Paraphrasing is a skill which is kind of tricky when you first start Uni. Often, students are under the misapprehension that paraphrasing means 'changing a few words' - swapping nouns and adjectives or shuffling things around.
Paraphrasing is, in fact, somewhat more complex than merely re-wording. It is about extracting the meaning of what has been said by reading the text, putting it aside and then asking (and noting) 'What does this really mean?'
It is important to highlight a couple of things:
- No two students' paraphrases will be the same
- Each student writer extracts the 'meaning' to suit the purpose - to support their own arguments or positions about a point-of-view
- It's ok to 'quote' a couple of colourful words in a paraphrase (see the examples below)
- Always attribute the paraphrase to a source
Example A: The text
Example B: The paraphrase
Example C: The paraphrase with interpretation
That's all for now. Best of luck!
Helen and Andrea
PS Post your questions about the art of paraphrasing by clicking 'comments'
2 comments:
Yes - you are in the right place to leave your burning question about paraphrasing (or referencing, for that matter!)
And you can be anonymous if you choose!
The definition of a paraphrase: 'Write the author's idea and throw away the author's words'
Thanks, Alistair, for this one! :)
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