What is paraphrasing?
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Why is paraphrasing important? How is this going to help me?
Appropriate and responsible paraphrasing is critical to student work, and will also be important in your everyday work life. Consider for a moment how you might feel if you found something you said stated almost word-for-word in a document never created by you. Authors and creators feel similarly when they find out their ideas or things they have said end up watered down or their ideas communicated differently than they originally appeared (or intended).
Remember that paraphrasing IS NOT taking words in a paragraph and coming up with alternate ways to express those words. Paraphrasing is about communicating your understanding of what you read and took away from your reading. An appropriate paraphrase should not even mimic the structure of the original sentence or paragraph. If it is helpful put the reading aside and write down what you remember in your own words or talk about it with friends.
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What does paraphrasing mean?
Purdue University Online Writing Lab Links to an external site. defines paraphrasing as "your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form" (Purdue University). Paraphrasing means putting the information, ideas, and/or thoughts of others into your own words. When you paraphrase you do not put quotation marks around your statements, but it is absolutely necessary you (a) not duplicate the original piece of information and (b) include an in-text citation because you are using another person's work.
Additionally, Diana Hacker distinguishes between summarizing and paraphrasing, stating, "[a] summary condenses information from a source; a paraphrase repeats the information in about the same number of words. When you summarize or paraphrase, it is not enough to name the source; you must restate the source's meaning using your own language" (360).
How can I successfully paraphrase something in my student work?
Your instructor or a librarian can be great resources if you need additional advice on how to paraphrase correctly. However, using active reading strategies can also be helpful. When you annotate and take notes as you read, you begin to process the information from the reading into your own words. This is the first step in paraphrase, and from those notes and annotations you can create more formal paraphrases to use in your writing.
Another important strategy is to put away the information you are trying to paraphrase. If it is a website, close down your browser, if it is an article, hide the article under some papers so you can no longer refer to it. Once the information is completely out of your sight, write out what you remember reading or absorbing. In addition, talk about what you read with coworkers, classmates, friends, your significant other, etc. The more you can talk about and recite what you read the better you will be at putting this information into your own words and the more successful you will be at paraphrasing what you read and integrate this information into your student work.
It is important for you to know that you have a lot of resources at your fingertips. You can ask your instructor, a librarian, or go the The Writing Center. Don't hesitate to ask for help!
What does a successful MLA formatted paraphrase look like?
A successful paraphrase can look different depending on the source of the information. It is vital that the paraphrasing not duplicate the words or structure of the original statement.
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Original statement: "Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil), solid waste, trees and wood products, and also as a result of certain chemical reactions (e.g., manufacture of cement). Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere (or 'sequestered') when it is absorbed by plants as part of the biological carbon cycle." Remember when you were sitting around the camp fire with your buddies out at Golden Gardens roasting marshmallows on the shoreline of the Puget Sound? Well, you may not have been aware, but you were producing carbon dioxide; this is one of the four main greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels. So when you are stoking your camp fire next time think about how you are producing carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere, but don't worry because later it gets absorbed by plants (US Environmental Protection Agency). |
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