In writing papers, you will paraphrase more than you will quote. For a report or research paper, you may need to gather background information that is important to the paper but not worthy of direct quotation. Indeed, in technical writing direct quotation is rarely used. It means taking the words of another source and restating them, using your own vocabulary. In this
way, you keep the meaning of the original text, but do not copy its exact wording. Because of their unique perspective, Americans fear globalization less than anyone else, and as a consequence they think about it less than anyone else. When Americans do think about globalization, they think of the global economy as an enlarged version of the American economy. (Source: Thurow, L. (1993). Fortune Favors the Bold (p. 6). New
York: Harper Collins.) According to Lester Thurow (1993) Americans fear globalization less than people from other countries and as a consequence spend less time thinking about it. Indeed, Americans see globalization as an enlarged version of their own economy. Why is this plagiarism? The writer has used Thurow's exact words without enclosing them in quotation marks. S/he has only
substituted synonyms here and there. Even though Thurow is credited with a citation, this would be considered plagiarism. Lester Thurow (1993) maintains that because Americans see globalization simply as a bigger form of their own economy, they are less concerned about it than is the rest of the world. Why is this acceptable? The writer has kept the meaning of the original passage without copying words or structure. Words like globalization and Americans are generic terms (i.e., terms that are commonly used for the concept they
illustrate - it is difficult to find synonyms for them). Thus you may use these words without placing them in quotation marks. (Complete Thurow reference appears in bibliography) Use synonyms for all words that are not generic. Words like world, food, or science are so basic to our vocabulary that is difficult to find a synonym. Change the structure of the sentence. Change the voice from active to passive and vice versa. Change clauses to phrases and vice versa. Change parts of speech. Example
1 Acceptable Paraphrase #1 Acceptable Paraphrase #2 Like drought, excess rainfall and flooding can also contribute to epidemics of waterborne infectious diseases, in this case due to poor sanitation resulting from runoff from overwhelmed sewage lines or the contamination of water by livestock. (Source: Shuman, E., M.D. (2010, March 25). Global climate
change and infectious diseases. New England Journal of Medicine; 362, 12, 1061-1063. Retrieved from nejm.org at MIT Libraries.) Used Synonyms An overabundance of rainfall can also be a factor in spreading infectious diseases carried by water, usually as a result of overflowing sewers and pollution from farm animals (Shuman, 2010). Changed Sentence Structure When there is an overabundance of rainfall, two situations can occur: sewers can overflow and water can become polluted by the presence of livestock, both of which can lead to outbreaks of waterborne diseases (Shuman, 2010). Example 2 (Source: Venkat Narayan, K.M., Ali, M.K., and Koplan, J. (2010, September 23). Global noncomunicable diseases – where worlds meet. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363; 13. 1196-1198. Retrieved from nejm.org at MIT Libraries.) Changed Voice and Changed Parts of Speech Researchers point out that in attempting to implement economic growth, industry is often favored over health: government may subsidize certain forms of agriculture and food production, contribute to tobacco consumption in nations where it owns the industry and otherwise promote growth of industries that pollute. (Venkat Narayan et. al, 2011). Example 3
A good paraphrase combines a number of strategies: the goal is to rephrase the information so that it appears in your words, not those of the author.Example 4: Using Multiple Strategies to Paraphrase
Example 5: Unacceptable Paraphrase
What is paraphrasing in research?Paraphrasing is when you state the ideas from another source in your own words. Even when you use your own words, if the ideas or facts came from another source, you need to cite where they came from.
What is to paraphrase in academic writing?'Paraphrasing' means rewriting the same information in a different way. It helps you better to integrate the ideas into the particular piece you are writing.
What is the difference between patch writing and paraphrasing?Patchwriting happens when you rephrase a portion of source material, but your language remains too close to the vocabulary and/or sentence structure of the original text. All patchwriting is a kind of paraphrase, but successful paraphrase is not patchwritten.
What is literal paraphrasing?When we talk about paraphrasing a literal utterance, we are looking for another utterance whose literal (or perhaps even semantic) content is the same as the original utterance's literal or semantic content. Metaphorical utterances, too, have literal and semantic content, and that content can easily be paraphrased.
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