Life Easier Today Than It Was 50 Years Ago
Paraphrasing
S. Kathleen Kitao
Kenji Kitao
When you write a paper, you use some information that you have read in books, journals, on the Internet, etc. Your teacher might have told you, “Use your own words.” In other words, even when you use someone else’s information, you are not allowed to use the words they wrote. You have to use your own. You have to say the same thing in a different way. This is called paraphrasing.
For example, if the book you are reading from says, “John Adams, who was involved in winning independence for the United States, was the second President.” You cannot write those words in your paper. You cannot even write, “John Adams, a man involved in winning independence for the United States, was its second President.” One way that you could re-write it is to say, “The second American President, John Adams, was also influential in gaining freedom for the country.”
However, in spite of being told to use your own words, you might not know how to do it. There are a variety of techniques you can use. You can change the words for words of similar meaning; you can change the grammar; you can change the grammar or grammatical forms. In this reading, you will learn about ways that you can paraphrase.
Methods of Paraphrasing
Before you even begin to paraphrase, you need to make certain that you understand what you are reading. If you do not understand what you read, you cannot paraphrase it.
There are six ways that you can change sentences to paraphrase the information. You will probably not use all of them in the same sentence, but you can use ones that are appropriate. (In each of the examples, only one change is made. This is not enough if you are actually paraphrasing.) Read about each type of change, and look at the examples. Then make that type of change in the sample sentences that follow.
Changing Word Order
One way you can change a sentence for paraphrasing is to change the word order. For example, you might change “Because I
S. Kathleen Kitao
Kenji Kitao
When you write a paper, you use some information that you have read in books, journals, on the Internet, etc. Your teacher might have told you, “Use your own words.” In other words, even when you use someone else’s information, you are not allowed to use the words they wrote. You have to use your own. You have to say the same thing in a different way. This is called paraphrasing.
For example, if the book you are reading from says, “John Adams, who was involved in winning independence for the United States, was the second President.” You cannot write those words in your paper. You cannot even write, “John Adams, a man involved in winning independence for the United States, was its second President.” One way that you could re-write it is to say, “The second American President, John Adams, was also influential in gaining freedom for the country.”
However, in spite of being told to use your own words, you might not know how to do it. There are a variety of techniques you can use. You can change the words for words of similar meaning; you can change the grammar; you can change the grammar or grammatical forms. In this reading, you will learn about ways that you can paraphrase.
Methods of Paraphrasing
Before you even begin to paraphrase, you need to make certain that you understand what you are reading. If you do not understand what you read, you cannot paraphrase it.
There are six ways that you can change sentences to paraphrase the information. You will probably not use all of them in the same sentence, but you can use ones that are appropriate. (In each of the examples, only one change is made. This is not enough if you are actually paraphrasing.) Read about each type of change, and look at the examples. Then make that type of change in the sample sentences that follow.
Changing Word Order
One way you can change a sentence for paraphrasing is to change the word order. For example, you might change “Because I