Paraphrasing is NOT changing out a few words or changing the simple order of words. You MUST rework the entire sentence and put it in your own words and voice. In doing so, you must also be careful to keep the material factually accurate.
Here are some helpful steps to paraphrase successfully. With practice, paraphrasing will become much easier.
1. Read the material completely, writing down bullet points on the facts or opinions presented. Be CAREFUL NOT to copy down "word for word" sections or phrases without using quotation marks.
2. Set the material and your notes aside. Breifly explain, in complete sentences, the information your have learned from the resource. Use paraphrase indicators to identify the author of the ideas you recall (see list on right).
3. Check your explanation against your notes and make any factual corrections necessary.
4. Compare your explanation to the original. Place quotations around any unique ideas or wording that you directly recalled and quoted.
5. In all cases, include an in-text citation to the original resource. Example: ...scientific studies of global warming (Gore 160).
-steps taken from HUHS Plagiarism LibGuide
From the Writer's Handbook at the University of Wisconsin, this website shows great examples of good vs. bad paraphrases.
Hatton believes that…
Fisher accepts this argument, adding…
According to Moberg …
Fisher accredits this to the fact that….
Miller acknowledges these findings…
Marchese admits that while….
Anderson advances the idea that…
Boone advises…
Moberg advocates…
Brothers affirms…
Gard agrees...
Marsden ascertained that…
Reif appeals to his readers by….
Anderson argues…
Romanelli asserts…
Fisher assumes…
Eastman attests to this…
Hatton claims that…
Ramirez conceived…
Fisher concludes…
Stried considers…
Paulson contends…
Gard contests this, stating that…
J. Scott credits Smith with…
Hilbelink deduces…
Anderson defends these ideas…
Holmquist demonstrates…
Eastman denies the effects…
Loizzo describes…
Bauer disapproves of this approach…
Fisher disputes…
Cowell enumerates the causes…
Gard establishes…
Erickson estimates that…
Kemp expects…
Hatton explains…
Herpst expresses his concern…
Stillman echoes these concerns…
Perry favors an approach where…
Pokel feels that…
Gard finds/found that…
Kracjo furthers these arguments by…
Moberg hypothesizes…
Hatton implies…
Fisher indicates that…
Douglas infers that…
Gard interprets this as…
Erickson judges these beliefs to be…
Kealy justifies his reasoning…
Moberg maintains that…
Masterson is of the opinion that…
Whitt posits…
Douglas postulates…
Van Berkum predicts…
Erickson persuades his readers that…
Hatton presents convincing evidence that…
Peterson promotes the concept that…
Lynch proposes a different idea based on…
Taylor presumes this to be true when he…
Fisher puts forth…
Amundson reacts to these claims by…
Fisher reasons…
Cowell recommends…
Moberg recounts his own experiences in…
Westenberger regards this fact as…
Jensen refutes this…
Erickson relates additional evidence…
Bates remarks that…
Paulson reports the findings of…
Jenkins responds to this by…
Moberg says…
Ward sets forth…
Brovick shows…
Cowell speculates…
Brothers states…
Butterfield suggests…
Anderson supports…
Phillips surmises that…
Fisher suspects…
Carey tells of…
Eckert testifies…
Boone theorizes…
Brothers thinks…
Jones understands that…
Diers upholds…
Cowell urges…
Elsen voices his concerns…
-Indicators from HUHS Plagiarism LibGuide