Paraphrasing

What is paraphrasing?

At its most straightforward, paraphrasing is taking an idea that someone else has written about and putting it into your own words. There are two steps to this: firstly, you need to understand the original idea that you have read, and secondly you need to write it again in your own words.

Why do I need to learn paraphrasing skills?

Paraphrasing is a key way for you to include the ideas of others in your writing. Like including a direct quote, it allows you to demonstrate that you have researched and read other people's work. In addition to this, putting the point into your own words shows that you have understood the point being made. It can also help with the flow of your paragraph as you can use your paraphrase to link to other points or other sources that you have read. Paraphrasing a source that you have read can form the 'Evidence' section of the PEECL paragraph structure.

How can I learn to paraphrase?

There are lots of ways that you can develop your skills in paraphrasing. Try and paraphrase one idea or point at a time, as paraphrasing multiple points can quickly become confusing for you and the person reading your work.

When you are reading, try and break the point down into its different parts. You can do this by asking yourself some key questions, for example:

Who (or what) is involved?
What are they doing?
How are they doing it?

When you are writing you can then bring these elements together into a new structure and in your own words. Ask yourself: Who is doing what to whom, and how? *

If you are struggling, you could try explaining the point to someone else, without looking at the original. Encourage them to ask you questions if they are unsure. Explaining the point to someone else will help you to check your understanding of the original and put it into your own words.

A good paraphrase will have the same meaning as the original, whilst containing few (if any) recognisable sentences from the original source. You must also make sure that you correctly cite and reference the original source.

* The method described here is based on work by Jo Kukuczka at University of Bristol