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Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words
Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu
Learn to borrow from a source without plagiarizing. For more information
on paraphrasing, as well as other ways to integrate sources into your
paper, see the Purdue OWL handout Quoting Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_quotprsum.html.
For more information about writing research papers, see our workshop on
this subject at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/index.html.
Purdue students will want to make sure that they are familiar with Purdue's
official academic dishonesty policy (http://www.purdue.edu/odos/administration/integrity.htm)
as well as any additional policies that their instructor has implemented.
Another good resource for understanding plagiarism is the WPA Statement
on Plagiarism (http://www.ilstu.edu/~ddhesse/wpa/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf).
A paraphrase is...
- your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by
someone else, presented in a new form.
- one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to
borrow from a source.
- a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely
on a single main idea.
Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...
- it is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
- it helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
- the mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you
to grasp the full meaning of the original.
6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing
1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
2. Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
3. 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 subject of your paraphrase.
4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version
accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you
have borrowed exactly from the source.
6. Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that
you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into
your paper.
Some examples to compare
The original passage:
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): 46-47.
A legitimate paraphrase:
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).
An acceptable summary:
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).
A plagiarized version:
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.
After reviewing this handout, try an exercise on paraphrasing at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_paraphrEX1.html.
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