What is Paraphrasing?

Posted by Splice, Essay Tips Chief Writer

Paraphrasing is basically putting other people's words into your own words. It's like rewording what somebody else has said or written. To paraphrase effectively, you should first know the thought or idea behind the words or sentence you want to paraphrase. Whether you are paraphrasing a short quote from an essay or a book or an entire paragraph, you can either summarize or lengthen the passage you want to reword into your own words. The secret, however, is your ability to absorb the idea from the original text and writing it down yourself, as if repeating what was originally written.

A good paraphrase is one that is able to "imitate" the idea of the original phrase, sentence or paragraph without actually copying the exact original text. A good paraphrase is able to "duplicate" the idea behind the original text through the use of synonymous words, phrases or sentences without copying the same words. In short, paraphrasing is duplicating the idea but NOT the text itself.

Follow the link to find out how to paraphrase a direct quote from a book or journal article, how to paraphrase a poem, quotes versus paraphrase, or read some paraphrasing samples.

paraphrasing samples
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