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How to Paraphrase (from ESL library)

By Mme. Drummond
Last updated about 4 years ago
15 Questions
Note from the author:
Information & practice exercises about how to paraphrase

How to Paraphrase from esllibrary.com

Objective: In this lesson, you will pratise using your own words to present facts and opinions of others. This is called paraphrasing. We paraphrase for many reasons in both speaking and writing. Here, we will focus on writing.

Let's start by exploring a block of written text.
Read the text below and answer questions #1-3.

What is this excerpt mainly about?

Rewrite the short excerpt of text above in your own words. Choose one exact word or phrase (group of words) from the original text and place quotations around it, "like this," in your own version.

What is the one word or phrase you placed in quotations, and why did you choose to include it in your paraphrased version?

Vocabulary: Match these words to their correct defintions.

a small section of text, video, or audio
to use one's own words to share another's information or research
to make shorter
the first of its kind, the first one
the place that holds the original information (book, video, article, etc.)
the copying and presenting of another's work as if it were one's own
proof
a person or source with experience or expertise
to set apart or show as different
a reference in round brackets that leads to the original souce (these are round brackets)
the category of a word in language (categories in English: noun, pronoun, determiner, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, etc.)

Introduction to Paraphrasing

Read the texts below and do the exercise that follows.
Questions 5-7: Use the information from the text above (sections A, B and C about paraprasing) to write your answers below.

Summarize the 3 Keys to Paraphrasing (section B)

Quote a sentence from sections A, B or C.

Paraphrase the first paragraph in 10 Paraphrasing Methods to Try (section C)

5 Reasons for Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing in spoken English is something that you do every day without noticing. In conversation, you often reword or rephrase something that you learned or heard from others. In writing, paraphrasing is similar.

Here are five reasons you may need to paraphrase in writing.
(They are labelled A, B, C, D, E)
Note:
  • When summarizing, we only include the main idea(s).
  • When paraphrasing, we can simplify but still include most of the original details. (This type of paraphrasing is very common in speaking.)
Task 1

Look up some facts about elephants, guitars or maple syrup. (Choose only one)

Copy one full sentence (exactly) about a fact that interests you.
Copy the link to the website where you found this fact.

Paraphrase your fact to explain it in your own words.

Task 2

Simplify/condense What is Paraphrasing? (all paragraphs in section A from the Introduction to Paraphrasing texts)


Ask two classmates (and/or two people in your home) what they think is "the secret to success."
  • Take notes in your notebook.
  • Paraphrase their answers below.
  • Add your own opinion.


Task 4

Answer the following questions based on the example from the box in section E above.

What is the original source?

Why is the second excerpt an example of plagiarism?

How is the third example different from the example of plagiarism?

Quoting

At times when paraphrasing, you may want to use the exact word or phrasing from the original source because you think it works best. If you want to use the exact word or phrase inside your paraphrased version, you must use quotation marks around it and credit the source.
Note:
  • In some specialized fields (ex.: linguistics), there are certain words or phrases that are specific to the industry (ex.: embedded questions). This is called "shared language."
  • When paraphrasing, you don't need to place shared language in quotation marks.
  • Don't try to put industry-specific words into your own words either.

Task 5

Choose an English grammar element that you find difficult (ex.: conditionals, conjunctions, quantifiers, relative clauses).
  • Go online and find an excerpt about this grammar point.
  • Pharaphrase the information and use quotation marks around at least two words or phrases from the original.
  • Copy the link to the website where you found your excerpt.


Paranthetical Citations

Within an academic piece of writing (essay, synthesis, article, etc.), you must provide in-text parenthetical citations when an idea is not your own (including paraphrased information and any direct quotations).

In-text citations allow the reader to locate the full citation in the reference page at the end of your paper/text. An in-text citation has very brief (short) information, such as an author's last name and the page number of a book. Sometimes, an in-text citation includes a title of the source.

Examples:
  1. "Where we come from influences both what we write and how we write" (Goldberg 90).
  2. Our origin helps shape "what" and "how" we write (Goldberg 90).
  3. Bonni Goldberg, an expert in creative writing, notes that our background influences the content and style of our writing (90).
  4. Are you curious about what drives the content and style of your favourite writer? You can start by looking at "where they come from" (Goldberg, Room to Write).

Homework

Task 6

Make notes in your notebook about your answers to the following questions:
  1. What is the purpose of an in-text (paranthetical) citation? Paraphrase the information in your answer.
  2. What type of writing is the first example above? ("Where we come from ... " )
  3. Why are the words "what" and "how" in quotations in the second example?
  4. Why do you think the format of the parenthetical citation looks a bit different in the paraphrased versions (examples #2, 3 & 4)?
  5. How does the sentence structure change in the paraphrased versions?

Take a picture of your notes and turn it in on Google Classroom.

We will discuss the answers together next class.