Paraphrasing requires understanding an idea and expressing it in your own sentence structure while preserving its scope. Replacing a few words with synonyms is not enough. A useful paraphrase serves your argument and makes the source relationship clear through appropriate citation.
Understand before rewriting
Read the relevant passage and identify its claim, conditions, and qualifications. Clarify unfamiliar terms. Then look away and explain the idea as if speaking to someone who has not read it. Start from meaning rather than the original syntax. If you cannot explain it without copying, return to comprehension instead of trying harder to find synonyms. Keep exact technical terms when changing them would distort the concept.
Compare for fidelity
Check your version against the source. Did a cautious possibility become certainty? Did a finding about one group become a claim about everyone? Did you remove a condition essential to the conclusion? Correct these changes. If a distinctive phrase is necessary, quote it accurately and cite it. A paraphrase should remain traceable, so record page numbers or other location information while working rather than trying to reconstruct them later.
Integrate and attribute
Introduce the idea in a way that shows its role: background, evidence, alternative explanation, or a position you challenge. Follow the required citation style. Your own explanation should make clear how the source contributes to the paragraph. Beginners can paraphrase a short passage and check each qualification. Experienced writers can synthesize across sources while preserving who supports which idea. Citation acknowledges the borrowed idea even when all wording is your own.
Put it into practice
Put it into practice
- Choose a short passage relevant to your project.
- Explain it away from the source, then compare scope and qualifications.
- Revise for accuracy, add the appropriate citation, and write one sentence explaining why this paraphrase belongs in your argument.
Sources & further reading
- Cornell Knight Institute: Evaluating Sources ↗
- Harvard College Writing Center: Strategies for Essay Writing ↗
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