Paraphrasing
What is it?
When writing a research-based essay, you often need to convey information you found in your research. To do so, you have two options: you can quote it directly, or you can paraphrase the information by putting it in your own words.
What does it look like?
Any time you give information that came from another source, it must be cited. Paraphrased information is another's idea or research communicated in your own words. It looks like this:
Animal experimentation has been a staple of medical research for the last one hundred years, but recent advances in computer technology have rendered it mostly obsolete (Fraser).
The sentence above contains information that I read in an article written by a man named James Fraser. It came from a long and complicated paragraph, so I just took the main idea and put it in my own words.
Animal experimentation has been a staple of medical research for the last one hundred years, but recent advances in computer technology have rendered it mostly obsolete (Fraser).
The sentence above contains information that I read in an article written by a man named James Fraser. It came from a long and complicated paragraph, so I just took the main idea and put it in my own words.
Well, that sounds pretty easy. How can I mess that up?
Here's where students constantly mess up in paraphrasing. They get so insecure about their own writing or maybe even their own understanding of the concept that they try to copy the quote in and then change a few words around, calling that paraphrasing. Unfortunately, that's not paraphrasing, that's plagiarism.
Tinkering with a quote is never enough.
Tinkering with a quote is never enough.
Why don't I just quote everything to be safe?
Because if your essay is really based on a lot of research, the balance would tip too much, and you'd be left with a series of huge, ungainly quotes that don't fit well together. The tone would be inconsistent, and the piece would be hard to read. Plus, it wouldn't really be your writing any more. Only use a direct quote if the way the original text is worded is particularly interesting and brings something worthwhile to your essay.
How do I avoid tinkering
It's actually pretty easy, but it requires you to have a little faith in your understanding of the material you have been researching. Hopefully that shouldn't be a problem, though, because if you don't understand what you have read, you have no business writing about it in the first place. Here's how I do it.
- First I read the information I want to use several times.
- I make sure I understand the point it's making.
- I then set the information aside and speak aloud, in my own words, and without looking at the source, the main ideas.
- Then, I go back to my essay and write in my own words, without looking at the source, the main idea I have just worked out for myself.
- Finally, I check the source to see if I misrepresented anything. For example, did I say 78% of animals are affected, when I should have said 87%? That kind of thing. If it looks good, I slap a citation at the end of the sentence(s) to indicate that the information contained therein came from the source indicated (Fraser).
This isn't just nitpicking. It makes your essay better.
Good paraphrasing allows you to have your cake and eat it too. You get to show that your information is legitimate, but you also get to make it flow perfectly with the sentences before and after it. You own it now.