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Paraphrasing

Judy Kahalas for Roxbury Community College

Updated 2011

Outcomes: At the end of this workshop, you will be able to do the following: Define and understand paraphrasing Use techniques to help you

paraphrase a reading, speech, etc. Develop a paraphrase that has

essentially the same meaning as an original piece of writing

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Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is restating what someone else said by using words and phrases that are different from those of the speaker or author.

When we rephrase this speech, passage, or text, we retain the original meaning and intention.

Paraphrases avoid using sentence structures that are similar to those of the original text.

Paraphrases are longer and more detailed than summaries.

Paraphrases are integrated into your text in appropriate places to expand, support, or inform your thesis.

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Some helpful hints . . . Hint: Hide the original source while

writing. Hint: When you finish paraphrasing, check

to make sure that your writing reflects your own unique style and vocabulary!

Hint: Paraphrasing the ideas of another author means that you need to give credit, both in the text and in the Works Cited page, to the source of these ideas.

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Maintaining Accuracy

Whenever you paraphrase, it is important to accurately report what you have heard or read.

o Do not insert language that reflects an opinion.o Do not change the intent of the speaker or

author.o Do not insert ideas that are not reflective of the

position or opinion of the speaker or author.

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Change Words, Not Ideas

Use your own words but make sure they give your reader the same message as the author or speaker intended.

Use words that let your reader know that a paraphrase will follow:

o Dr. Onuoha said that . . .o Prof. Teel implied that . . .

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Practice Time! Read the following passage:Described as an “epidemic” by the US Surgeon

General (Satcher 2001), obesity is now recognized as one of the major health issues in the United States. National Center for Health Statistics data show that over 66% of US adults are currently obese or overweight (Ogden et al. 2006) and therefore at heightened risk for multiple related negative health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, kidney failure, and cancer (Finkelstein, Fiebelcorn, and Wang 2003; Haskins, Paxson and Donauhue 2006; World Cancer Research Fund, 2007).

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Bibliographic Information- If you are writing a research paper: The following information will be needed to

paraphrase this paragraph correctly: Author: Schafft, Kai, Eric Jensen and C. Claire

Hinrich Title: School Deserts and Overweight Children:

Evidence from Pennsylvania Publisher: Rural Sociological Society City of Publication: Chicago Year of Publication:2009 Pages cited: 153-154

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Where will you use this information?

HINT: Some of this information will be used in your

text and some will be used in your Works Cited page.

Which information will you use in your text when you paraphrase?

Which information will you use in your Works Cited page?

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Come up and give it a try!

In a study on obesity in schoolchildren, the authors concluded that

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Summing up Paraphrasing

Use the author’s ideas, not words. Be more specific than a summary. Remove the original so you won’t be

tempted to copy form or words. Give credit to the original author in

2 places: within the text and in the Works Cited page.

Assessment : Checklist

Your words were different from the author’s words.

The meaning of your paraphrase is essentially the same as the meaning of the original passage.

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Kahalas 12 Works Cited Raimes, Ann. Keys for Writers A Brief

Handbook. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996.

Schafft, Kai, Eric Jensen and C. Claire Hinrich. School Deserts and

Overweight Children: Evidence from Pennsylvania. Chicago: The

Rural Sociological Society, 2009.13