Critical Skills: Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is the practice of restating another author's thoughts in one's own words. It is a way of accurately sharing someone else's ideas without simply repeating their words verbatim. From a technical perspective, paraphrases are typically said to exhibit a significant equivalence of meaning across a given length of text. More simply put, a paraphrase is a sentence or phrase that conveys the same meaning as another sentence or phrase using a different set of words.

While paraphrasing is a relatively simple linguistic concept, it can be a valuable tool for academic and professional writers alike. Paraphrasing provides writers with a way of improving the quality and persuasiveness of their own work through the inclusion of thoughts and ideas adapted from other respected sources. By paraphrasing the words of others, writers can make their own work more interesting and engaging for the reader. More importantly, writers can also use paraphrasing to bolster their arguments with supporting information in a complementary manner that, unlike direct quotation, comes across to the reader as something more than simple parroting. Paraphrasing can even be used as a way for writers to introduce an idea that he or she intends to further explain or critique later in a text. All of this ultimately serves to boost the reader's confidence in a writer's argument and increases the likelihood that the reader will accept the validity of that argument.

Paraphrasing is a skill that is equally important for both writers and readers. In addition to enhancing the writer's work and elevating the validity of his or her point, paraphrasing helps the writer avoid using quotations too frequently. Paraphrasing also makes it easier for the writer to integrate useful information from a source that, while valuable, may not be distinguished enough to cite directly. On the other side of the equation, the use of paraphrasing and the mental processes involved in the task of interpreting paraphrased text can help readers better understand both the meaning of the original source text and the intention of the writer who is using it as part of his or her work.

Core Skills & Competencies

Paraphrasing is a simple task that can either enhance or weaken an argument depending on how well it is executed. Used skillfully, paraphrasing often expands the depth of one's writing and helps to support the point one is trying to make. When employed incorrectly or inaccurately, however, paraphrasing can easily confuse the reader and muddle the writer's point. To skillfully paraphrase a given sentence or larger excerpt of text, it is first necessary for the writer to be sure that he or she fully understands the meaning of the text in question. If the writer misunderstands the meaning of the text he or she chooses to paraphrase, that misunderstanding will likely be passed on to the reader as well. For this reason, it is crucial that paraphrased text offers an accurate and complete representation of the original text's meaning. At the same time, it is equally important to ensure that paraphrased text is distinct from the original text. If paraphrased text is too similar to the original text, it could be considered plagiarized. Paraphrased text must accurately convey the meaning of the original text without using too much of the same language or phrasing. In short, strong paraphrasing is both accurate and distinct.

Paraphrasing is closely tied to many other important writing skills that are learned in the classroom. Most importantly, paraphrasing is directly related to the use of quotations. Like paraphrasing, the use of quotations is a way for writers to incorporate information from other sources into their own work. Unlike, paraphrasing, however, using quotations means taking and reproducing text verbatim from a source and signaling this text with quotation marks. Paraphrasing is also closely related to the concept of summarization. Summarization is the process of identifying the main ideas of a given text and describing them in one's own words. While summarizing and paraphrasing are fundamentally similar, paraphrasing generally involves greater focus on details. Summarizing, on the other hand, is focused more on the bigger picture of a text.

Other key skills related to paraphrasing include reading comprehension, vocabulary, and the ability to recognize plagiarism. Because paraphrasing involves interpreting and rewriting part of a source text, it requires students to rely on their reading comprehension skills to understand the meaning of the source text. Reading comprehension refers to students' ability to read and process text and understand its meaning. Without sufficient reading comprehension skills, students will likely have difficulty paraphrasing accurately. Strong vocabulary skills are also vital to successful paraphrasing. In most cases, paraphrasing involves replacing words in the source text with appropriate synonyms. To paraphrase accurately, students must be able to discern the meaning of words in the source text and identify the synonyms that can best be used to replace those words. When students do not understand the meaning of a particular word or have trouble identifying the correct synonym, they may also have to rely on skills related to the use of dictionaries and thesauruses. Finally, paraphrasing also requires students to be proficient in recognizing and avoiding plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs when a writer uses text from a source without changing it enough for it to be considered paraphrased or treating it as a quote and reproducing it without proper attribution. Plagiarism is a major problem that can have serious consequences. As a result, it is important for students to understand what constitutes plagiarism and how best to avoid it when they attempt to paraphrase text from a source.

Research & Theory

Paraphrasing is a critical skill that is an important element of strong, effective writing at virtually every level. In both academic and professional settings, the ability to paraphrase text accurately and appropriately is a valuable tool that can enhance one's writing in numerous ways. Over the years, many researchers have conducted studies on the subject of paraphrasing and its relationship with other cognitive skills and other aspects of literacy. Generally, these studies have highlighted the importance of paraphrasing and demonstrated the contributions that paraphrasing skills make to one's overall competency when it comes to reading and writing. These studies, while varied in scope and nature, all reveal that despite being a relatively simple task in most cases, paraphrasing can have a profound effect on one's ability to read and write effectively.

Many studies of paraphrasing and its relationship to other literacy skills have focused on the specific relationship between paraphrasing and reading comprehension among students. Some of these studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between paraphrasing activities and improved reading comprehension skills. One such study specifically found that teaching paraphrasing techniques to middle school students improved the students' ability to comprehend text by helping them to carry out important tasks such as determining main ideas, picking out supporting details, and correctly identifying the author's use of voice. Further, the study concluded that paraphrasing activities are effective in this way because the task of paraphrasing itself brings together all four modes of communication—reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Other studies have shown that paraphrasing and its related activities can be even more helpful for students faced with certain educational obstacles. One such study found that students with learning disabilities who underwent paraphrasing strategy instruction learned to write with better fluency and accuracy than did similar students who were taught only through repeated readings.

While most research shows that instructive paraphrasing activities generally improve student performance in terms of reading and writing, there is some evidence that suggests certain students may find such activities more confusing than helpful. In particular, studies have shown that students who study English as a second language (ESL) often struggle with the concept of paraphrasing and ultimately experience little benefit from paraphrasing activities. One such study of Chinese ESL students found that while the students were able to complete decontextualized paraphrasing exercises with a reasonable degree of success, many struggled to make the transition between these exercises and actual paraphrasing. As a result, paraphrasing was largely ineffective as a writing tool for these students.

Some studies have also focused on the relationship between paraphrasing and plagiarism. In one of these studies, undergraduate college students were given a two-sentence paragraph and were asked by researchers to paraphrase it as best they could. The results showed that around half of the paraphrased paragraphs were plagiarized to some extent. From this and other observations, the researchers concluded that unintentional plagiarism among college students may result from the difficulties they encounter while attempting to process complicated and unfamiliar text. At the same time, another study revealed that the likelihood of plagiarism among college students can be reduced through practicing paraphrasing. In this study, students were asked to write a definition of plagiarism before and after undergoing six weeks of practicing paraphrasing and citing sources. The results showed that students better understood the nature of plagiarism and how to avoid it after they spent time practicing paraphrasing and correctly citing original sources.

Bibliography

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Ellis, Edwin S., and Anne W. Graves. "Teaching Rural Students with Learning Disabilities: A Paraphrasing Strategy to Increase Comprehension of Main Ideas." Rural Special Education Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 2, 1990.

Fisk, Candace, and Beth Hurst. "Paraphrasing for Comprehension." The Reading Teacher, vol. 57, no. 2, 2003.

Hirvela, Alan, and Qian Du. ""Why Am I Paraphrasing?": Undergraduate ESL Writers' Engagement with Source-Based Academic Writing and Reading." Journal of English for Academic Purposes, vol. 12, no. 2, 2013.

"Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words." Purdue Online Writing Lab, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/1. Accessed 29 Dec. 2017.

"Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing." Purdue Online Writing Lab, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/1. Accessed 29 Dec. 2017.

Roig, Miguel. "When College Students' Attempts at Paraphrasing Become Instances of Potential Plagiarism." Psychological Reports, vol. 84, 1999.