Putting it in Your Own Words

 

One needs to know how to paraphrase in order to summarize.  Summaries require a reader to comprehend what a writer has written and report the information in the reader’s own words without adding opinions, comments, or new ideas.  Before writing a summary, paraphrase the main ideas.  When you have finished paraphrasing an author’s ideas(s), ask yourself the questions listed below.  You should reassess and revise your writing if your response to any of the questions is “no.”  It may take several attempts at rewriting before you may be able to respond with a “yes” to all the questions.

 

Does my paraphrase:

 

Have the same meaning as the original text?	Yes	No
Contain the same information as the original text?	Yes	No
Have no word phrases longer than three consecutive words, that can be found exactly in the same ways as in the original text?	Yes	No
Have a different grammatical structure compared to the original text?	Yes	No

      

  

            --Day, C., et al.  ESL Students Paraphrases.  Paper presented at TESOL ’97, 3/15/97.

 

 

 

How to Paraphrase:

 

First, read the material to be paraphrased several times to internalize its meaning.  Then, write the paraphrase without looking at the original text; looking at it may make it all the harder to use your own words.

 

Paraphrase “Do’s”

1. Include all of the information in the text that you are paraphrasing.  
2. Use your own words; that is, paraphrase.  This does not mean that you have to change every single word.  But by convention, you cannot copy more than three words in a row.  Using a dictionary and or a thesaurus can be very helpful in finding alternate ways to say things.
3. Change not only words, but also grammatical structure and sentence patterns where it is appropriate to do so.
4. Use the same verb tense as the text being paraphrased.

 

 

Paraphrase “Don’ts”

1. Don’t change the meaning in any way. 
2. Don’t change the focus, emphasis, tone, or level of formality.
3. Don’t add anything—personal ideas, interpretations, comments, or reactions.  Don not go beyond the meaning expressed in the text being paraphrased.

 

--Osburne & Mulling, 1998.

 

Remember, if you use four or more words in your paper, which are presented in the exact same way in the source you are using, the words must appear between a pair of quotation marks.  Otherwise you will be guilty of plagiarism.  Plagiarism is a serious offense.  It means that you have presented the intellectual property of another writer as your own. Authors copyright their intellectual property, which protects their work by law; therefore, you must give credit to the author for his/her work, which you are using in your paper.

 

The Works Cited page lists all of the sources that you have used in your paper.  If you have summarized, paraphrased, or quoted and author’s work, you must list his/her work on your Works cited page.