Transcript: How to Paraphrase
How to paraphrase, or in other words, taking someone else’s
words and ideas, putting them in your own words (while keeping
the meaning) and citing the source.
In this presentation, I’m going to show you three ways of
paraphrasing. The wrong way to do it, a way that’s acceptable,
and the best way to paraphrase.
To paraphrase, we start with a source or information. You may
have found an awesome article for your assignment.
For example, I might be writing an assignment on sustainability in
the fashion industry in Australia and I have found this great article
by Alice Payne. Within it, I located the perfect quote about how
designers have an impact on the industry.
My quote is: “there are opportunities for Australian designers to
have a positive effect through selecting textiles and finishes with a
lower environmental and social impact”. While I could just use the
direct quote, I want to paraphrase this so I keep the direct quotes
in my assignment to a minimum but still have excellent sources
for my argument.
Firstly, I will show you how NOT to paraphrase, and let you know
why this is a bad way of doing it.
Some people can get the impression that paraphrasing is simply
modifying the words. You might be tempted to use a thesaurus
and find a synonym.
Let’s see what happens when I do this to my quote. The words
that are underlined in the first paragraph have been modified and
are shown as underlined in the second paragraph, but with new
words.
This isn’t paraphrasing, as my new version is too similar to the old
quote. You can compare the words and see there’s not much
change.
In fact, here you can see that at least half of the words are still the
same as the original quote. These small phrases are still Payne’s
original words so I can’t use this as a legitimate paraphrase. I
would be better off keeping the original quote.
One of the main problems with using a thesaurus is that you need
to be careful with how the meaning can change when a new word
is used. Often, a reader can tell that you have just ‘right clicked’
and selected a synonym, because it just doesn’t sound right in
your assignment.
Secondly, I’ll show you a way that is acceptable to use.
Remember, it is an ok way of paraphrasing but it isn’t
sophisticated.
A good tip for trying to paraphrase a quote is to change the
sentence structure. When doing this, you’ll need to modify some
of the words and phrases so little combinations of words don’t
match the original quote.
This is what happens when I apply this method to my quote. It’s
ok –I could use it in my assignment.
To compare between the two versions you can see that I have
changed “selecting textiles and finishes” to “choosing finishes and
materials”. You can see that this bit of information is at the start
of my paraphrase, whereas it was previously near the end of the
quote.
I have modified “lower environmental and social impact” to “less
harmful for society and the environment” and again this
information has moved in my paraphrase from where it was
positioned in the original quote.
I have modified “there are opportunities for Australian designers
to have a positive effect” to “Australian designers have the
opportunity to positively affect” and I’ve put this information near
the end of my paraphrase.
Lastly, I will show you a great way to paraphrase. It builds on the
techniques for OK paraphrasing .
The biggest tip, is to use your own words. Try and explain the
information in the quote to someone else and how it relates to
your assignment. This will help keep the style of your writing
consistent so that it reads clearly and flows well.
Next, take some time to really think about what the author
meant. That quote probably sounds great because the
information is clear and concise.
A great strategy is to map out the information. Here I’ve taken
Payne’s quote and made a mind map of concepts so I can reflect
on the information rather than worrying about moving the words
around in the quote.
Let’s take a look at what happens when I paraphrase using this
method. It’s much more sophisticated than the previous way of
paraphrasing because I have really considered the meaning of
Payne’s information.
I have combined different bits of information in Payne’s quote
into the first part of my paraphrased sentence.
The last part of my paraphrased sentence elaborates on the
simple phrase “selecting textiles and finishes” from Payne’s
original quote. What’s great about my paraphrase is it opens up
the topic for my writing and it is clear for the reader that I’m going
to discuss what these positive flow-on effects are.
There are two options for citing the author within my paraphrase.
I can make the author an active part of the sentence and start
with “Payne suggests” or maybe “Payne argues” or potentially
“Furthermore, research by Payne indicates that”.
Alternatively, I can leave the author in brackets with the year and
page number at the end of the sentence. Both of these methods
are acceptable as I am attributing the information with a citation.
You may like to make use of both of these methods in your writing
to vary the way your sentences begin.
Remember, it’s okay to use to use technical terms, job titles or
roles and common vocabulary without quotation marks in your
paraphrase. However, unique phrases and special terms must be
quoted.
Great paraphrasing takes time and you’ll need to have a few goes
to get it right. Make sure you leave enough time when drafting
your assignment to incorporate sophisticated paraphrasing.
Lastly, if you need help just ask. Use cite write to check how to
cite and reference using different methods or just come and see
us at the library – either in person at the help desk or online.