31 How to Paraphrase
Christina Page
Write a paraphrase using the five-step method
Have a look at the following video that outlines the steps to effective paraphrasing. Video by Christina Page from the The Learning Centre at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. For more information or help, please contact the ECU Writing Center.
Source: (Denchuk, n.d.) CC-BY. Adapted with permission.
Let’s have a look at an example
Step 1: Read the original text in its context.
You cannot just grab pieces of information out of context, because this can lead to misunderstanding the information. Read your source in its context and ask questions like:
- What is the focus?
- How does this information relate to my research topic?
- What is the main thing that the authors found?
Once you have answered these questions, you will be prepared to identify the specific pieces of information that are relevant to your paper, and that you may want to paraphrase.
This study quantitatively and qualitatively evaluates the extent to which incorporating an artistic class assignment into a traditional lecture course stimulates student enjoyment and enhances the students’ perceived retention of course material. The results indicate that the project provides great benefit to college students by incorporating a variety of teaching methods and learning strategies. Artistic and creative assignments, such as the one described in this article, allow for student engagement, repetition of material, and processing and application of ideas. (Wellman, 2012)
After reading the source in its context, you decide to paraphrase the yellow underlined part. Bold keywords and check words and concepts in a dictionary:
- engagement = being involved with someone or something in order to understand it
- processing = dealing with something through a series of steps
Step 2: Break up the original part you want to paraphrase into chunks of meaning and number these chunks.
Step 3: Without looking at the original text, write a first draft of the paraphrase.
Step 4: Check the paraphrase with the checklist below. Did I…
- Change the sentence structure?
- Change the order of the words?
- Use synonyms for words that are not key words?
- Use different types of connecting words?
- Change the order of the ideas (where possible)?
Revise the paraphrase.
| Original | Paraphrase – first draft | Paraphrase – final version |
| (1) The results indicate that (2) the project provides great benefit to college students (3) by incorporating a variety of teaching methods and (4) learning strategies. (5) Artistic and creative assignments, (6) such as the one described in this article, (7) allow for student engagement, (8) repetition of material, and (9) processing and (10) application of ideas. | By allowing students to complete creative activities as a part of a post-secondary course, students were more deeply involved with the course material, thinking about it and remembering it more effectively. | When students are encouraged to complete creative activities as a part of a post-secondary course, they are more deeply involved with course material, thinking about it and remembering it more effectively. |
Step 5: Integrate your final paraphrase in your write-up and include a citation.
