In this modern era of the internet, knowledge is no longer confined to a book, rather it is shared among a plethora of people for various purposes. Any kind of information is just a click away and it is reusable in the writing form. But repeating anything loses its authenticity and writing become monotonous at a point. Especially now in the case of online open-book assessments, paraphrasing can be a very useful tool.

What is PARAPHRASING?

Paraphrasing is a form of writing to express information or ideas from other sources in your own words. Paraphrasing is NOT simply replacing words with synonyms or rearranging the structure of sentences. It emphasizes retaining the meaning of the original context.

PARAPHRASING VS QUOTING:

QUOTING is stating somebody’s words exactly as they are in the original context. For example,

 Radhika said, “ Today, more people are traveling than ever before.” 

-It is a quote. In some disciplines, such as literary studies and history, quoting is used frequently to support an argument.

On the other hand, Paraphrasing is about stating something in their way without compromising the meaning of the original sentence.

For example, It is true that in many countries the number of travelers has increased in recent times. –This is the paraphrased version of the previously quoted sentence.

Why do we need to paraphrase?

• Paraphrase is more detailed than a mere summary
• It keeps the relevance and effectiveness of the main context
• Paraphrase avoids the accusation of plagiarism (very important)
• It provides us the chance to share our understanding of other peoples’ research.
• It gives our writing a unique perspective

Steps of Paraphrasing

STEP-01:Read the original text very carefully, try to understand it properly.

STEP-02: Identify the key information and ideas, highlight them, so that you do not miss them in your paraphrased text at any cost.

STEP-03: Identify the words/parts that you can change keeping the meaning intact.

STEP-04: Now find synonymous words for those selected words in step 3, for example: instead of expected you can write anticipated.

STEP-05: Restructure the marked parts in step 3. Change adjective+noun to verb + adverb. For example, you can write “beautiful writing” instead of ‘written beautifully”.

STEP-06: Finally read the whole text against the actual text to make sure that the meaning and information are the same in the paraphrased version as well.

Diverse Language to paraphrase effectively

Language to introduce EXAMPLES

• For example 
• For instance
• Such as
• Namely

Language to add more points to a topic

• What is more
• Moreover
• Furthermore
• As well
• In addition
• Not only…but also

Language to make contrasting (opposite) point  

• Whereas
• However
• Though/although
• Nevertheless/nonetheless

Language to mean REALITY

• Actually
• In fact
• As a matter of fact
• Indeed

Language to emphasize a point

• Obviously
• Of course
• Needless to say
• Essentially

Language to mean EFFECT/RESULT

• As a result
• May / might result in 
• Consequently

EXAMPLE OF PARAPHRASING IN LANGUAGE SKILL-BASED EXAM: (IELTS/TOFEL WRITING PART)

QUESTION:

The table shows the proportion of pupils attending four secondary school types between 2000 and 2009.

PARAPHRASED TEXT:

The table illustrates the percentage of school children attending four different types of secondary school from 2000 to 2009.

*The blue portion here is the changed keywords

Finally, if you want to be a pro in paraphrasing, more and more practice is needed. 

Here is one of the paraphrasing tools you can use online for free: QuillBot

You may also like to read: How to Prepare Yourself for Studying Online?