply rewrite the source material, replacing most of the words with synonyms. This constitutes a misuse of sources. A true paraphrase restates ideas using the writer’s own language and style.

If you are just changing some of the words in the original passage, that is technically patchwriting. To truly paraphrase a source, you must change all the words in the passage and put it in your own organization and voice. Many times, a rough paraphrase might be patchwritten, which is why an effective paraphrase often takes a few revisions to get right.

Steps to paraphrasing

1. Read the passage until you understand it; be sure to take some notes in your own words.
2. Identify the sentence type of the source material (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) and decide on a different sentence type to write the paraphrase in. Also, identify any specialized terms that cannot be replaced (if any) and write them down in quotes.
3. Step away from the text for a few moments.
4. Without looking at the original text, write a rough paraphrase. Be sure to credit the source with a signal phrase or parenthetical citation, including a page number or paragraph number.
5. Check your paraphrase against the original and revise to avoid patchwriting. Put any borrowed language or phrases in quotes.

Placing a paraphrase

A paraphrase does not begin paragraph; instead, a topic sentence comes first in the paragraph to help the reader understand the connection between the point you are making and the borrowed idea. A paraphrase is never left hanging, either. You must integrate the paraphrase after using it, instead. This will be discussed in the upcoming “Integration” section.

Struggling to Change the Sentence Structure?

Here are a couple of ways to change the sentence structure:  

• Try starting your sentence with an idea that the writer used at the middle or end of the original sentence. 

• Look at the sentence structure. Did the writer start with simply with the subject – verb simple sentence structure? Instead, try starting with a dependent clause (don’t forget the comma!).

Example #1 of paraphrasing with revision 

Original quote: “There is no more demanding task than writing. No matter how long one works at it, no matter how many words are produced, room for improvement will always remain” [Title of source: Sweet Agony; Author: Gene Olson; Quote is found on page 13] Paraphrase: As Gene Olson states in Sweet Agony, writing can take a lot out of a person. One can write long and hard, coming up with a ton of text, but one can always do better (13).

Compare Correct Against Incorrect Paraphrasing 

Here is the original passage, from Benjamin Franklin’s “Speech to the [Constitutional] Convention”:

Mr. President, I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present; but, Sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it; for, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change my opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.

First, here’s a POOR paraphrasing example. Compare this paraphrase with the original text above. In what ways does it fail to meet the criteria described above?

Benjamin Franklin tells the president of the Constitutional Convention that he does not entirely approve of the Constitution at the present time, but that he is not sure he will never approve it. He points out that he has lived a long time, and in his experience, there have been many instances when better information of fuller consideration of a topic have made him change his opinions on important subjects that he had originally thought to be correct. He points out that he finds himself more likely to doubt his own judgment the older he gets and contrasts his knowledge of his own fallibility with other people’s conviction of their infallibility.

Analysis: The problem with this paraphrase is in the way that it reproduces distinctive phrasing, sentence structure, and ordering of ideas. Note that the bolded parts of the paragraph reproduce Franklin’s wording exactly, and that the order of information in the paraphrase is essentially the same as in the original. Notice the end of the paraphrase also contains extra information that is not present in the original passage. 

Now, consider this GOOD revised version:

Benjamin Franklin tells the president of the Constitutional Convention that although he is currently uncertain about the Constitution they have created, he may eventually acknowledge its effectiveness. This is due, he explains, to new information or a different understanding of similarly important topics that have caused him to change his mind in the past.

Analysis: This paraphrase is strong because it captures the main ideas and important details of the original passage without reproducing phrasing or sentence structure too exactly. There are still similarities of phrasing and structure, but they deviate in notable ways from the phrasing and structure of the original passage. It only includes information found in the original passage.

Example #2 of paraphrasing with revision

Again, In his draft, Jorge frequently paraphrased details from sources in the Reader. At times, he needed to rewrite a sentence more than once to ensure he was paraphrasing ideas correctly. Read the following passage from the essays. Then read Jorge’s initial attempt at paraphrasing it, followed by the final version of his paraphrase. Original Source (from Charles Duhigg): More than three dozen studies of former smokers have found that identifying the cues and rewards they associate with cigarettes, and then choosing new routines that provide similar payoffs––a piece of Nicorette, a quick series of push-ups, or simply taking a few minutes to stretch and relax-makes it more likely they will quit. (from page 153) Initial Paraphrase: According to Duhigg, studies show that former smokers must identify and replace cues and rewards (153). After reviewing the paraphrased sentence, Jorge realized he was following the original source too closely. He used the words “cues” and “rewards” and did not put them in quotes. He also did not get specific enough to show the cause/effect relationship Duhigg conveys. He did not want to quote the full passage verbatim, so he again attempted to restate the idea in his own style. Revised Paraphrase: Duhigg references research to show that smokers are “more likely” to be successful in breaking their smoking habit if they who locate and replace the “cue” and “reward” in the habit (153).

See this page on paraphrasing for further examples and explanation from the writing center at UNC Chapel Hill.

Exercise 21.4: Paraphrase Practice

Paraphrase the passages below. Remember to credit the source and include a page number with your paraphrase. Also, remember that a paraphrase is as long and sometimes longer than the original.

1. Anger and bitterness had preyed upon me continually for weeks and a deep languor had succeeded this passionate struggle. (From Helen Keller's "Everything Has a Name" on page 91)
2. There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away. (From Helen Keller's "Everything Has a Name" on page 93)
3. The reading of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts, and to meet the arguments brought forward to sustain slavery; but while they relieved me of one difficulty, they brought another even more painful than the one of which I was relieved. The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. (From Frederick Douglass' "Learning to Read and Write" on page 405)
4. I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed. (From Frederick Douglass' "Learning to Read and Write" on page 406)
5. It's possible to think deeply while surfing the Net, just as it's possible to think shallowly while reading a book, but that's not the type of thinking the technology encourages and rewards. (From Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows on page 116)
6. The Net also provides a high-speed system for delivering responses and rewards-- "positive reinforcements," in psychological terms-- which encourage the repetition of both physical and mental actions. When we click a link, we get something new to look at and evaluate. When we Google a keyword, we receive, in the blink of an eye, a list of interesting information to appraise. (From Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows on page 117)