Love, Medicine and Miracles (p. 69). New York: Harper and Row.)
Words like are generic and do not need to be changed.
Words like and are generic and do not need to be changed.
Example 5: Unacceptable Paraphrase
Original | Unacceptable Paraphrase #1 | Unacceptable Paraphrase #2 |
---|---|---|
We do not yet understand all the ways in which brain chemicals are related to emotions and thoughts, but the salient point is that our state of mind has an immediate and direct effect on our state of body.
(Source: Siegel, B. (1986). | Siegel (1986) writes that still know brain chemistry is important mental state on our physical state.
. | According to Siegel (1986), our mind affects our body quickly and directly, although every aspect of
. |
“Paraphrasing” means expressing the meaning of someone else’s words in your own words instead of quoting directly. Paraphrasing is applied both by the author of the text and by editors during the proofreading process .
By paraphrasing the work and arguments of others effectively, you can:
Direct Quote: simply a “copy-and-paste” of the original words and/or word order. In all research papers with formatting guidelines (APA, AMA, MLA, etc.), quoted text must be accompanied by quotation marks and in-text citations.
Paraphrasing: can include some key terms from the original work but must use new language to represent the original work—DO NOT COPY THE ORIGINAL WORK. When you paraphrase–that is, rewrite the text you want to use–you do not need to include quotation marks, but you must still cite the original work.
Step 1 : Read important parts of the source material until you fully understand its meaning.
Step 2 : Take some notes and list key terms of the source material.
Step 3: Write your own paragraph without looking at the source material, only using the key terms.
Step 4: Check to make sure your version captures important parts and intent of the source material.
Step 5: Indicate where your paraphrasing starts and ends using in-text citations.
Use the following methods to make your paraphrases even stronger. Note that you should not apply only one of these rules in isolation—combine these techniques to reduce your chances of accidental plagiarism.
*Text in red indicates key changes from the source material.
By changing the voice of the sentence (active voice to passive; passive voice to active—have a look at this article for details on the different roles of both voices in scientific writing), you can alter the general structure of your paraphrase and put it into words that are more your own.
A thesaurus can be an excellent resource for finding terms that are synonymous with or similar to those in the original text, especially for non-native English speakers. However, be careful not to use terms that you don’t fully understand or that might not make sense in the context of your paper.
Signaling terms (e.g., “they write ,” “Kim notes that…” “He believes that…”) help smoothly introduce the work of other studies and let the reader know where your own ideas end and where the cited information begins.
Authors also show their positions regarding the original content by using verbs that are neutral , that show agreement , or that show disagreement . A relative pronoun (“that,” “how,” “if”) is also used in many instances. Include these terms to introduce your position in paraphrased content.
One major reason for paraphrasing is to capture the main idea of the original text without using so many words. Use only one sentence or two in your paraphrase to capture the main idea—even if the original is an entire paragraph.
Original Source Text :
The journal primarily considers empirical and theoretical investigations that enhance understanding of cognitive, motivational, affective, and behavioral psychological phenomena in work and organizational settings, broadly defined. Those psychological phenomena can be at one or multiple levels — individuals, groups, organizations, or cultures; in work settings such as business, education, training, health, service, government, or military institutions; and in the public or private sector, for-profit or nonprofit organizations. (Source: Journal of Applied Psychology Website http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/apl/ )
Paraphrased Source Text :
The Journal of Applied Psychology accepts studies that increase understanding of a broad range of psychological phenomena and that apply to a variety of settings and levels, not limited by subgroup, institution, or sector (JAP, 2015).
Too often, research writers separate information from the current work and information cited from earlier studies into completely different sentences. This limits the dialogue between the works, makes it boring for readers, and can even create issues of plagiarism if the paper is composed of too much quoted material. Include direct quotes within your paraphrased sentences to fix all of these issues and make your research writing much smoother and more natural.
Some details from the original source are quoted because they are taken directly from the text. They provide important information that readers might need to know and it thus makes more sense to use quotes here.
Cite your sources, create a References list, and copy your citations to MS Word using the following Wordvice Citation Generators:
Although paraphrasing can be very helpful in helping to reduce instances of plagiarism, writers still need to follow the rules of citation and referencing carefully. Here are a few rules to keep in mind when paraphrasing any original material, whether from someone else’s published work or your own work.
Here are a few things you must keep in mind when paraphrasing any original material, even your own earlier publications.
The following example is an attempt to paraphrase the above source text taken from the Journal of Applied Psychology website . Note that the author does not follow the above-mentioned rules to avoid plagiarizing the work.
The Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP 2015) accepts empirical and theoretical investigations that increase knowledge of motivational, affective, cognitive, and behavioral psychological phenomena in many settings, broadly conceived. These phenomena can be at several levels—individual, teams, or cultures; in professional settings like business, education, training, health, government, or military institutions; and in either public or private sector, in nonprofit or for-profit institutions.
Some of the source text words have been changed or removed, but the underlined terms are identical to the original; overall the meaning and even the grammar structures have been copied. Finally, quotation marks are missing. Do not copy passages like this unless you put quotation marks around the content.
In this paraphrase example, the details in the source text and how they have been changed in the paraphrase are indicated in red. Note the usage of signaling terms in each version to introduce the author’s content.
Fully grown penguins generate pressures of around 74 mm Hg to excrete liquid material and 430 mm Hg to excrete material of higher viscosity similar to that of oil. ”
In her study of Antarctic penguin defecation habits, Brooks (1995, p.4) wrote, “fully grown Chinstrap penguins generate pressures of around 74 mm Hg to excrete liquid material and 430 mm Hg to excrete material of higher viscosity similar to that of oil. ”
*Quotations around quotes; citations included; many details provided; a complete sentence is quoted.
When studying Chinstrap penguin defecation habits, Brooks (1995, p.4) observed that fully grown penguins generate a much higher pressure when excreting more viscous fecal matter.
*No quotation marks; citations included; the most important data fact is highlighted: “Penguins use more pressure to excrete thicker poo.”
When studying penguin defecation habits, Brooks (1995, p.4) observed that fully grown penguins vary in how they excrete waste, generating “pressures of around 74 mm Hg to excrete liquid material and 430 mm Hg to excrete material of higher viscosity similar to that of oil .”
*Quotation marks only around directly quoted information; citations included; the most important data fact is paraphrased; additional details provided by direct quote.
The following paraphrasing examples do not include citations and are therefore better used for reference when learning how to paraphrase original text. Therefore, the tips mentioned earlier in this article should be applied when paraphrasing published academic work.
“The author’s life spanned years of incredible changes for African Americans in society.” | DuBois lived through at least two eras of liberating reforms and advances for African Americans. |
“Any trip to France should include a visit to Marseille to visit the old piers of the 17th century.” | Be sure to include a Marseille pier-watching experience when visiting the South of France. |
“Koala bears eat solely eucalyptus leaves and can consume up to 4 kg per day. | Koalas eat multiple kilograms of eucalyptus leaves per day, their only source of food. |
“The price of a cruise trip usually includes meals, drinks, and sleeping accommodations, which make your vacation dollar stretch further.” | Most cruise trips include expenses such as meals, drinks, and a room for sleeping in their overall package price. |
“The average citizen of the UK throws away 20 kg of plastic per month.” | British citizens are among the biggest users of plastic in Europe, throwing away kilograms of plastic each month. |
After paraphrasing the source text in your research paper, be sure to use a plagiarism checker to make sure there are no overt similarities in your paper. And get English proofreading and academic editing for your journal manuscript or essay editing for your admissions essay to ensure that your writing is ready for submission to journals or schools. Finally, visit our academic resources pages to get more tips beyond how to paraphrase, including common academic phrases , the best transition words in academic papers, verbs for research writing , and many more articles on how to strengthen your academic writing skills.
To avoid plagiarizing, you must change both the sentence structure and the words of the original text.
Quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing are all common techniques used in academic writing. This section will discuss each of these techniques and how to incorporate them effectively into your writing to help avoid academic misconduct, such as plagiarism.
What are the differences between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and when should you use each technique in your writing?
Copying directly from a source, word-for-word, using quotation marks around the entire quote. | Using your own words to fully describe ideas from a source. | Using your own words to convey only the key points or main arguments of a source. | |
Sparingly! Only use direct quotes when a paraphrase would not convey the message or meaning of the text. Is there no way you could say it more efficiently (or better)? Then use a quote! | Most of the time It is helpful when you want to explain multiple ideas from a particular source. By paraphrasing other authors' words, you can convey points and ideas efficiently using your own voice. | Frequently Use summary to outline or condense important points made in a source. Is there an overarching theme or idea that you can sum up in a sentence or two? Summary is a good choice. | |
Yes. Direct quotes always require attribution through an in-text citation or footnote (depending on the citation style you use). | Yes. Because you are borrowing the ideas of others, paraphrases require attribution through an in-text citation or footnote. | Yes. Although you are using your own words, you are summarizing the ideas of others, so summaries require attribution through an in-text citation or a footnote. |
Deciding when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize is ultimately up to you as a writer. However, good academic writing generally uses a combination of the three. Review the following examples to see which situations might be best for each writing technique.
Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to describe the words and ideas of others. Learning to paraphrase successfully is an important component in academic writing. This paraphrasing tutorial will take you through scenarios that will demonstrate good paraphrasing techniques.
Academic Writing & Research
An online resource for students and researchers
In the worlds of academic writing, journalism, and professional communication, paraphrasing is a skill that often goes unnoticed but plays a pivotal role in conveying information effectively and ethically. But what is paraphrasing exactly? In this post, we explore the art of paraphrasing, what it entails, and why it matters in various contexts.
Paraphrasing is the process of rephrasing or rewording a piece of text, whether it’s a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire document, in your own words while retaining the original meaning. The goal is to convey the same message but with a different sentence structure or wording. Essentially, it’s like expressing someone else’s ideas using your unique voice.
Paraphrasing is a valuable skill that enables writers to incorporate external information into their work while maintaining ethical standards and enhancing their understanding of the material. Whether you’re a student, journalist, blogger, or professional communicator, mastering the art of paraphrasing can greatly improve the quality and impact of your writing. It’s not just about changing words; it’s about making ideas accessible and engaging to your audience.
Glenn Stevens
Academic writer and researcher. PhD supervisor. Glenn is also a qualified English teacher. He previously had an extensive career in publishing. Lives in the UK. Need help paraphrasing? Why not contact Glenn!
In academic writing, paraphrasing plays a crucial role in maintaining one’s voice, avoiding plagiarism, and showcasing a deep understanding of the topic being researched. The ability to paraphrase research papers effectively allows PhD students and early career researchers to engage with existing literature meaningfully, synthesize ideas, and contribute to scholarly discourse as an early entrant. It can help simplify complex ideas and contextualize available data in their research papers.
Let’s take a look at the purpose and importance of paraphrasing and examine some simple techniques on how to paraphrase research papers accurately and ethically.
Paraphrasing means expressing someone else’s ideas or findings in one’s own words without changing the original meaning. It has many essential purposes within academic writing.
Tips and techniques for paraphrasing a research paper.
To paraphrase a research paper effectively, researchers must follow a systematic approach and fully and deeply comprehend their sources before giving them their spin. This means that the research writer has to identify the key ideas and arguments and their language to convey their research in a way that is clear, accurate, and easy to understand.
Here are three simple ways to ensure that you paraphrase passages effectively:
Importance of proper citations when paraphrasing a research paper.
While paraphrasing allows researchers to reframe ideas in their own words, it is essential to acknowledge the source of our information. Failure to do so can lead to your work being termed as plagiarized. Proper citation gives credit to the original author and lets readers trace the data back to its source. Therefore, researchers need to follow the required citation style diligently, accurately referencing the original research when incorporating paraphrased content.
Paraphrasing research papers effectively is an essential skill that early career researchers must inculcate. With effective paraphrasing, scholars show their understanding of the literature, match it to their style, and push research forward.
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Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information.
Note that the examples in this section use MLA style for in-text citation.
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, pp. 46-47.
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).
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).
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.
A note about plagiarism: This example has been classed as plagiarism, in part, because of its failure to deploy any citation. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the academic world. However, we acknowledge that plagiarism is a difficult term to define; that its definition may be contextually sensitive; and that not all instances of plagiarism are created equal—that is, there are varying “degrees of egregiousness” for different cases of plagiarism.
Putting it in your own words, summarizing and paraphrasing, step one: skim the source, step two: take point-form notes, step three: close or put away the source, step four: turn your point-form notes into sentences.
When writing a research paper, you, the writer, must incorporate into the paper the information and ideas you have learned in the course of your research that come from primary and secondary sources. Occasionally, it is appropriate to quote, but, usually, it is better to either paraphrase or summarize what you have learned. This task may seem simple; how often have we heard a teacher or instructor tell us to put what we have read “into our own words”? Yet, while easy to say, it is not so easy to do.
It is important to be able to summarize and paraphrase correctly in order to effectively integrate your research into your essay without relying on direct quotation or committing plagiarism.
Summarizing – means rewriting something in your own words but shortening it by stating only the main idea and the supporting points you need for your purposes. A summary can be just one sentence or it can be much longer, depending on whether you are presenting a broad overview or a more thorough outline.
Paraphrasing – means rewriting something in your own words, giving the same level of detail as the source and at roughly the same length as the original. You may choose to paraphrase details or particular evidence and/or examples.
The choice between summarizing and paraphrasing depends on how much detail from the source you need for your paper. When you need the source’s main argument and/or supporting points, summarize. Or, you may summarize a section or part of a source, by identifying the section’s main point or idea. When you want all the details from a particular passage or section of a source, paraphrase. (Don’t try to paraphrase an entire source.)
Whether you decide to summarize or paraphrase a source, the process is similar. You just can’t cut and paste a chunk of text into your essay draft and then change a few words here and there. You will remain too close to the source’s organization, sentence structure and phrasing. Instead follow these six steps.
Skim a source to determine what you need from it: its argument, a specific supporting point, and/or particular evidence. Identify exactly what information you want to go into your paper. This decision will help you decide how detailed your notes about this source should be.
For a paraphrase, the notes will be more detailed and extensive. For a summary, the notes will focus on the main points of a reading. Either way, taking notes is an acquired skill and takes practice.
The first stage in the note-taking process is illustrated below. The note-taker has decided to paraphrase the passage as it has lots of detailed information relevant to the paper being written. The note-taker then reads the passage, bolding the important information and ideas he or she wishes to capture for the paper, and then pauses to jot down notes.
In America today, millions of people leave their homes in a protracted and often futile search for healthy food for their families. Many walk out their front doors and see nothing but fast-food outlets and convenience stores selling high-fat, high-sugar processed foods; others see no food vendors of any kind . Without affordable fresh food options, especially fruit and vegetables, adults and children face fundamental challenges to making the healthy food choices that are essential for nutritious, balanced diets. And without grocery stores and other viable fruit and vegetable merchants, neighborhoods lack a critical ingredient of vibrant, livable communities: quality food retailers that create jobs, stimulate foot traffic, and bolster local commerce .
(From: Bell.J. & Standish, M. (2009). Building healthy communities through equitable food access. Community Development Investment Review, 5 (3), 75-87.)
Convenience Stores:
No grocery stores = fund. challenges to healthy eating
Neighbourhoods lack grocery stores, any kind of fruit and vegetable vendors that create jobs
Overall effect:
The note-taker first identifies the main point of the passage. The notes are in point-form: the reason for not writing out full sentences is to break the connection with the original’s sentence structure. The note-taker also occasionally inserts questions for further analysis or follow-up. Doing all of these things filters the information and ideas of the source through the note-taker’s own understanding.
If, instead of paraphrasing, you make the decision to summarize the passage, the notes would include only the major points of the passage.
This is a fairly self-explanatory step, but the point is that when you try to write about the information you have learned from this source, you do so without the source in front of you.
How to do this? Keep in mind that both paraphrasing and summarizing are about showing that you have internalized what you have read to the point where you can say it yourself. So, read over your notes two or three times, put those out of sight too, and, perhaps pretending you are explaining what you have just read to a fellow student or your instructor, write either your paraphrase/summary. Remember that, for a summary all you have to do is convey the main point and key supporting points of the passage, not the details.
You need to make clear where the information and arguments come from, so it can be a good idea to start off with the author’s or authors’ name(s). Writing “Bell and Standish argue that...” or “Bell and Standish’s main point is that...” is often a good way to get the words to start to flow. Remember you can rearrange the information, group it differently, or change the sequence slightly to suit your purposes; all of these actions will help you to write the paraphrase or summary in “your own words.”
If you followed the first four steps rigorously, you should pass this test. The way to test your writing is to go through your passage and the original passage and underline, highlight or put in bold the words that appear in both passages. There is no way to write a paraphrase or a summary that does not have some of the same words as the original, but doing this test will show you any places where you have lifted whole phrases or sentences and put them in your text.
Words appearing in both passages are in bold:
Bell and Standish (2009) make the point that, for millions of Americans, buying healthy, fresh food such as fruits and vegetables , takes a major effort because many neighbourhoods do not have grocery stores close by but only fast-food outlets and convenience stores . Convenience stores do not sell much healthy food but, instead, sell junk food , candy, and processed food hi gh in fat and sugar . Some neighbourhoods do not have food vendors of any kind . Bell and Standish argue that these kinds of neighbourhoods are not just places in which it is difficult to buy and eat healthy food , they are also less vigorous and energetic, and less comfortable to live in because grocery stores and other healthy food vendors may encourage walking, create jobs , and support the local economy in other ways as well.
The test shows that while the two passages share many common words, there are very few exact copies of phrases in the paraphrase. Phrases such as “grocery store,” “healthy food,” “convenience store,” or “food vendors” are not unique turns of phrase that belong to one writer; they are common terms, so changing these words is not necessary. For example, “convenience store” is the best and most commonly used phrase for that particular kind of retail outlet; changing it would be artificial and less clear. (The same rule applies to technical and scientific terminology. These terms don’t belong to anyone, and there is no reason to try to find synonyms for them.)
Precisely how long can a phrase that is identical to one in the original source be before it becomes a problem? A phrase of three words is usually too long; it should be changed or included as a direct quotation. Based on this criteria, in the paraphrase, there are a couple of problematic phrases that should be changed: “fast-food outlets and convenience stores,” and “food vendors of any kind.”
Words common to the original source and to the paraphrase are in bold:
Bell and Standish (2009) argue that for millions of Americans, healthy eating is a difficult task because many neighbourhoods do not have grocery stores close by, only fast-food restaurants or convenience stores . These neighbourhoods lack the jobs and economic support that grocery stores bring, thus making them less “vibrant” and “livable” (75).
The words in bold show that the summary passes the test. It’s usually a little easier to write a summary in your own words than to write a paraphrase in your own words because condensing and shortening will automatically ensure some change in organization, sentence structure and wording. In this case, the decision was made to quote the two final adjectives, “vibrant” and “livable”, as none of the synonyms were as descriptive in as few words.
You may find a few exact phrases from your test; it is important to change them. In the paraphrase, “fast-food outlets and convenience stores” can be changed to “convenience stores or fast-food restaurants.” Similarly, “food vendors of any kind” can be changed to “any type of food vendor.”
Another technique to keep in mind is to occasionally quote a short phrase in the midst of your summary or paraphrase. For example, in the final sentence of the original passage, the authors used two adjectives, “vibrant” and “livable.” These appear in the paraphrase as “vigorous and energetic” and “comfortable for its residents to live in.” However, the authors are here using a distinctive turn of phrase to describe ideal communities as opposed to using common terms such as “convenience store” or “healthy food”. So, in this instance, another good choice would be to quote the authors:
...Bell and Standish argue that these kinds of neighbourhoods are not just places in which it is difficult to buy and eat healthy food, they are also less “vibrant” and less “livable” (75) because grocery stores and other healthy food vendors may encourage walking, create jobs, and support the local economy in other ways as well.
As you can see, learning how to paraphrase and to summarize your sources takes practice and patience. Following the six steps suggested here should ensure that you are successful in conveying information and ideas learned from your sources “in your own words”.
In academic writing, paraphrasing another author’s ideas is common particularly in research papers. Paraphrasing takes an author’s ideas and rephrases them using your own words. To do this effectively, you should avoid similar word phrases and sentence structures the source used. However, paraphrasing effectively is often a challenge—as a writer, you must balance between conveying the author’s message accurately and preventing plagiarism by citing the source the ideas are coming from. Below are some steps for how to paraphrase effectively and some examples of inappropriate and appropriate paraphrases.
Tip: Check the Assignment Prompt. For some assignments, professors may prefer that you use paraphrases only. If it says “no direct quotes” then you must paraphrase everything from outside sources.
Below, we have some examples of appropriate and inappropriate paraphrases to better help you distinguish how to paraphrase effectively in your writing.
In these examples, we have included one quote from an outside source and three different paraphrase examples. These paraphrases include explanations for why it is an inappropriate or appropriate paraphrase.
“Whether the hero be ridiculous or sublime, Greek or barbarian, gentile or Jew, his journey varies little in essential plan. Popular tales represent the heroic action as physical; the higher religions show the deed to be moral; nevertheless, there will be found astonishingly little variation in the morphology of the adventure, the character roles involved, the victories gained. If one or another of the basic elements of the archetypal pattern is omitted from a given fairy tale, legend, ritual, or myth, it is bound to be somehow or other implied—and the omission itself can speak volumes for the history and pathology of the example as we shall presently see” (Campbell, p. 30).
Campbell, J. (2008). The Hero with a Thousand Faces (3rd ed.). Novato: New World Library.
Campbell (2008) argues that the hero’s journey is essentially the same whether it is a popular tale or a story from the higher religions; in fact, there is astonishingly little variation in the adventures, character roles, and victories with all stories (p. 30).
This is an inappropriate paraphrase because the writer has used words and phrases (such as “popular tale,” “the higher religions,” “astonishingly little variation,” and “in the adventures, character roles, and victories”) that are directly worded from the source. Not only has the writer used the same words, but they also placed them in the same order and structure as the original source. Even though they placed a citation at the end, they are still expected to place quotation marks around those phrases to show which words belong to the writer and which words are the author’s.
Essentially, a hero’s journey follows the same basic structure in terms of how the tale unfolds with the exception of religious stories because the heroic actions tend to be morally rather than physically based.
This is an inappropriate paraphrase because the writer did not accurately portray Campbell’s meaning. Originally, Campbell argued that religious and popular stories have the same structure even if the conflicts at the first glance appeared different. This is not reflected in the above passage when the writer states “a hero’s journey follows the same basic structure in terms of how the tale unfolds with the exception of religious stories.” Additionally, the writer failed to include an in-text citation when they used Campbell’s ideas.
Campbell argues that all stories, from fairy tales to religious stories, have the same basic elements and structure for a hero’s journey even if one or two elements may not be explicitly represented (p. 30).
This is an appropriate paraphrase because the writer uses new sentence structures and phrases to convey the author’s ideas accurately and effectively. Additionally, the writer includes a citation to indicate where the information is from.
Published on October 10, 2021 by Tegan George . Revised on November 21, 2023.
Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas without properly crediting the original author. Sometimes plagiarism involves deliberately stealing someone’s work, but more often it happens accidentally, through carelessness or forgetfulness.When you write an academic paper, you build upon the work of others and use various credible sources for information and evidence. To avoid plagiarism, you need to correctly incorporate these sources into your text.
You can avoid plagiarism by :
Even accidental plagiarism can have serious consequences , so take care with how you integrate sources into your writing.
Keeping track of your sources, avoiding plagiarism when quoting, avoiding plagiarism when paraphrasing, citing your sources correctly, using a plagiarism checker, using ai tools responsibly, checklist: plagiarism prevention, free lecture slides, frequently asked questions.
One of the most common ways that students commit plagiarism is by simply forgetting where an idea came from and unintentionally presenting it as their own. You can easily avoid this pitfall by keeping your notes organized and compiling a list of citations as you go.
Clearly label which thoughts are yours and which aren’t in your notes, highlight statements that need citations, and carefully mark any text copied directly from a source with quotation marks.
In the example below, red indicates a claim that requires a source, blue indicates information paraphrased or summarized from a source, and green indicates a direct quotation.
Notes for my paper on global warming
To make your life easier later, make sure to write down the full details of every source you consult. That includes not only books and journal articles, but also things like websites, magazine articles, and videos. This makes it easy to go back and check where you found a phrase, fact, or idea that you want to use in your paper.
Scribbr’s Citation Generator allows you to start building and managing your reference list as you go, saving time later. When you’re ready to submit, simply download your reference list!
Prevent plagiarism. run a free check..
Quoting means copying a piece of text word for word. The copied text must be introduced in your own words, enclosed in quotation marks , and correctly attributed to the original author.
In general, quote sparingly. Quotes are appropriate when:
Long quotations should be formatted as block quotes . But for longer blocks of text, it’s usually better to paraphrase instead.
Paraphrasing means using your own words to explain something from a source.
Paraphrasing does not mean just switching out a few words from a copy-pasted text. To paraphrase properly, you should rewrite the author’s point in your own words to show that you have fully understood it.
Every time you quote or paraphrase, you must include an in-text or footnote citation clearly identifying the original author. Each citation must correspond to a full reference in the reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper.
This acknowledges the source of your information, avoiding plagiarism, and it helps your readers locate the source for themselves if they would like to learn more.
There are many different citation styles, each with its own rules. A few common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago . Your instructor may assign a particular style for you to use, or you may be able to choose. The most important thing is to apply one style consistently throughout the text.
The examples below follow APA Style.
In-text citation | The novel’s central theme is voiced by Cersei Lannister: “when you play the game of thrones you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” (Martin, 2002, p. 403). |
Reference list | Martin, G. R. R. (2002). (Reprint ed.). Bantam. |
If you quote multiple sources in one sentence, make sure to cite them separately so that it’s clear which material came from which source.
In-text citation | Martin’s narrative can be read as a classic “zero-sum game” (Morgenstern and von Neumann, 1980, p.98), where players in the “game of thrones” either “win or … die” (Martin, 2002, p. 403), with no other outcomes possible. |
Reference list | Martin, G. R. R. (2002). (Reprint ed.). Bantam. Morgenstern, O., & von Neumann, J. (1980). (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press. |
To create correctly formatted source citations, you can use our free Citation Generator.
APA Citation Generator MLA Citation Generator
And if you’re citing in APA Style, consider using Scribbr’s Citation Checker , a unique tool that scans your citations for errors. It can detect inconsistencies between your in-text citations and your reference list, as well as making sure your citations are flawlessly formatted.
Most universities use plagiarism checkers like Turnitin to detect potential plagiarism. Here’s how plagiarism checkers work : they scan your document, compare it to a database of webpages and publications, and highlight passages that appear similar to other texts.
Consider using a plagiarism checker yourself before submitting your paper. This allows you to identify issues that could constitute accidental plagiarism, such as:
Then you can easily fix any instances of potential plagiarism.
There are differences in accuracy and safety between plagiarism checkers. To help students choose, we conducted extensive research comparing the best plagiarism checkers .
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can be helpful at different stages of the writing and research process. However, these tools can also be used to plagiarize in various ways (whether intentionally or unintentionally). When using these tools, it’s important to avoid the following:
It’s important to use AI tools responsibly and to be aware that AI-generated outputs may be detected by your university’s AI detector .
When using someone else’s exact words, I have properly formatted them as a quote .
When using someone else’s ideas, I have properly paraphrased , expressing the idea completely in my own words.
I have included an in-text citation every time I use words, ideas, or information from a source.
Every source I cited is included in my reference list or bibliography .
I have consistently followed the rules of my required citation style .
I have not committed self-plagiarism by reusing any part of a previous paper.
I have used a reliable plagiarism checker as a final check.
Your document should be free from plagiarism!
Are you a teacher or professor who would like to educate your students about plagiarism? You can download our free lecture slides, available for Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Open Google Slides Download PowerPoint
Accidental plagiarism is one of the most common examples of plagiarism . Perhaps you forgot to cite a source, or paraphrased something a bit too closely. Maybe you can’t remember where you got an idea from, and aren’t totally sure if it’s original or not.
These all count as plagiarism, even though you didn’t do it on purpose. When in doubt, make sure you’re citing your sources . Also consider running your work through a plagiarism checker tool prior to submission, which work by using advanced database software to scan for matches between your text and existing texts.
Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker takes less than 10 minutes and can help you turn in your paper with confidence.
To avoid plagiarism when summarizing an article or other source, follow these two rules:
Plagiarism can be detected by your professor or readers if the tone, formatting, or style of your text is different in different parts of your paper, or if they’re familiar with the plagiarized source.
Many universities also use plagiarism detection software like Turnitin’s, which compares your text to a large database of other sources, flagging any similarities that come up.
It can be easier than you think to commit plagiarism by accident. Consider using a plagiarism checker prior to submitting your paper to ensure you haven’t missed any citations.
Some examples of plagiarism include:
The most surefire way to avoid plagiarism is to always cite your sources . When in doubt, cite!
If you’re concerned about plagiarism, consider running your work through a plagiarism checker tool prior to submission. Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker takes less than 10 minutes and can help you turn in your paper with confidence.
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
George, T. (2023, November 21). How to Avoid Plagiarism | Tips on Citing Sources. Scribbr. Retrieved September 16, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/plagiarism/how-to-avoid-plagiarism/
Other students also liked, consequences of mild, moderate & severe plagiarism, types of plagiarism and how to recognize them, what is self-plagiarism | definition & how to avoid it, what is your plagiarism score.
Pasco-Hernando State College
Paraphrasing is a restatement of the sources ideas into your own words. Quotations should only be used in paraphrases when there are special words or wording that cannot be paraphrased. Because the same information that the author provided is being used, a paraphrase is often as long as the original source. Since paraphrases are information from a source, every sentence with paraphrased information must cite the source even if exact words are not quoted.
Even through a sentence with paraphrased information must cite the source, any exact words from the source must be in quotation marks. Failing to use quotation marks on exact words is plagiarism even if the sentence give credit to the source.
Proper note-taking while doing research will help avoid plagiarism. Notes should include quotation marks around any exact words taken from sources.
Another problem students may have with paraphrasing is that the language used in the paraphrase should be an accurate accounting of the source’s ideas. Good paraphrasing doesn’t just capture the ideas of the source. They don’t include your own opinions or omit important information. Just like in a quotation, be sure to either introduce the source at the beginning of your paraphrase or cite the source at the end of the sentence so that the reader knows these are not your ideas, but ideas from your source.
Jones thinks the answer to reducing water usage is to raise water rates. OR – The answer to reducing water usage is to raise water rates (Jones).
“Besides, step-families offer unique advantages as well. One example is the increase in available emotional support and other resources from the larger, more extended family. Another is the opportunity the children have for learning how to cope with an ever-changing and complicated world due to the social and emotional complexity of their own step family environment” (Pinto).
Step-families have advantages too. One is that there is more emotional support when there are more people. Also, children can cope better with life if they start dealing with problems when they’re young.
Although there are many criticisms leveled against mixed families, Pinto gives some reasons for hope. First, Pinto says that blended families are often larger and can provide more “emotional support” and other aid for the children. Pinto continues by explaining that because of the emotional and social complications that arise in a blended family, children are more able to deal with the complexities of today’s changing world.
Steven D. Krause
Learning how to effectively quote and paraphrase research can be difficult and it certainly takes practice. Hopefully, your abilities to make good use of your research will improve as you work through the exercises in part two and three ofThe Process of Research Writing, not to mention as you take on other research writing experiences beyond this class. The goal of this chapter is to introduce some basic strategies for summarizing, quoting and paraphrasing research in your writing and to explain how to avoid plagiarizing your research.
A summary is a brief explanation of a longer text. Some summaries, such as the ones that accompany annotated bibliographies, are very short, just a sentence or two. Others are much longer, though summaries are always much shorter than the text being summarized in the first place.
Summaries of different lengths are useful in research writing because you often need to provide your readers with an explanation of the text you are discussing. This is especially true when you are going to quote or paraphrase from a source.
Of course, the first step in writing a good summary is to do a thorough reading of the text you are going to summarize in the first place. Beyond that important start, there are a few basic guidelines you should follow when you write summary material:
Writers quote and paraphrase from research in order to support their points and to persuade their readers. A quote or a paraphrase from a piece of evidence in support of a point answers the reader’s question, “says who?”
This is especially true in academic writing since scholarly readers are most persuaded by effective research and evidence. For example, readers of an article about a new cancer medication published in a medical journal will be most interested in the scholar’s research and statistics that demonstrate the effectiveness of the treatment. Conversely, they will not be as persuaded by emotional stories from individual patients about how a new cancer medication improved the quality of their lives. While this appeal to emotion can be effective and is common in popular sources, these individual anecdotes do not carry the same sort of “scholarly” or scientific value as well-reasoned research and evidence.
Of course, your instructor is not expecting you to be an expert on the topic of your research paper. While you might conduct some primary research, it’s a good bet that you’ll be relying on secondary sources such as books, articles, and Web sites to inform and persuade your readers. You’ll present this research to your readers in the form of quotes and paraphrases.
A “quote” is a direct restatement of the exact words from the original source. The general rule of thumb is any time you use three or more words as they appeared in the original source, you should treat it as a quote. A “paraphrase” is a restatement of the information or point of the original source in your own words.
While quotes and paraphrases are different and should be used in different ways in your research writing (as the examples in this section suggest), they do have a number of things in common. Both quotes and paraphrases should:
The method you should follow to properly quote or paraphrase depends on the style guide you are following in your academic writing. The two most common style guides used in academic writing are the Modern Language Association (MLA), and the American Psychological Association (APA). Your instructor will probably assign one of these styles before you begin working on your project, however, if he/she doesn’t mention this, be sure to ask.
The real “art” to research writing is using quotes and paraphrases from evidence effectively in order to support your point. There are certain “rules,” dictated by the rules of style you are following, such as the ones presented by the MLA or the ones presented by the APA. There are certain “guidelines” and suggestions, like the ones I offer in the previous section and the ones you will learn from your teacher and colleagues.
But when all is said and done, the question of when to quote and when to paraphrase depends a great deal on the specific context of the writing and the effect you are trying to achieve. Learning the best times to quote and paraphrase takes practice and experience.
In general, it is best to use a quote when:
In general, it is best to paraphrase when:
Tips for Quoting and Paraphrasing
Here are four examples of what I mean about properly quoting and paraphrasing evidence in your research essays. In each case, I begin with a BAD example, or the way NOT to quote or paraphrase.
Here’s the first BAD example, where the writer is trying to follow the rules of MLA style:
There are many positive effects for advertising prescription drugs on television. “African-American physicians regard direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines as one way to educate minority patients about needed treatment and healthcare options” (Wechsler, Internet).
This is a potentially good piece of information to support a research writer’s claim, but the researcher hasn’t done any of the necessary work to explain where this quote comes from or to explain why it is important for supporting her point. Rather, she has simply “dropped in” the quote, leaving the interpretation of its significance up to the reader.
Now consider this revised GOOD (or at least BETTER) example of how this quote might be better introduced into the essay:
In her Pharmaceutical Executive article available through the Wilson Select Internet database, Jill Wechsler writes about one of the positive effects of advertising prescription drugs on television. “African-American physicians regard direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines as one way to educate minority patients about needed treatment and healthcare options.”
In this revision, it’s much more clear what point the writer is trying to make with this evidence and where this evidence comes from.
In this particular example, the passage is from a traditional print journal called Pharmaceutical Executive . However, the writer needs to indicate that she actually found and read this article through Wilson Select, an Internet database which reproduces the “full text” of articles from periodicals without any graphics, charts, or page numbers.
When you use a direct quote in your research, you need to the indicate page number of that direct quote or you need to indicate that the evidence has no specific page numbers. While it can be a bit awkward to indicate within the text how the writer found this information if it’s from the Internet, it’s important to do so on the first reference of a piece of evidence in your writing. On references to this piece of evidence after the first reference, you can use just the last name of the writer. For example:
Wechsler also reports on the positive effects of advertising prescription drugs on television. She writes…
In this example, the writer is using MLA style to write a research essay for a Literature class. Here is a BAD example of a paraphrase:
While Gatsby is deeply in love with Daisy in The Great Gatsby, his love for her is indistinguishable from his love of his possessions (Callahan).
There are two problems with this paraphrase. First, if this is the first or only reference to this particular piece of evidence in the research essay, the writer should include more information about the source of this paraphrase in order to properly introduce it. Second, this paraphrase is actually not of the entire article but rather of a specific passage. The writer has neglected to note the page number within the parenthetical citation.
A GOOD or at least BETTER revision of this paraphrase might look like this:
John F. Callahan suggests in his article “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Evolving American Dream” that while Gatsby is deeply in love with Daisy in The Great Gatsby, his love for her is indistinguishable from his love of his possessions (381).
By incorporating the name of the author of the evidence the research writer is referring to here, the source of this paraphrase is now clear to the reader. Furthermore, because there is a page number at the end of this sentence, the reader understands that this passage is a paraphrase of a particular part of Callahan’s essay and not a summary of the entire essay. Again, if the research writer had introduced this source to his readers earlier, he could have started with a phrase like “Callahan suggests…” and then continued on with his paraphrase.
If the research writer were offering a brief summary of the entire essay following MLA style, he wouldn’t include a page number in parentheses. For example:
John F. Callahan’s article “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Evolving American Dream” examines Fitzgerald’s fascination with the elusiveness of the American Dream in the novels The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon.
Consider this BAD example in APA style, of what NOT to do when quoting evidence:
“If the U.S. scallop fishery were a business, its management would surely be fired, because its revenues could readily be increased by at least 50 percent while its costs were being reduced by an equal percentage.” (Repetto, 2001, p. 84).
Again, this is a potentially valuable piece of evidence, but it simply isn’t clear what point the research writer is trying to make with it. Further, it doesn’t follow the preferred method of citation with APA style.
Here is a revision that is a GOOD or at least BETTER example:
Repetto (2001) concludes that in the case of the scallop industry, those running the industry should be held responsible for not considering methods that would curtail the problems of over-fishing. “If the U.S. scallop fishery were a business, its management would surely be fired, because its revenues could readily be increased by at least 50 percent while its costs were being reduced by an equal percentage” (p. 84).
This revision is improved because the research writer has introduced and explained the point of the evidence with the addition of a clarifying sentence. It also follows the rules of APA style. Generally, APA style prefers that the research writer refer to the author only by last name followed immediately by the year of publication. Whenever possible, you should begin your citation with the author’s last name and the year of publication, and, in the case of a direct quote like this passage, the page number (including the “p.”) in parentheses at the end.
Paraphrasing in APA style is slightly different from MLA style as well. Consider first this BAD example of what NOT to do in paraphrasing from a source in APA style:
Computer criminals have lots of ways to get away with credit card fraud (Cameron, 2002).
The main problem with this paraphrase is there isn’t enough here to adequately explain to the reader what the point of the evidence really is. Remember: your readers have no way of automatically knowing why you as a research writer think that a particular piece of evidence is useful in supporting your point. This is why it is key that you introduce and explain your evidence.
Here is a revision that is GOOD or at least BETTER:
Cameron (2002) points out that computer criminals intent on committing credit card fraud are able to take advantage of the fact that there aren’t enough officials working to enforce computer crimes. Criminals are also able to use the technology to their advantage by communicating via email and chat rooms with other criminals.
Again, this revision is better because the additional information introduces and explains the point of the evidence. In this particular example, the author’s name is also incorporated into the explanation of the evidence as well. In APA, it is preferable to weave in the author’s name into your essay, usually at the beginning of a sentence. However, it would also have been acceptable to end an improved paraphrase with just the author’s last name and the date of publication in parentheses.
Plagiarism is the unauthorized or uncredited use of the writings or ideas of another in your writing. While it might not be as tangible as auto theft or burglary, plagiarism is still a form of theft.
In the academic world, plagiarism is a serious matter because ideas in the forms of research, creative work, and original thought are highly valued. Chances are, your school has strict rules about what happens when someone is caught plagiarizing. The penalty for plagiarism is severe, everything from a failing grade for the plagiarized work, a failing grade for the class, or expulsion from the institution.
You might not be aware that plagiarism can take several different forms. The most well known, purposeful plagiarism , is handing in an essay written by someone else and representing it as your own, copying your essay word for word from a magazine or journal, or downloading an essay from the Internet.
A much more common and less understood phenomenon is what I call accidental plagiarism. Accidental plagiarism is the result of improperly paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting, or citing your evidence in your academic writing. Generally, writers accidentally plagiarize because they simply don’t know or they fail to follow the rules for giving credit to the ideas of others in their writing.
Both purposeful and accidental plagiarism are wrong, against the rules, and can result in harsh punishments. Ignoring or not knowing the rules of how to not plagiarize and properly cite evidence might be an explanation, but it is not anexcuse.
To exemplify what I’m getting at, consider the examples below that use quotations and paraphrases from this brief passage:
Those who denounce cyberculture today strangely resemble those who criticized rock music during the fifties and sixties. Rock started out as an Anglo-American phenomenon and has become an industry. Nonetheless, it was able to capture the hopes of young people around the world and provided enjoyment to those of us who listened to or played rock. Sixties pop was the conscience of one or two generations that helped bring the war in Vietnam to a close. Obviously, neither rock nor pop has solved global poverty or hunger. But is this a reason to be “against” them? (ix).
And just to make it clear that I’m not plagiarizing this passage, here is the citation in MLA style:
Lévy, Pierre. Cyberculture . Trans. Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2001.
Here’s an obvious example of plagiarism:
Those who denounce cyberculture today strangely resemble those who criticized rock music during the fifties and sixties.
In this case, the writer has literally taken one of Lévy’s sentences and represented it as her own. That’s clearly against the rules.
Here’s another example of plagiarism, perhaps less obvious:
The same kind of people who criticize cyberculture are the same kind of people who criticized rock and roll music back in the fifties and sixties. But both cyberculture and rock music inspire and entertain young people.
While these aren’t Lévy’s exact words, they are certainly close enough to constitute a form of plagiarism. And again, even though you might think that this is a “lesser” form of plagiarism, it’s still plagiarism.
Both of these passages can easily be corrected to make them acceptable quotations or paraphrases.
In the introduction of his book Cyberculture, Pierre Lévy observes that “Those who denounce cyberculture today strangely resemble those who criticized rock music during the fifties and sixties” (ix). Pierre Lévy suggests that the same kind of people who criticize cyberculture are the same kind of people who criticized rock and roll music back in the fifties and sixties. But both cyberculture and rock music inspire and entertain young people (ix).
Note that changing these passages from examples of plagiarism to acceptable examples of a quotation and a paraphrase is extremely easy: properly cite your sources.
This leads to the “golden rule” of avoiding plagiarism:
Always cite your sources. If you are unsure as to whether you should or should not cite a particular claim or reference, you should probably cite your source.
Often, students are unclear as to whether or not they need to cite a piece of evidence because they believe it to be “common knowledge” or because they are not sure about the source of information. When in doubt about whether or not to cite evidence in order to give credit to a source (“common knowledge” or not), you should cite the evidence.
Sometimes, I think the ease of finding and retrieving information on the World Wide Web makes readers think that this information does not need to be cited. After all, it isn’t a traditional source like a book or a journal; it is available for “free.” All a research writer needs to do with a web site is “cut and paste” whatever he needs into his essay, right? Wrong!
You need to cite the evidence you find from the Internet or the World Wide Web the same way you cite evidence from other sources. To not do this is plagiarism, or, more bluntly, cheating. Just because the information is “freely” available on the Internet does not mean you can use this information in your academic writing without properly citing it, much in the same way that the information from library journals and books “freely” available to you needs to be cited in order to give credit where credit is due.
It is also not acceptable to simply download graphics from the World Wide Web. Images found on the Internet are protected by copyright laws. Quite literally, taking images from the Web (particularly from commercial sources) is an offense that could lead to legal action. There are places where you can find graphics and clip art that Web publishers have made publicly available for anyone to use, but be sure that the Web site where you find the graphics makes this explicit before you take graphics as your own.
In short, you can use evidence from the Web as long as you don’t plagiarize and as long as you properly cite it; don’t take graphics from the Web unless you know the images are in the public domain.
This piece was originally Chapter 3 from The Process of Research Writing .
Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Avoiding Plagiarism Copyright © 2016 by Steven D. Krause is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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Paraphrasing involves a detailed rewriting of a passage from source material into your own words. Essentially, a writer will paraphrase when they want to incorporate someone else's idea into a paper without directly quoting (using quotation marks) them. A paraphrase will typically be of similar length to the original source. A paraphrase must be credited to the original source.
Paraphrasing is, perhaps, the most common way to legitimately incorporate someone else's material into your writing. You should consider paraphrasing when the wording of the original source is less important than the source. This will allow you to maintain a smooth continuity in your writing. Paraphrases are typically more detailed than a summary (discussed below).
Consider paraphrasing to:
Note: When paraphrasing, avoid keeping the same structure of the original material or merely just changing some of the words. e faithful to stay true to the meaning of the original material and avoid adding your own ideas into a paraphrase.
This material has been adapted from the University of Houston Victoria: Decide When to Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize (page no longer available as of 03/15/2024).
Example of paraphrasing:.
Original Material
In The Sopranos , the mob is besieged as much by inner infidelity as it is by the federal government. Early in the series, the greatest threat to Tony's Family is his own biological family. One of his closest associates turns witness for the FBI, his mother colludes with his uncle to contract a hit on Tony, and his kids click through Web sites that track the federal crackdown in Tony's gangland.
Fields, Ingrid Walker. “Family Values and Feudal Codes: The Social Politics of
America’s Twenty-First Century Gangster.” Journal of Popular Culture 37.4
(2004). Academic Search Complete . Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
Paraphrase:
In the first season of The Sopranos , Tony Soprano's mobster activities are more threatened by members of his biological family than by agents of the federal government. This familial betrayal is multi-pronged. Tony's closest friend and associate is an FBI informant, his mother and uncle are conspiring to have him killed, and his children are surfing the Web for information about his activities (Fields).
This example is from Duke Libraries'Paraphrasing. (page no longer available; redirects to "Citing Sources" 7/26/13).
Step 1: Read over what you want to paraphrase carefully until you understand its full meaning.
Step 2: Set the original passage aside where you won't look at it.
Step 3: Write the meaning of the passage in your own words (i.e., explain it to yourself). Be sure to give proper credit to the source.
Step 4: Check the paraphrase against the original to ensure you haven't accidentally used the same words or phrases and verify that the information you wrote is accurate.
Step 5: Set the material aside and work on something else for a few minutes.
Step 6: When you return to your work, reread your paraphrase and modify as necessary. Setting yourself apart from a paraphrase will allow you to return with a fresh perspective and the words of the original source will have faded. This will allow you to revise and polish your own sentence choices.
Note: The materials presented in this section have been adapted from Purdue OWL's: Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words (opens in a new window), Colorado State University's: How to Paraphrase Without Plagiarizing, (page no longer available; redirects to "Writing Guides" 7/7/14) and Duke Libraries' Paraphrasing. (page no longer available; redirects to "Citing Sources" 7/26/13).
Paraphrases—rewordings of text—need to be cited. Paraphrasing without providing a citation is plagiarism. Even paraphrases with citations can be instances of plagiarism if they are so similar to the original that the paraphraser claims credit for the original author's language.
A paraphrase that avoids plagiarism:
Wines drunk at Greek tables did not always come from Greece itself. The wine snobbery of the time extolled the merits of wines from the slopes of Mount Lebanon, from Palestine, Egypt and Magna Graecia-Greater Greece, i.e., southern Italy. The ten litres a day drunk by the famous wrestler Milo of Croton was a wine famous in Calabria, where Milo lived: this wine, Ciro, is still made.
from Maguelone Toussaint-Samat's A History of Food (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992. 263).
Wines drunk by Greeks were not always made in Greece itself. The wine snobs of that period celebrated wines from Mount Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. The famous wrestler Milo of Croton, who consumed ten liters of wine a day, drank wine made in Calabria outside of Greece; this wine, Ciro, is still made.
This paraphrase plagiarizes in two ways:
1. By having no citation, the paraphrase misleads readers into believing that the ideas, facts and sense of the passage are a result of the author's own research and knowledge.
2. The language of the paraphrase is too similar to the original. Even if the author had provided a citation, some instructors would consider this plagiarism.
Although Greeks were picky about their wine, they enjoyed wine from outside Greece. Upstanding Greeks enjoyed wine from many of Greece's local trading partners—including Palestine, Egypt and southern Italy. One story tells of the famous wrestler Milo of Croton, who consumed ten liters of foreign wine daily (Toussaint-Samat 263).
This paraphrase cites the original and rephrases its words to create an original construction.
Up, up, up, groping through clouds for what seemed like an eternity....No amount of practice could have prepared them for what they encountered. B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds all over the sky.
from Thomas Childers. Wings of morning: the story of the last American bomber shot down over Germany in World War II , Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley (1990), 83.
Up, up, up he went, until he got above the clouds. No amount of practice could have prepared the pilot and crew for what they encountered-B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the clouds over here, over there, everywhere.
This comes from The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose. Ambrose cites but does not quote Childers' original work despite using its imagery and language. Ambrose should have either used Childers' passage as a direct quotation or modified his own passage so that it consisted of his own language.
Not Plagiarism
Despite their training, the pilot and crew's experience was surreal and surprising, seeing for the first time "B-24s, glittering like mica, ... popping up out of the clouds all over the sky" (Ambrose 83).
The average Purdue Global military student is awarded 54% of the credits needed for an associate's and 45% of the credits needed for a bachelor's.
Most Commonly Searched:
According to the joint research efforts of Dr. Donald McCabe and the International Center for Academic Integrity , nearly 30% of university students admit to having cheated in some way on an exam.
Understanding how and when to cite sources is a critical skill for students to learn. Whether you borrow someone’s ideas from a textbook, blog post, or academic journal, you must give proper credit while representing the source’s ideas fairly and coherently.
This guide covers:
The Purdue Global Writing Center defines plagiarism as “using another's words, ideas, results, or images without giving appropriate credit to that person, therefore, giving the impression that it is your own work.”
University of Oxford notes eight common forms of plagiarism:
A new concern revolves around AI and copying directly from chat, composition, and visual tools. Using prompts to generate content for assignments and passing it off as your own contribution is considered plagiarism. Various organizations use AI software to check for submissions generated by a chatbot.
Also, keep in mind that AI tools may produce inaccurate and unreliable information. While there may be valid use cases for informal AI-generated brainstorming, this is a complex and evolving topic. Be sure to verify the policy expressed by your school, professors, or professional organizations for recent developments.
It’s important to note that plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional. Unintentional plagiarism occurs when a student unknowingly cites a source inaccurately or improperly. Intentional plagiarism, on the other hand, is when a student chooses not to cite a source or tries to pass off someone else’s ideas as their own.
The consequences of plagiarism vary by institution, but it could get you expelled or dropped from a course. In less severe instances, plagiarism — both intentional and unintentional — may result in a grade penalty, course failure, or suspension. Beyond the academic consequences, plagiarism also tarnishes your reputation and minimizes your integrity. Whether you’re in school or the working world, plagiarism is not a good look.
The key to avoiding plagiarism is learning how to incorporate research into your writing. According to the Purdue Global Writing Center , you can do this in the following ways:
Whether you’re quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing, don’t forget to cite all sources.
Paraphrasing is using your own words to convey the meaning of an excerpt. It shows your reader that you did your research and understand the content. While students may understand that they need to cite sources, many struggle with paraphrasing the ideas of others into their own words. However, like many aspects of writing, effective paraphrasing is a skill developed over time.
The goal of paraphrasing is to translate the original work into your own wording and sentence structure. The best way to approach this is to focus on the meaning of the text, forcing you to interact with its purpose and context.
A good way to judge your understanding of material is to see if you can explain it to someone else. Once you have this level of understanding, it’s easier to create effective paraphrases — changing the language and structure of a passage becomes more manageable.
Here are some tips to help you paraphrase:
Remember that you still need to cite your paraphrases, but your follow-up analysis and discussion points belong to you.
Any time you use information that isn’t common knowledge or you didn’t come up with yourself, you must cite it. The following requires citation, usually through in-text citation or a reference list entry:
You don’t need to cite information that’s considered common knowledge in the public domain — as long as you reword the well-known fact. According to the Purdue Global Writing Center , information must have the following traits to be considered common knowledge:
The importance of citation goes beyond the avoidance of plagiarism. According to the Purdue Global Writing Center’s Plagiarism Information page, citation:
Additionally, proper citation enhances your credibility with readers, displays your critical thinking skills, and demonstrates your strong writing ability.
It takes time to develop strong writing and paraphrasing skills. Thinking of writing as more of a discussion than a report may help you develop your skills. Remember that it’s not about reporting and repeating information; it’s about expanding on ideas and making them your own.
Below are some tools to help you avoid plagiarism, accurately cite sources, and improve your writing as you develop your own unique voice.
>> Read: Apps and Extensions to Help You With APA Citations
Check out purdue global’s writing center resources.
The Purdue Global Writing Center can help guide students through the paper writing process — from avoiding plagiarism to proper paraphrasing to getting the right citations.
Students may access this resource from the Purdue Global campus homepage . Click “My Studies,” followed by “Academic Success Center.”
From there, students have several options:
Students can check out the Using Sources & APA Style page , which includes several resources to guide students through the process of formatting a document and citing sources in the American Psychological Association (APA) style. The Plagiarism Information page offers a tutorial designed to help students identify instances of plagiarism and understand how to avoid them.
See Notes and Conditions below for important information.
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Last Updated July 26, 2023 By Subhash D Leave a Comment
Inside the article
Paraphrasing is a technique that many writers use in order to make sure they are accurately representing what the original author was trying to say. But why is it important? There are 7 reasons why paraphrasing is important in writing, and we will go over each one of them today.
The most obvious reason why paraphrasing is important in writing is that it keeps you from accidentally plagiarizing someone else’s work while still being able to get your point across. It also prevents any legal issues if someone decides to sue for copyright infringement.
When you’re paraphrasing someone else’s work, you’re not just copying and pasting it word for word. You’re taking the main points and putting them into your own words, which helps you to better understand the original author’s ideas. This also makes your writing sound more natural as if it came from you instead of someone else. Of course, paraphrasing can be hard to get good at first. If there are any problems after paraphrasing the content and the result doesn’t meet your needs, you can always contact paperwriter and get a 100% perfect essay done for you.”
When you paraphrase, you are forced to reword the original passage in your own words. This can help you to better understand the point that was made and improve your own writing. In addition, clarifying your ideas can help your readers follow along more easily.
Paraphrasing is an important tool for writers of all levels. Whether you are a student writing a paper or a professional author, paraphrasing can help you to produce clear, concise, and accurate writing. By following these tips, you can learn how to paraphrase effectively and use this skill to improve your writing skills.
In order to paraphrase, you have to use your own words and ideas. That means that the reader will only be getting information from one person’s perspective instead of several sources’ opinions. In an academic setting, this helps prevent plagiarism since there are completely different ways in which a text can be plagiarized.
The most common way to plagiarize is to take passages from other sources and insert them into your own paper without giving credit to the original author. This type of plagiarism is easily avoided by paraphrasing because you are putting the information in your own words, which means that it’s not a direct copy.
Paraphrasing your sentences in the correct way will make you a better writer. You can avoid errors that are very common when it comes to paraphrased content. When doing this, be sure to find reliable sources for everything you claim in your article because readers want the truth! Don’t forget about people who are learning English; they will appreciate your well-written content. Writing an admission essay can be a challenge and if you are not confident to write it yourself, you must look for an admission essay writing service online.
If you paraphrase correctly, you also make sure that the original message is communicated as intended. This is very important, especially if you are writing for a specific audience or client.
What happens when you paraphrase something incorrectly? You run the risk of plagiarizing! Plagiarism is never okay, and it can even be taken very seriously in certain industries. For example, students who are found guilty of plagiarizing may suffer consequences such as suspension or expulsion from their college or university.
Paraphrasing is a very good way to write quickly. This means that you can use this skill when writing essays or papers in class, as well as reports for your job. You will be able to complete these types of tasks much faster if you know how to paraphrase effectively than if you don’t!
There are many reasons why you want to paraphrase in writing. Paraphrasing helps improve the quality of your research paper and ensures that all sources used throughout your work can be cited accordingly. You also need to paraphrase when plagiarism is a concern, or if there is any risk involved for using quotes from another source without giving proper credit.
Writing is the most important skill to have in today’s world. It helps you with your job, education, and life! Paraphrasing lets others know what you are thinking without losing any of your original thoughts or ideas. If this sounds like something that may interest you, check out our blog post on how paraphrasing can help improve writing skills by click here for paragraph checker . This is a very useful tool for many people who want their opinions heard but don’t always feel comfortable speaking up about them.
A tech-enthusiast, Subhash is a Graduate Engineer and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. Founder of it4nextgen, he has spent more than 20 years in the IT industry.
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How to quote and paraphrase: an overview, when to quote, when to paraphrase, four examples of quotes and paraphrases, how to avoid plagiarism in the research process, plagiarism and the internet.
Paraphrasing in mla style, quoting in apa style, paraphrasing in apa style.
Lévy, Pierre. Cyberculture. Trans. Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2001.
Always cite your sources. If you are unsure as to whether you should or should not cite a particular claim or reference, you should probably cite your source.
Training videos | Faqs
Ref-n-write’s paraphrasing tool has a powerful AI (Artificial Intelligence) module that is specifically designed for academic writing. It is very important to avoid plagiarism when it comes to academic writing. You can no longer use your own text after it is published, it should be paraphrased manually or with a good rephrase tool, otherwise it will be considered self-plagiarism . Ref-n-write has been ranked as one of the best paraphrasing tools available out there. Ref-n-write’s legacy phrase templates feature offers the ability to rephrase sentences individually, while the newly added paraphrasing tool allows the users to rephrase paragraphs with one click. These tools work hand-in-hand with the academic phrasebank and rewording tools to provide a full suite of tools for researchers. This makes Ref-n-write one of the best research tools available for students and academics. In a recent survey of rewriter tools available to students and academics to reduce plagiarism, Ref-n-write was rated as the best scholarly paraphrasing tool . Click here to see the video of paraphrasing tool in action rephrasing a paragraph.
A paraphrasing tool is used to rewrite or rephrase a sentence without altering its meaning. This is accomplished by substituting any number of alternate versions for specific words, phrases, sentences, or even whole paragraphs to create a slightly different variant.
You have to select a passage and click the ‘Paraphrase’ button in the Ref-n-write’s button panel. Ref-n-Write will rewrite the text and display the results in the panels below. Following figure demonstrates Ref-n-Write’s paraphrasing tool in action.
The Ref-n-Write’s paraphrasing tool functions as a grammar checker. In addition to rephrasing and rewording the text the tool can detect and correct grammatical errors. You don't have to spend extra money on a separate grammar check as these tools can be quite expensive and you have to sign up for an annual subscription.
Rephrasing a sentence follows the same process as paraphrasing, but the most important consideration is to make the sentence clearer. Rephrasing may or may not be coupled with rewording or synonym adjustments. It may only entail rearranging the original sentence as long as clarity is obtained.
Perfectly! It is an all-in-one tool that will assist you with every aspect of academic writing. Ref-n-write makes it very easy to rephrase, reword, rewrite, paraphrase, cite and avoid plagiarism.
Yes, it is okay to use a paraphrasing tool. However, there has been much debate about whether or not using a paraphrasing tool is a good practice. Some may argue that it prevents authors and students from improving their ability to express themselves in their own words. As with any invention, these paraphrasing tools can be misused. But that doesn’t mean using them is bad. These tools provide suggestions and ideas to help the user paraphrase, but the final product is still up to the user. Only when authors, students, or users see these paraphrasing tools as a direct substitute for citation does it become a bad practice.
You Paraphrase professionally by following our guidelines on paraphrasing correctly and appropriately citing and referencing the source materials. A paraphrasing tool (ideally Ref-n-write) will make the process quicker and faster, increase the overall quality of your work, and provide you with a greater variety of ideas to work with.
It is essential that a good sentence be clear, concise, appropriately punctuated, free of grammar errors, and have a proper flow. All of the elements stated above must be improved for a sentence to be better. Effective paraphrasing may help you improve a sentence, and employing the right paraphrasing tools can help you improve a sentence even more.
Most of the existing rephrase tools requires access to the internet. On the contrary, the Ref-n-write’s paraphrasing tool can be operated in both online and offline modes. Following images show the rephrased output of the paraphrasing tool when operating in online and offline modes. If you look at the rephrased paragraph, you will notice that the rephrased sentences are colour coded in offline mode indicating the confidence of each word replacement - green means very confident; blue means moderately confident and red means not very confident. There is no colour coding in the online mode, however the quality of rephrasing is much better in the online paraphrasing mode compared to the offline mode. It is highly recommended to use the paraphrasing tool in online mode since this is much more powerful than the offline mode.
Ref-n-Write allows users to paraphrase their file one passage at a time. This enables the author to learn and understand the paraphrasing process and do it without outside help in the future. Since Ref-n-write is a Microsoft Word add-in, paraphrasing can be applied directly to the document without losing the formatting.
There is no such thing as the best online paraphrasing tool. An excellent online paraphrasing tool should provide final paraphrased results that adhere to the steps recommended in our guideline to correctly paraphrasing. Ref-n-write provides a 15-day free trial period in which you can test the paraphrasing feature before charging a one-time fee.
As the saying goes, “the great ones don’t come cheap.” Ref-n-write is the best academic paraphrasing tool available. It is a Microsoft Word add-in that is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers. If you are a scholar, student, researcher, author, or you have a job that requires a lot of writing, Ref-n-write is the best for you. Ref-n-write provides a 15-day free trial period before charging a one-time fee of around £29.99 for the full version. That is significantly less expensive than any other paraphrasing tool that charges a monthly fee. It aids in citation and allows you to import your source materials and conduct a full-text search to avoid plagiarism. Ref-n-write is the most affordable all-in-one paraphrasing tool available.
Paraphrasing with a free or paid tool follows the same steps as mentioned above for correctly paraphrasing. However, when compared to the paid version of Ref-n-write, using a free tool has some limitations on the word count of the text being paraphrased.
Ref-n-write’s paraphrasing tools are secure and dependable. They take the security and privacy of their members seriously, and they operate in line with all relevant privacy and data protection legislation.
Some may argue that employing paraphrasing tools is unethical because the information is not original and the tools do not acknowledge the original writer. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, is not plagiarism if adequately cited and referenced. Hence, utilising paraphrasing tools with correct citation and reference is not considered cheating.
The utilisation of paraphrase tools determines their legitimacy. When used correctly, they are legal; nevertheless, when misused, they constitute plagiarism, which is illegal. True, these paraphrase tools make work easier and faster, especially when one is on a tight deadline, but they must be utilised correctly.
An excellent way to avoid plagiarism scanners is by paraphrasing. Turnitin’s algorithms do not detect paraphrasing. They are primarily concerned with recognising similar language structures, grammatical patterns, and phrases. This paraphrasing tool will not be flagged as plagiarised as long as it generates unique content that exhibits little or no similarity to anything in the Turnitin database.
As previously stated, combining paraphrasing tools with proper citation and referencing is a good practice. Yes, some of these paraphrasing tools can produce 100% unique content, but the source material should be acknowledged. As a result, if proper citation is not used, a paraphrasing tool can constitute plagiarism.
You can try the Ref-n-write paraphrasing tool on the website, however it is recommended to install the plugin on your Microsoft Word as it offers more options and is easy to use. If you conduct a Google search, you will be presented with an unending list of websites to consider. Many of these websites reword sentences; they do not adequately rewrite them.
We are possibly the best paid paraphrasing tool available. Ref-n-write does more than just paraphrase; it also assists with citation and referencing and allows you to import all of your source materials and perform a full-text search to check for similarity and text overlap. Our academic phrase bank provides you with a variety of phrases related to your topic of interest from which to choose. Ref-n-write helps you enhance your writing to suit today’s standards. Oh, and did I forget to mention that it is very affordable compared to other paid tools? We give you good value for your money.
Microsoft Word’s Web version now includes rewrite suggestions, but it is very basic. However, this is a new function and has not yet been implemented on the PC or mobile versions. There are various paraphrasing tools available as Microsoft Word add-ins on PC, including Ref-n-write and many others. These add-ins will assist you in rewording your texts in a variety of ways.
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Research papers rely on other people's writing as a foundation to create new ideas, but you can't just use someone else's words. That's why paraphrasing is an essential writing technique for academic writing.. Paraphrasing rewrites another person's ideas, evidence, or opinions in your own words.With proper attribution, paraphrasing helps you expand on another's work and back up ...
Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning. Paraphrasing is an alternative to quoting (copying someone's exact words and putting them in quotation marks). In academic writing, it's usually better to integrate sources by paraphrasing instead of quoting. It shows that you have understood the ...
Paraphrasing allows you to use your own words to restate an author's ideas. Summarizing allows you to create a succinct, concise statement of an author's main points without copying and pasting a lot of text from the original source. What's the difference: Paraphrasing v. Summarizing. Explore the rest of the page to see how the same ...
Avoiding Plagiarism - Paraphrasing. In writing papers, you will paraphrase more than you will quote. For a report or research paper, you may need to gather background information that is important to the paper but not worthy of direct quotation. Indeed, in technical writing direct quotation is rarely used.
Paraphrasing Source Text. Step 1: Read important parts of the source material until you fully understand its meaning. Step 2: Take some notes and list key terms of the source material. Step 3: Write your own paragraph without looking at the source material, only using the key terms.
Paraphrasing rules and proper paraphrasing citations. Change every word you can and adjust the sentence structure to paraphrase without plagiarizing. Some passages require you to use a few of the same words as the original. For example, if you're paraphrasing a passage that uses the word photosynthesis, there's really no other synonym to use.
How to Paraphrase. Read the original text until you grasp its meaning; then set it aside. Using your memory, write down the main points or concepts. Do not copy the text verbatim. When reading a passage, try first to understand it as a whole, rather than pausing to write down specific ideas or phrases. Be selective.
This section will discuss each of these techniques and how to incorporate them effectively into your writing to help avoid academic misconduct, such as plagiarism. ... Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to describe the words and ideas of others. Learning to paraphrase successfully is an important component in academic writing. This ...
Paraphrasing is the process of rephrasing or rewording a piece of text, whether it's a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire document, in your own words while retaining the original meaning. The goal is to convey the same message but with a different sentence structure or wording. Essentially, it's like expressing someone else's ideas using ...
Here are three simple ways to ensure that you paraphrase passages effectively: Take time to thoroughly study and understand the original information: Early career researchers must carefully review and understand the original research paper simply before attempting to paraphrase it. This entails identifying the main research question, critical ...
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 ...
Summarizing and Paraphrasing. Step One: Skim the Source. Step Two: Take Point-Form Notes. Step Three: Close or Put Away the Source. Step Four: Turn Your Point-Form Notes into Sentences. Step Five: Test What You Have Written to Ensure You Have Avoided Plagiarism. Step Six: Make Any Necessary Corrections. When writing a research paper, you, the ...
Paraphrasing Effectively. In academic writing, paraphrasing another author's ideas is common particularly in research papers. Paraphrasing takes an author's ideas and rephrases them using your own words. To do this effectively, you should avoid similar word phrases and sentence structures the source used. However, paraphrasing effectively ...
To avoid plagiarism, you need to correctly incorporate these sources into your text. You can avoid plagiarism by: Keeping track of the sources you consult in your research. Paraphrasing or quoting from your sources (by using a paraphrasing tool and adding your own ideas) Crediting the original author in an in-text citation and in your reference ...
Writing a Research Paper; Definition. Paraphrasing is a restatement of the sources ideas into your own words. Quotations should only be used in paraphrases when there are special words or wording that cannot be paraphrased. Because the same information that the author provided is being used, a paraphrase is often as long as the original source ...
A "quote" is a direct restatement of the exact words from the original source. The general rule of thumb is any time you use three or more words as they appeared in the original source, you should treat it as a quote. A "paraphrase" is a restatement of the information or point of the original source in your own words.
Step 3: Write the meaning of the passage in your own words (i.e., explain it to yourself). Be sure to give proper credit to the source. Step 4: Check the paraphrase against the original to ensure you haven't accidentally used the same words or phrases and verify that the information you wrote is accurate. Step 5: Set the material aside and work ...
This paraphrase plagiarizes in two ways: 1. By having no citation, the paraphrase misleads readers into believing that the ideas, facts and sense of the passage are a result of the author's own research and knowledge. 2. The language of the paraphrase is too similar to the original.
Summarizing: If you find multiple relevant points in a lengthy text, simplify them into your own condensed synopsis. Paraphrasing: If you want to use a source's information, restate it in your own words. Whether you're quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing, don't forget to cite all sources.
The existence of paraphrasing can be a way to avoid the plagiarism. The writers can paraphrase a direct quote of someone using their own words. This can be a great way to increase the quality of ...
Inside the article. 1 Paraphrasing Helps you Avoid Plagiarism. 2 Paraphrasing Lets you focus on Ideas Instead of Words. 3 Paraphrasing allows you to clarify your ideas. 4 Paraphrasing is a Way to Avoid Plagiarism without Extensive Research. 5 It Makes Your Writing Better. 6 It Prevents Plagiarism. 7 Speed and time.
Our Paraphraser is free to use. You can rephrase up to 125 words at a time, as many times as you'd like. There are no daily limits on free paraphrases. We also offer two free modes: Standard and Fluency. If you'd like to paraphrase more text at once and unlock additional modes, check out QuillBot Premium. Premium offers you unlimited inputs ...
A "quote" is a direct restatement of the exact words from the original source. The general rule of thumb is any time you use three or more words as they appeared in the original source, you should treat it as a quote. A "paraphrase" is a restatement of the information or point of the original source in your own words.
Ref-n-write is the best academic paraphrasing tool available. It is a Microsoft Word add-in that is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers. If you are a scholar, student, researcher, author, or you have a job that requires a lot of writing, Ref-n-write is the best for you. Ref-n-write provides a 15-day free trial period before charging ...