The document discusses how to properly paraphrase sources to avoid plagiarism. It provides examples of both legitimate and illegitimate paraphrasing attempts. A legitimate paraphrase rephrases the original meaning using different words and structure, is the same or shorter length, and includes proper citation. It is important to fully understand the source before paraphrasing and to change more than just a few words or the sentence structure.

1. Paraphrasing
How to avoid plagiarism and correctly paraphrase.

2. What is a paraphrase?
• It rephrases the original author’s words using your
own words.
• It retains the original work’s meaning.
• It uses your own sentence structure.
• It should be equal in length or shorter than the
original text.
• It is cited correctly!

3. Why Paraphrase?
• There are three main reasons why you might want to
paraphrase:
• You want to retain your own writer’s voice.
• The section is confusing or technical, and you need to
clarify what the author means.
• You don’t need all the details, just the main ideas.

4. The Quote Sandwich

5. Common Knowledge
• Common knowledge is information that does not need to
be cited.
• Common knowledge is defined as words with no
synonyms.
• It is information and ideas that you deem already known
or understood by your audience and widely accepted by
scholars, e.g.
• It is common knowledge that Pearl Harbor was bombed on
December 7, 1941, so it does not need to be cited.
• It can be found undocumented in many different credible
sources
• It is listed in a general encyclopedia
• It is considered factual and not controversial

6. Common knowledge cont.
• Common knowledge is influenced and changed by
three things:
• Age—Your common knowledge base increases as you get
more life experience
• Education—Your common knowledge base increases as
you learn more
• Field of study—If you are in an advanced course, your
instructor will expect you to know everything that came
before that course. You will not need to cite it in a paper
for that course. However, in another course, like English,
you would need to cite much more!
• When in doubt, cite your source!

7. Shared Language
• Shared language does not need to be cited.
• Shared language is words with no synonyms.
• It is a common vocabulary shared by a community of
scholars in specific disciplines.
• It is not plagiarism to repeat these phrases, and they
do not require quotation marks.
• They include the following types of terms:
• Conventional designations: research assistant, low-fat
diet, upper respiratory infection
• Preferred bias-free language: physically impaired, fire
fighter, Congressperson
• Technical terms and phrases of a discipline or genre:
cognitive domain, science fiction, modernist poetry

8. Paraphrasing: A Legitimate Version?
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
First Version
In a recent speech, President Obama
emphasized the extraordinary
hardships that are endured by the
uninsured, who are not primarily
people on welfare but middle-class
Americans.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.

9. Plagiarism 1
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
First Version
In a recent speech, President Obama
emphasized the extraordinary
hardships that are endured by the
uninsured, who are not primarily
people on welfare but middle-class
Americans.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.
This is a very lazy attempt at "paraphrasing." This
student just removed some words and squished the
rest together. This attempt is definitely plagiarism.

10. Paraphrasing: A Legitimate Version? 2
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Second Version
President Obama identified the
uninsured as a group represented
primarily by middle-class Americans
rather than by people on welfare. In
making his argument, he spoke of
how those without health insurance
must confront extraordinary
hardships.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.

11. Plagiarism 2
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Second Version
President Obama identified the
uninsured as a group represented
primarily by middle-class Americans
rather than by people on welfare. In
making his argument, he spoke of
how those without health insurance
must confront extraordinary
hardships.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.
This student tried to paraphrase by moving the
structure around, but she still uses many of the
original words. This is definitely still plagiarism. It’s
called patchwork plagiarism.

12. Paraphrasing: A Legitimate Version? 3
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Third Version
In a recent speech, President Obama
remarked, most people know the
surprising difficulties that are put on
those without insurance, who are
just one problem away from
bankruptcy. These are not mainly
citizens on benefits. These are
average Americans.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.

13. Plagiarism 3
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Third Version
In recent speech, President Obama
remarked, most people know the
surprising difficulties that are put on
those without insurance, who are
just one problem away from
bankruptcy. These are not mainly
citizens on benefits. These are
average Americans.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.
This is a very common problem when students try to
paraphrase. Instead of putting it in his own words and
structure, this student went line by line and just changed
the words. This is called structural plagiarism.

14. Paraphrasing: A Legitimate Version? 4
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Fourth Version
In a recent speech, the President
spoke of how millions of middle-class
citizens suffer from the lack of health
insurance, enduring “extraordinary
hardships.”
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.

15. Plagiarism 4
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Fourth Version
In a recent speech, the President
spoke of how millions of middle-class
citizens suffer from the lack of health
insurance, enduring “extraordinary
hardships” (Obama).
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.
This example is almost a trick question. The student almost
has a good paraphrase, but she forgot to cite who said it! If
you don’t put the author’s name in the sentence, you must
have a citation following your paraphrase.

16. Paraphrasing: A Legitimate Version? 5
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
Fifth Version
In a recent speech, President Obama
characterized the situation of
Americans without health insurance
as a terrible predicament, one which
is mainly experienced by those who
belong to the middle class.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.

17. A Legitimate Paraphrase
Original Text
In a recent speech, President Obama
declared, “Everyone understands the
extraordinary hardships that are
placed on the uninsured, who live
every day just one accident or illness
away from bankruptcy. These are not
primarily people on welfare. These
are middle-class Americans.”
A Fair Paraphrase
In a recent speech, President Obama
characterized the situation of
Americans without health insurance
as a terrible predicament, one which
is mainly experienced by those who
belong to the middle class.
Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health
Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009.
Speech.
YAY!! Finally, this
attempt is excellent!

18. Paraphrasing Tips
• Read the material several times to be sure you understand
it.
• Look away from the material (or turn it over) and restate
the passage in your own words.
• Begin by writing the section in your own words in the
order of the original. Then check for matching words.
• If you find any, consult a thesaurus to find words that have
the same or similar meaning.
• After all of the original words have been changed, change
the structure and order of your paraphrase.
• Finally, cite your paraphrase. If it is more than one line,
you must introduce it and cite it at the end of the
paraphrase.

19. A Fair Paraphrase
•A fair paraphrase includes five qualities:
•It retains the original meaning.
•It uses different words.
•It has a different structure.
•It is the same length or shorter
•It has a correct citation.