Paraphrasing in English
How to paraphrase
Now the question is how should we paraphrase? The first thing we have got to do is to mention the author we have got the text from. We have to introduce our paraphrase with their name and a reporting verb. After that we will have to change the original text so that it will be our own wording, but the idea has to be the same or as similar as possible. We have to learn to change text at different levels. The first level is the word level. Here words have to be changed and replaced by synonyms. We can also change the word class and use a verb phrase instead of a noun phrase, e.g. 'offered an explanation' instead of 'stated the reasons why'. On the phrase level, we have to look for synonymous phrases, i.e. using 'pass a remark' instead of 'make a comment on'. Already these word changes often demand changes on the sentence level because words often depend on or require other words or grammatical changes. Most of our exercises will be on this last level, the sentence level. We have to learn to work with voice changes (active and passive), participle phrases, gerund phrases, subordinate clauses, relative clauses, complex noun phrases and cleft sentences. When you have studied these techniques, your paraphrasing toolbox should be full enough.
A paraphrase should have a number of characteristics so that it does not inadvertantly constitute plagiarism. It ought to:
- have a structure that is clearly different from the original
- use different vocabulary while retaining the same meaning (Turabian 2007, 78; Siepmann 2011, 311).
Turabian expressly warns of paraphrasing too closely, as ‘readers will think that you cross the line from fair paraphrase to plagiarism if they can match your words and phrasing with those of your source’ (Turabian 2007, 311). The general paraphrasing process is divided into three phases (Siepmann et al. 2011, 307):
1) Breaking the information into separate items
2) Producing a rough paraphrase
3) Producing the final paraphrase
If you feel insecure about breaking information into paraphrasable items, you can practise with the three exercise below. To identify which words form one unit to be paraphrased, ask the following questions about the sentence:
Who or what? Ask for the subject.
Who or what does? Ask for the action/activity/situation?
To/with whom? Ask for the object(s)?
How? Ask for an adverb or adverbial.
Where? Ask for an adverb or adverbial.
When? Ask for an adverb or adverbial.
Any qualifications, conditions or constraints? Ask for further adverbials.
For the rough and the final paraphrase, I am going to offer a collection of techniques and exercises below you can practise to widen and improve your paraphrasing skills.
Exercise: breaking information into separate items