2. What is paraphrasing?
• Paraphrasing is when you use your own words to
express an author’s idea.
• Paraphrasing is not a direct quote, or an exact
copy of the text.
• Paraphrasing is different from a summary in that
summaries contain only the larger, main ideas of
a text, and are shorter than the original text.
3. Why paraphrase?
• Paraphrasing shows your ability to
understand the meaning of the text.
• Paraphrasing is better than overusing
direct quotes.
• Paraphrasing, with correct citation,
allows you to use an author’s idea to
prove a point, and/or demonstrate a
point of view.
4. Paraphrasing dos and donts:
• Do use your own words to rephrase a
text.
• Do indicate the source of the text (i.e.
cite).
• Don’t just change a few words around.
• Don’t use exact words and/or
structure from the original text.
5. Give it a try!
• Let’s compare! exercise.
• Student paraphrasing exercise.
6. Give it a try!
• Let’s compare! exercise.
• Student paraphrasing exercise.
