benefits of paraphrasing in academic writing

Summarizing and Paraphrasing in Academic Writing

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.” – Ernest Hemingway

Plato considers art (and therefore writing) as being mimetic in nature. Writing in all forms and for all kinds of audience involves thorough research. Often, there is a grim possibility that an idea you considered novel has already been adequately explored; however, this also means there are multiple perspectives to explore now and thereby to learn from.

Being inspired by another’s idea opens up a world of possibilities and thus several ways to incorporate and assimilate them in writing, namely, paraphrasing , summarizing, and quoting . However, mere incorporation does not bring writing alive and make it appealing to readers . The incorporation of various ideas must reflect the writer’s understanding and interpretation of them as well.

What is Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing in Academic Writing?

Purdue OWL defines these devices of representation quite succinctly:

Therefore, paraphrasing and summarizing consider broader segments of the main text, while quotations are brief segments of a source. Further, paraphrasing involves expressing the ideas presented from a particular part of a source (mostly a passage) in a condensed manner, while summarizing involves selecting a broader part of a source (for example, a chapter in a book or an entire play) and stating the key points. In spite of subtle variations in representation, all three devices when employed must be attributed to the source to avoid plagiarism .

Related: Finished drafting your manuscript? Check these resources to avoid plagiarism now!

Why is it Important to Quote, Paraphrase, and Summarize?

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve the purpose of providing evidence to sources of your manuscript. It is important to quote, paraphrase, and summarize for the following reasons:

• It adds credibility to your writing
• It helps in tracking the original source of your research
• Delivers several perspectives on your research subject

Quotations/Quoting

Quotations are exact representations of a source, which can either be a written one or spoken words. Quotes imbue writing with an authoritative tone and can provide reliable and strong evidence. However, quoting should be employed sparingly to support and not replace one’s writing.

How Do You Quote?

• Ensure that direct quotes are provided within quotation marks and properly cited
• A Long quote of three or more lines can be set-off as a blockquote (this often has more impact)
• Short quotes usually flow better when integrated within a sentence

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is the manner of presenting a text by altering certain words and phrases of a source while ensuring that the paraphrase reflects proper understanding of the source. It can be useful for personal understanding of complex concepts and explaining information present in charts, figures , and tables .

How Do You Paraphrase?

• While aligning the representation with your own style (that is, using synonyms of certain words and phrases), ensure that the author’s intention is not changed as this may express an incorrect interpretation of the source ideas
• Use quotation marks if you intend to retain key concepts or phrases to effectively paraphrase
• Use paraphrasing as an alternative to the abundant usage of direct quotes in your writing

Summarizing

Summarizing involves presenting an overview of a source by omitting superfluous details and retaining only the key essence of the ideas conveyed.

How Do You Summarize?

• Note key points while going through a source text
• Provide a consolidated view without digressions for a concrete and comprehensive summary of a source
• Provide relevant examples from a source to substantiate the argument being presented

“Nature creates similarities. One need only think of mimicry. The highest capacity for producing similarities, however, is man’s. His gift of seeing resemblances is nothing other than a rudiment of the powerful compulsion in former times to become and behave like something else.” –Walter Benjamin

Quoting vs Paraphrasing vs Summarizing

Research thrives as a result of inspiration from and assimilation of novel concepts. However, do ensure that when developing and enriching your own research, proper credit is provided to the origin . This can be achieved by using plagiarism checker tool and giving due credit in case you have missed it earlier.

Source: https://student.unsw.edu.au/paraphrasing-summarising-and-quoting

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Basics of Paraphrasing

A successful paraphrase is your own explanation or interpretation of another person's ideas. Paraphrasing in academic writing is an effective way to restate, condense, or clarify another author's ideas while also providing credibility to your own argument or analysis. Successful paraphrasing is essential for strong academic writing, and unsuccessful paraphrasing can result in unintentional plagiarism. Look through the paraphrasing strategies below to better understand what counts as an effective paraphrase.

In order for a reader to understand the impact of a direct quotation or paraphrased source material, you should work to integrate your evidence into your paragraph's overall discussion. A strong way to integrate source material is to use  transitions . As you integrate sources, you will also often begin  analyzing the evidence

Citing Paraphrases

• Paraphrased material must be cited. Even though paraphrasing means that you are restating information in your own words, you must give credit to the original source of the information.
• Citations for paraphrased material should always include both the author and the year. In-text citation can be placed within the sentence or at the end:

Example: According to Johnson (2012), mirror neurons may be connected with empathy and imitation.

Example: Mirror neurons may be connected with empathy and imitation in human beings (Johnson, 2012).

Note: Be sure to consider the frequency of your source citation when you are paraphrasing.

Integrating Paraphrases Into Your Paragraphs

Paragraph with paraphrased material not integrated.

The causes of childhood obesity are various. Greg (2005) found that children need physical activity to stay healthy. One study found that the amount of time spent in front of the television or computer had a direct correlation to an individual's BMI (Stephens, 2003). Parsons (2003) debated whether nature or nurture affects childhood obesity more. Scientists have linked genetics to obesity (Parsons, 2003). Parents often reinforce bad lifestyle habits (Parsons, 2003).

Here there is a list of paraphrased sentences, but again they seem to be missing any links or connections to show how the different ideas are related. Rather than simply using a list of paraphrased sentences from these sources, the author of the next example integrates each piece of information from the sources by using extra explanation or transitions.

Paragraph With Paraphrased Material, Revised (Revisions in Bold)

The causes of childhood obesity are various. Greg (2005) found that children need physical activity to stay healthy. However, children's inactive lifestyles and the time they spend in front of a screen seem to consume the time they could otherwise spend playing outdoors or involved in physical activities. In fact, this lack of physical activity has a direct effect on body mass index (BMI). One study found that the amount of time spent in front of the television or computer had a direct correlation to an individual's BMI (Stephens, 2003). Although screen time is correlated with high BMI, Parsons (2003) still debated whether nature or nurture affects childhood obesity more. Though Parsons admitted that scientists have linked genetics to obesity, he also explained that parents often reinforce bad lifestyle habits.

Adding transitions allows the author to make connections while still presenting the paraphrased source material.

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Paraphrasing: Things you need to know...

Paraphrasing i s the process of reading a section of text and then re-writing it using your own words I t is necessary in university study as it shows that you have understood the information.

REMEMBER - the information has come from text that somebody else has written, so you must  still cite the author appropriately according to the referencing system used on your course. If you do not reference the source it will be classed as plagiarism, even if you have put into your own words.

For effective paraphrasing it is important to:

• Read first for understanding
• Summarise the key points
• Re-write the statement in your own words
• Place in quotation marks any phrases used from the original source
• Include the appropriate citation 
• Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is demonstrating your understanding of the texts you are reading by writing them in your own words.

Need to know more...

• Related pages
• External links
• Academic writing Illustrates the main features of academic writing so that you are aware of what it is and what it involves

Paraphrasing - How to Paraphrase - Step-by-Step Guide & Examples (Scribbr)  https://www.scribbr.co.uk/working-sources/paraphrasing/  [Accessed 10 February 2023]

What's the Difference? Summarizing, Paraphrasing & Quoting (Quetext Blog)  https://www.quetext.com/blog/difference-between-summarizing-paraphrasing-quoting  [Accessed 10 February 2023]

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Academic Writing: Summarising, paraphrasing and quoting

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Summarising, Paraphrasing and Quotations

Academic writing requires that you use literature sources in your work to demonstrate the extent of your reading (breadth and depth), your knowledge, understanding and critical thinking. Literature can be used to provide evidence to support arguments and can demonstrate your awareness of the research-base that underpins your subject specialism.

There are three ways to introduce the work of others into your assignments: summarising, paraphrasing and quotations.

When, Why & How to Use

• Summarising
• Paraphrasing

Definition: Using your own words to provide a statement (‘summary’) of the main themes, key points, or overarching ideas of a complete text, such as a book, chapter from a book, or academic article.

When to use:

• Useful for providing an overview or background to a topic
• Useful for describing your knowledge and understanding from a single source
• Useful for expressing your combined knowledge and understanding from several sources (synthesis of sources)

Why to use:

• Demonstrates your understanding of your reading
• Demonstrates your ability to identify the main points from a larger body of text or to draw together the main points from several sources

How to use:

• Should offer a balanced representation of the main points
• Should be expressed in your own words (except for technical terminology or conventional terms that appear in the original)
• Should not include detailed discussion or examples
• Should not include information that is not in the original text
• Should avoid using the same sentence structures as the original text
• Read the original text (more than once if necessary) to make sure you fully understand it
• Note the main points in your own words
• Recheck the original text to ensure you have covered the key content and meaning
• Rewrite using formal, grammatically correct academic writing
• Requires in-text citation and referencing
• No page numbers in in-text citation

Example (using Harvard referencing style, from CiteThemRight online, Cite Them Right - Summarising (Harvard) (citethemrightonline.com) :

'Nevertheless, one important study (Harrison, 2007) looks closely at the historical and linguistic links between European races and cultures over the past five hundred years.'

Definition: Using your own words to express an author’s specific point from a short section of text (one or two sentences, or a paragraph), retaining the original meaning.

• Used where the meaning of the text is more important than the exact words
• Useful for expressing the author’s specific point more concisely and in a way that clarifies its relationship to your work
• Useful for stating factual information such as data and statistics from a source
• Demonstrates that you have understood the content and can express it independently, rather than relying on the author’s words
• Allows you to use your own style of writing and your own ‘voice’ in your work
• Allows you to integrate the ideas to fit more readily with your own work and to improve the flow of the writing
• Must not change the original meaning
• Must go further than just changing a few words or changing the word order as this could amount to plagiarism (you would not be fully expressing the idea in your own words)
• Use different sentence structures from the original source
• Use different vocabulary from the original source to convey the meaning
• Read the original text several times, and identify the key content which is important and relevant to your work to distinguish this from content which is less important
• Identify any specialist terminology or key words which are essential
• Think about your reason for paraphrasing and how it relates to your own work
• Roughly note down your understanding of the relevant content in your own words (don’t copy) without looking at the original text
• Reread the original text and refine your notes to ensure that you are not misrepresenting the author, to determine whether you have captured the important aspects of the piece and to make sure your paraphrasing is not too similar to the original
• Rewrite this in formal, grammatically correct academic writing
• Requires page number/s in the in-text citation to precisely locate the original content on which the paraphrasing is based within the source

Example (using Harvard referencing style, from CiteThemRight online, Cite Them Right - Paraphrasing (Harvard) (citethemrightonline.com) :

'Harrison (2007, p. 48) clearly distinguishes between the historical growth of the larger European nation states and the roots of their languages and linguistic development, particularly during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At this time, imperial goals and outward expansion were paramount for many of the countries, and the effects of spending on these activities often led to internal conflict.'

Definition: Using the author’s exact words to retain the author’s specific form of expression, clearly identifying the quotation as distinct from your own words (for example using quotation marks or indentation).

• Used where the author’s own exact words are important, rather than just the meaning
• Useful where the author’s original choice of words conveys subjective experience, uses persuasive language, or carries emotional force
• Useful where the precise wording is significant, for example in legal texts
• Useful for definitions
• Useful if the author’s own words carry the weight of power and authority that supports your argument
• Useful if you want to critique an author’s point, to ensure you do not misrepresent their meaning
• Useful if you want to disagree with the author as their own words may express their opposition to your argument enabling you to engage with and resist their point of view
• Useful if the author has expressed themselves so concisely, distinctively, and eloquently that paraphrasing would diminish the quality of the statement
• Demonstrates your ability to identify relevant and significant content from a larger body of work
• Demonstrates that you have read and understood the wider context of the quotation and can integrate it into your own work appropriately
• Should be used selectively (over-use of quotations does not demonstrate your own understanding)
• Should not be used just to avoid expressing the meaning in your own words or because you are not confident you have understood the content
• Make sure that the quotation is reproduced accurately, including spelling and punctuation
• Comment on the quotation and its relationship to your point, for example explain its interest and relevance, show how it applies to a particular situation, or discuss its limitations
• Short quotations of no more than three lines should be contained within quotation marks (you can use double or single quotations marks, but be consistent and note that Turnitin only recognises double quotation marks)
• Longer quotations (used sparingly) should be included as a separate paragraph indented from the main text, without quotation marks
• Don’t use quotation marks for technical terminology which is accepted within your specialism, and which is part of the common language of your academic discipline
• Requires page number/s in the in-text citation to precisely locate the quote within the source

Examples (from CiteThemRight online, Cite Them Right - Setting out quotations (Harvard) (citethemrightonline.com) ):

Short quotation (using Harvard referencing style):

'If you need to illustrate the idea of nineteenth-century America as a land of opportunity, you could hardly improve on the life of Albert Michelson’ (Bryson, 2004, p. 156).

Long quotation (using Harvard referencing style):

King describes the intertwining of the fate and memory in many evocative passages, such as:

So the three of them rode towards their end of the Great Road, while summer lay all about them, breathless as a gasp. Roland looked up and saw something that made him forget all about the Wizard’s Rainbow. It was his mother, leaning out of her apartment’s bedroom window: the oval of her face surrounded by the timeless gray stone of the castle’s west wing! (King, 1997, pp. 553-554)

Altering quotations:

You can omit part of a quotation by using three dots (ellipses). Only do this to omit unnecessary words which do not alter the meaning.

Example (from CiteThemRight online, Cite Them Right - Making changes to quotations (citethemrightonline.com) ).

'Drug prevention ... efforts backed this up' (Gardner, 2007, p. 49).

You can insert your own or different words into a quotation by placing them in square brackets. Only do this to add clarity to the quotation where it does not alter the meaning.

Example (from CiteThemRight online, Cite Them Right - Making changes to quotations (citethemrightonline.com) ):

'In this field [crime prevention], community support officers ...' (Higgins, 2008, p. 17).

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Academic Integrity in Canada pp 411–429 Cite as

Revisioning Paraphrasing Instruction

• Silvia Luisa Rossi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3422-7417 4  
• Open Access
• First Online: 03 March 2022

12k Accesses

9 Citations

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Part of the book series: Ethics and Integrity in Educational Contexts ((EIEC,volume 1))

Academic misconduct frequently occurs because developing academic writers lack both knowledge about the conventions for writing from sources and procedural skills for applying this knowledge. Paraphrasing is a particularly underdeveloped skill among students in higher education. This chapter illustrates how findings from existing quality assurance processes are supporting a revised approach to paraphrasing instruction by the writing strategist team at a Canadian undergraduate university. The new approach underlines the interpretive nature of paraphrasing and the agency of the student writer. By focusing less on the technical aspects of paraphrasing and more on its rhetorical purposes, we aim to foster among students a deeper level of engagement with texts, a more nuanced awareness of intertextuality, and recognition of the role disciplinary conventions play in writing from sources. Our vantage point as professionals working with students in a wide range of disciplines affords us unique opportunities to be campus changemakers. If we can encourage recognition that paraphrasing instruction must extend past first year composition courses and one-off workshops, and if we can help instructors seize opportunities to provide students with feedback on their paraphrasing, students will move beyond patchwriting and towards writing from sources with more confidence and integrity.

• Paraphrasing
• Patchwriting
• Academic integrity

Download chapter PDF

The ability to effectively incorporate source information into one's work is a complex and essential skill for every academic writer. Although student writers quote, paraphrase, and summarise the work of others in their writing assignments long before they enter higher education, expectations around source use become more rigorous in post-secondary settings, and a common concern for university and college instructors is that their students' ability to use sources appropriately and in line with academic integrity standards is underdeveloped. One specific type of source use in which students tend to lack confidence is paraphrasing, but since explicit instruction in and consistent feedback on paraphrasing are rare over the course of a student's undergraduate program, undergraduate writers have few opportunities to be guided in developing their paraphrasing skills. When these rare opportunities do occur, they tend to emphasise plagiarism avoidance, which can have the unintended effect of making students fear and even avoid paraphrasing. This chapter describes how writing specialists in the learning centre at one Canadian undergraduate university are using findings from existing quality assurance (QA) processes to support a new approach to teaching paraphrasing.

At Mount Royal University (MRU), a teaching and learning focused undergraduate institution with approximately 15,000 students (Mount Royal University [MRU], 2021 ), I am employed in the learning centre as one of five full-time professional writing strategists. Writing strategists mainly facilitate open workshops (i.e., workshops which students from any program, in any year, may attend) and in-class workshops (i.e., workshops tailored to an assignment in a particular course and facilitated during regular class time), consult with individual students and small groups of students, and develop learning resources in collaboration with faculty members. MRU is situated within the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Îyârhe Nakoda, Tsuut'ina and Métis Nations, and just over 6% of students self-identify as Indigenous (MRU, 2021 ). Over 75% of MRU students are from Calgary, and international students make up less than 2% of the population (MRU, 2021 ).

In 2020, our writing strategist team revised its approach to teaching paraphrasing to prioritise contextualisation and writer agency. We shifted our attention away from plagiarism and towards the affordances of paraphrasing. Rather than leading students through mechanistic, decontextualised paraphrasing exercises, we found ways to emphasise not only the purpose of paraphrasing, but the broader purpose of source use, what research is and is not, and the responsibilities student writers have to their scholarly discourse communities. Importantly, we engaged with our faculty partners to generate opportunities for the integration of principled paraphrasing instruction into content classes. There are simple ways to bring nuanced paraphrasing instruction and feedback into disciplinary classes, and a collaborative approach between content instructors and writing specialists has the potential to make a positive impact on students' ability to write from sources with integrity.

Why Are Undergraduate Students' Paraphrasing Abilities Underdeveloped?

Lack of explicit instruction on paraphrasing.

Students rarely receive explicit instruction on how to paraphrase. In Shi et al.'s ( 2018 ) study of graduate students, 10 out of 18 participants had “never received any formal instruction but learnt how to paraphrase through reading published works” (p. 34). Anecdotally, in the paraphrasing workshops I have facilitated since 2016, I have periodically asked undergraduate students how they learned to paraphrase, and no student has ever reported that they received explicit instruction on paraphrasing beyond the dictum “say it in your own words.” Students report the dictum being followed by a caution: if they did not paraphrase well, they would risk committing plagiarism. This strong association between paraphrasing and plagiarism can lead students to avoid paraphrasing altogether—out of fear. In some cases, students even come to believe that the primary purpose of paraphrasing is to avoid plagiarism (Hirvela & Du, 2013 ). A participant in Shi et al.'s ( 2018 ) study reported that in high school, teachers did not provide instruction on paraphrasing; “they just [said] ‘don't plagiarize’. And in university, they give you a paper about the policy about plagiarism” (p. 42). It seems that the focus is so strongly on avoiding plagiarism that students completely miss the point of paraphrasing and the benefits it confers on the writer. Rather than teaching students what paraphrasing can help them accomplish, the emphasis is too often on how paraphrasing can hurt them. When students are fearful of manipulating sources in any other way than safe quotation, getting excited about joining the academic conversation becomes difficult. As Jamieson and Howard ( 2019 ) noted, “the criminalization of missteps makes [writing from sources] a terrifying rather than satisfying learning experience for students” (p. 83).

Lack of Emphasis on the Purpose of Paraphrasing

The root of the problem may lie precisely in the “say it in your own words” conception of paraphrasing. Resources on post-secondary institutions' writing centre and library resource web pages typically describe paraphrasing as rendering an author's idea in one's own words. These descriptions of paraphrasing are consistent with knowledge telling as opposed to knowledge transforming (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 1987 ), or knowledge display as opposed to knowledge making (Abasi & Akbari, 2008 ). They imply an objective process of “linguistic reformulation” (Mori, 2018 , p. 46). In scholarly writing, however, paraphrasing does more than recast the original author's idea. Writers paraphrase “to reconceptualize the source text coherently with [their] own authorial intentions” (Shi et al., 2018 , p. 32). Interestingly, despite many university/college websites' definitions of paraphrasing corresponding to knowledge telling, the paraphrases they provide as models for students reveal processes of inferential thinking (Yamada, 2003 ). If paraphrasing involves inferential thinking, then it does more than simply recast an idea; it falls into the category of knowledge making. As Mori ( 2018 ) put it, “a paraphrase in its most basic sense is re-creation,” (p. 51) not simple retelling. This function of paraphrasing is powerful, but students are rarely made aware of it, so they do not view paraphrasing as an empowering academic writing tool.

When student writers believe that the function of paraphrasing is only to recast what has been said by someone else, it is no wonder they have a difficult time finding the value in paraphrasing and feel resistance towards it. This undervaluing may even come directly from their instructors. One of the university professors interviewed by Pecorari and Shaw ( 2012 ) reported telling a student that “you have to somehow really write this and put it in your own words. I know that it isn't always so easy and sometimes it's silly but that's how it is” (p. 154). If the inherent value of paraphrasing is not made clear to students, then they are justified in asking themselves why their professors insist they go through the challenging, time-consuming and risky activity of paraphrasing when a quotation would serve to report the original author's idea more directly, quickly and safely. When students ask why they have to paraphrase, they are sometimes told that paraphrasing helps the instructor know whether the student has understood the source. Mori ( 2018 ) found that students were encouraged to paraphrase rather than quote because paraphrasing constitutes “proof of critical thinking and intellectual work” (p. 48). Although this may be one benefit of having students paraphrase information, it is not the reason paraphrasing exists in scholarly writing. Emphasising this purpose limits paraphrasing to a school-writing context, ultimately working against the goal of initiating students into the discourse community of their discipline (Abasi & Akbari, 2008 ). If the intention is that students begin to see themselves as members of and contributors to disciplinary communities, then it is vital that the tasks they complete, (academic writing-related or otherwise), be connected authentically to the real-world activities of those disciplinary communities.

Single-Sentence and/or Decontextualised Practice Activities

Where explicit instruction on paraphrasing does exist, instructional activities are too often based on single, decontextualised sentences that students are asked to transform into their own words (Pecorari & Petrić, 2014 ). Decontextualised activities deprive students of the opportunity to consider what they are using the information for . If paraphrasing involves recontextualisation, but neither the original context of the information nor the target context is provided, then the writer is faced with a simplistic, mechanistic and inauthentic task. In addition, single-sentence practice may lead student writers to believe that when they use sources, they should be on the lookout for individual sentences to extract and incorporate into their own writing. Although it could be argued that transforming single sentences is a suitable controlled practice activity—one that fits well within a scaffolded approach to paraphrasing instruction—the reality is that paraphrasing practice activities rarely go beyond this stage.

Lack of Feedback on Paraphrasing

Continuous feedback is essential to the development of complex skills, but post-secondary students rarely receive feedback on their paraphrasing. There are practical reasons for this. An instructor can easily miss a poor paraphrase if it does not contain red flags such as an abrupt change in style (Pecorari, 2013 ). More intentional approaches can be time-intensive. To provide feedback on a single paraphrase, an instructor would need to obtain the original source text, locate the exact passage in the text and compare it to the student's paraphrase. Since many research assignments require that students select sources themselves, each student will have used different sources, making this work of locating original passages prohibitively time-consuming. Even if students are required to provide the original passages, evaluating paraphrases takes time. Since the line between acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing is difficult to draw (Roig 2001 ), a quick written comment may not be sufficient feedback; a conversation may be necessary.

In the absence of feedback, students are left to their own devices, and a sensible strategy some employ is imitating what they see in scholarly writing. The problem is that students draw incorrect conclusions from what they see (Pecorari, 2013 ), and when instructors do not alert them to textual missteps in their writing, they understandably conclude that their source use is appropriate, going on to potentially misuse sources unchecked for years (Pecorari, 2013 ). At my university, instructors regularly refer senior students to our team of writing strategists because of poor paraphrasing, and the instructors express surprise at the lack of understanding of paraphrasing basics. The conversation between the student and the instructor has usually revolved around plagiarism, so emotions run high on both sides. Students often feel angry that no one “called them on it” at an earlier stage of their undergraduate program.

Outsourcing Paraphrasing Instruction

The question of who is responsible for teaching students to paraphrase is part of the broader issue of responsibility for academic writing instruction. Instructors tend to believe that students should already have acquired academic writing skills such as paraphrasing by the time they enter higher education (Jamieson, 2013 ; Peters & Cadieux, 2019 ). As a result, “faculty often assign rather than teach research-based writing” (Serviss, 2016 , p. 553). The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID) movements evolved in response to this problem, and WAC and WID proponents have advocated for a whole-institution approach to student writing development for decades. Still, a persistent belief on the part of many instructors is that it is not their responsibility to teach writing.

Perhaps if faculty conceived of writing not as a generic skill students should possess before entering higher education, but rather, as a discipline-specific mechanism for constructing knowledge, they would be more inclined to see writing instruction as integral to initiating students into their disciplinary community. As we work to decolonise the curriculum, educators have a responsibility to challenge the privileged position writing holds as a scholarly mode of communication, but for as long as writing retains such a vital role in the academy, we also have a responsibility to our students—to help them uncover the conventions of academic writing for their discipline. Writing is a manifestation of thinking, so if we accept that a central role of the university teacher is to guide students' “cognitive apprenticeship” (Brown et al., 1989 )—that is, to help them learn how biologists think or how historians think—then it follows that we need to facilitate their learning to write in ways that are common in the discipline, too.

Even when instructors acknowledge the need to teach writing, real barriers exist. The first is time:

Most instructors at Canadian universities would probably agree that the time and resources they have to effectively deliver their courses are either stretched to the limit or insufficient, so their reluctance to assume additional responsibility for instructing students in appropriate source use is understandable. (Evans-Tokaryk, 2014 , p. 20)

Another barrier is that content instructors who are not writing specialists may feel ill-equipped to teach source use skills like paraphrasing. Because of these barriers, when student writing fails to meet expectations, many instructors refer students to first-year composition classes or writing centres.

Although writing experts on campus have an important role to play in supporting students' academic writing development, the discipline-specific aspects of writing need to be addressed by disciplinary experts. Paraphrasing conventions differ from discipline to discipline. In the hard sciences, it may be acceptable (indeed, necessary) to copy longer word strings from the original source than is acceptable in the humanities (Shi et al., 2018 ). Differences in citation practices also exist, and these differences have implications for the syntactic structure of paraphrases. In the social sciences and humanities, narrative (or integral) citations are more common than they are in the hard sciences and engineering (Hyland, 2004 ), and the reporting verbs necessary for the narrative citation structure are frequently the locus of the recontextualisation inherent in paraphrasing. Evans-Tokaryk ( 2014 ) concluded that “we need to make individual disciplines more accountable for the way they teach citation practices, source-use, and rhetorical strategies for engaging in the scholarly conversation” (pp. 20–21). A complicating factor, however, is that members of the same disciplinary community do not necessarily agree on the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing (Roig, 2001 ). This reality makes it crucial for individual instructors to specify and illustrate expectations. As Susan Bens ( 2022 ) shows in her chapter in this volume, it is unfair to expect students to navigate the ambiguity of expectations related to academic integrity across courses on their own. Faculty members must address what they deem to be acceptable and unacceptable source use in their courses.

A Way Forward

Increased content instructor-writing specialist collaboration.

It is understandable that instructors who are not writing specialists may feel uncomfortable taking on the full responsibility for teaching source use skills such as paraphrasing. They, like our students, may never have experienced explicit paraphrasing instruction, and most disciplinary experts have not needed to think about how paraphrasing is used in their discipline as compared with other disciplines. In contrast, professional writing consultants meet with students from a variety of disciplines every day, giving us regular exposure to scholarly texts from many fields and a constant reminder that conventions differ by discipline. Writing centre professionals cannot deeply understand the conventions of every discipline, but the question is central to our day-to-day work. Collaboration allows both professionals to benefit: the instructor gains access to writing specialist knowledge, and the writing specialist gains access to disciplinary knowledge. A writing specialist could even be a partner in a Decoding the Disciplines style interview (Middendorf & Pace, 2004 ), where the writing consultant's role would be to ask questions to make explicit the paraphrasing conventions the faculty expert knows only implicitly. Serviss ( 2016 ) argued that instructors “need robust support as they design [writing] assignments for students, strategize ways to provide productive feedback, and ultimately evaluate and assess student work for both its course-specific content and its adherence to broader academic conventions such as academic integrity” (p. 553), and the specialists who work in writing centres are equipped to provide this very support.

At my institution, learning strategists developed and use an Intentional Model of Service Delivery (MRU, 2018 ) which prioritises embedding writing and learning strategies within content courses. The service model identifies four types of collaboration with our faculty partners: general (e.g., faculty partners offering students incentives for attending our open workshops), complementary (e.g., learning resources customised to specific assignments), integrated (e.g., co-created teaching materials) and embedded (e.g., consulting on curricular design).

Writing centre specialists across the country offer a similar range of collaborative support types (although they may not use the same labels), but it is not uncommon for writing centre professionals to feel that the potential for robust and sustained collaborations with faculty goes somewhat untapped. A perennial theme appearing in the conference programs of the Learning Specialists Association of Canada (LSAC) and the Canadian Writing Centres Association (CWCA) is generating and maintaining collaborations with content instructors. On these associations' 2019 conference programs were session titles such as “Now I Know You're Our Partners: Creating Embedded Learning Centre Services with Faculty” (LSAC), “Out of the Learning Centre and into the Classroom: Strategies for Embedding Writing Support” (CWCA) and “Supporting Sustainable Collaboration Between Writing Centres and Writing Instructors” (CWCA). Writing centre professionals are seeking opportunities to meaningfully and sustainably facilitate learning in partnership with faculty.

Projects at MRU, ranging from general workshops to integrated course-specific learning materials, have provided opportunities for our writing strategist team to approach teaching paraphrasing in new ways. Feedback from students and our faculty partners has been encouraging, and each of the sections below describes an aspect of this new approach.

Acknowledging Conflicting Notions of Authorship

When students enter college or university, they enter new discourse communities, and these scholarly communities conceive of authorship in ways that may conflict with students' notions of authorship. Many young adults entering our institutions are steeped in what Lawrence Lessig ( 2008 ) termed remix culture . They create memes and videos from multiple sources and share them freely without attribution. They quote from TV shows, films and songs, and not identifying the source is part of the appeal; the shared experience of watching or listening to the original makes explicit attribution unnecessary, and this implicit understanding is what sparks connection (Blum, 2009 ). When discussing source use, educators must be careful not to assume that students understand or agree with scholarly practices surrounding source use. Evans-Tokaryk ( 2014 ) advocated that when discussing source use, educators should “take remix culture as a point of (counter) reference” (p. 8). Using remix culture as a starting point allows us to build upon students' current experience and common practices and can make the contrast between what they know and the expectations of their new academic discourse communities clearer. Pecorari ( 2013 ) emphasised the importance of helping students understand their responsibility for transparent source use, and approaching this conversation by contrasting it with the way in which students engage in remix in their non-academic lives makes sense.

Contrasting remix culture with academic writing culture can be quick and easy. In a co-created asynchronous resource on academic integrity (including sections on paraphrasing and referencing), a nursing faculty partner and I included the slide reproduced in Fig.  21.1 .

Slide from asynchronous learning resource for nursing students

Note. This figure shows a slide whose purpose is to acknowledge that citation is expected within the cultural context of academic writing, but not within all contexts.

The inclusion of a slide like this one creates a quick opportunity to underline that citation is a cultural practice and to remind students that they are members of multiple cultures, each with unique norms.

Introducing Students to Paraphrasing As a Powerful Tool

Presenting paraphrasing as a tool which puts the writer in the powerful position of interpreting, evaluating and recontextualising information can help students view paraphrasing as valuable. In Mori's ( 2018 ) words, “a paraphrase in its rhetorical realisation may always involve some sort of evaluation or opinion, seeing that any writer has a reason for using a source, whether to support or refute a claim” (p. 46). When students recognise that they have the agency to shape information for a reason, and that reason is theirs to determine, they can begin to see paraphrasing as a useful tool rather than a burden.

The key may lie in orienting students to how scholarly discourse actually works and crucially, in helping them see themselves as active contributors to this discourse. As Hendricks and Quinn ( 2000 ) noted, many students enter higher education believing that knowledge is “something out there” (p. 451) rather than something that is constructed, that it is fixed rather than dynamic. Many approach writing from sources as a kind of reporting rather than the more creative and generative work of integrating ideas from sources with their own ideas. Faculty members could do more to unveil the rhetorical processes inherent in academic discourse and to guide students towards recognising the opportunities they have to participate in knowledge construction (Hendricks & Quinn, 2000 ), and the same goes for writing specialists.

For many years, the writing strategist team at MRU has offered a paraphrasing workshop as part of our Academic Success series. We commonly refer to workshops in this series as “open workshops” since they are open to students from any program, in any year of study. When I joined the team in 2015, the “Paraphrasing, Not Plagiarizing” workshop included no discussion of the reasons academic writers paraphrase or the benefits of paraphrasing. A later version included notes for the facilitator on the reasons paraphrasing is valuable, but the information did not appear on a slide or on the student handout. When I took over facilitation of the workshop, I moved the benefits of paraphrasing onto a slide: (1) [Paraphrasing] helps you to truly understand the original, (2) shows your instructor you understand, and (3) allows you to make complex ideas simple for your reader. Over time, I became dissatisfied with this list of benefits; if the point was to generate buy-in from students and break down their resistance to paraphrasing, the list felt flat and unconvincing.

I began to skip that benefits slide in favour of an approach that highlighted disciplinary conventions. I would ask students to generate an example of a discipline in which quoting is a common way to incorporate source information and a discipline where source incorporation occurs more commonly through paraphrasing (i.e., where quotation is uncommon). Students found this task challenging, leading me to conclude that most had never encountered the idea that the ratio of quoting to paraphrasing might vary by discipline. In the workshop, I would contrast Comparative Literature with Biology, exploring the reasons why, in general, the former would use more quotation than the latter. Although students generally reacted with interest, becoming curious about whether quoting was common or uncommon in their particular discipline, the explanation still seemed superficial. It fell short of a complete explanation of why paraphrasing is useful and sometimes preferable. Students came away with the idea that they should paraphrase, and that conventions differ by discipline, but they did not have a clear sense of why paraphrasing might serve them better as writers.

The 2021 version of the workshop retains the discussion of disciplinary conventions but also highlights that writers paraphrase because paraphrasing allows them greater flexibility for reformulating information to fit the point they are making in their own text. Our focus has shifted away from what students need to prove to their instructor, away from what the rules and conventions are, and towards the affordances paraphrasing provides the student writer, who is ultimately in charge. The idea that paraphrasing actually empowers the writer led one workshop participant to suggest that we refer to paraphrasing as “power-phrasing” (K. Toseland, personal communication, September 16, 2020). Not only did we immediately include the newly coined term in the workshop slide deck, but we incorporated it into the revised workshop title in January 2021: “From Paraphrasing to ‘Power-Phrasing’.”

Students who attend the paraphrasing workshop may choose to fill out a Reflection & Participation Form: an online form designed to take approximately 10–15 min to complete. (Each of the 15 workshops in our Academic Success series has a separate Reflection & Participation Form.) This assessment tool helps us determine whether learning outcomes are being met in the workshop and is a key quality assurance mechanism. The form for the paraphrasing workshop includes this question: “What's one strategy or concept you learned in this webinar that you'll apply in your future course work?” Responses from the Fall 2020 semester included:

I learned a major benefit of paraphrasing. In some cases paraphrasing is better than quoting as it gives you more flexibility to shape your work. I learned the benefit of paraphrasing which is greater flexibility, incorporating the information more smoothly, shaping the information for specific purpose, and power phrasing.

The comments suggest that before the workshop, these students did not understand that paraphrasing grants the writer flexibility; they did not see that paraphrasing actually serves the writer.

Once students realise that paraphrasing serves them as writers, they are in a much better position to understand why they should avoid patchwriting, where the text “restates a phrase, clause, or one or more sentences while staying close to the language or syntax of the source” (Jamieson, 2018 , p. 110). Students cannot truly understand why patchwriting is undesirable unless they first understand the purpose and benefits of paraphrasing. When they recognise that paraphrasing allows more flexibility in interpreting and re-shaping information, they can grasp why the mechanical “synonym substitution strategy” they may have thought of as paraphrasing misses the point. As a colleague explained to students, “when you patchwrite, you've essentially done a direct quote but made more work for yourself” (C. Willard, personal communication, September 28, 2020). Rebecca Moore Howard and others have argued that patchwriting represents a developmental phase in learning to write from sources and that the remedy is pedagogy, not punishment (Howard, 1993 ; Jamieson, 2016 ; Jamieson & Howard, 2019 ; Pecorari & Petrić, 2014 ). I wholeheartedly agree and believe that an emphasis on the purpose of paraphrasing is precisely the pedagogical starting point.

Evidence from an asynchronous learning module incorporated into a Fall 2020 first-year Health and Physical Education course revealed that for many learners, the idea that patchwriting is undesirable is new. After students completed the paraphrasing section of the module, they were asked to name one new thing they had learned about paraphrasing. Although only a fifth of the section focused specifically on patchwriting, 68/168 (40%) of students identified patchwriting (what it is, why they should avoid it, how to avoid it) as new to them.

A single workshop or learning module can only be a starting point on the road to competent paraphrasing, but as a starting point, it is gaining traction at our institution. Faculty members increasingly provide incentives (e.g., a small percentage of the final course grade) to their students to encourage them to participate in open workshops, and 69% of the students who registered for the paraphrasing workshop in Fall 2020 indicated either that an instructor was giving them some sort of incentive for participation and/or an instructor had recommended the webinar.

Avoiding Single-Sentence, Decontextualised Paraphrasing Activities

When modelling paraphrasing or creating practice activities, using a short passage from a source rather than a single sentence makes it possible to focus on the selection process so important to authentic paraphrasing. The educator can discuss with students which information to include in the paraphrase and which information to exclude so that the paraphrase best supports the writer's point. For the selection process to be remotely authentic, students must first have some context around the source (e.g., the author's main thesis) and some context around the text they are producing themselves (e.g., the topic sentence of the paragraph into which they are inserting their paraphrase). This target context helps students see that paraphrasing always has a rhetorical purpose. Another benefit of choosing a passage over a single sentence is that this practice aligns with the message that students should read sources thoroughly instead of mining sources for single sentences. Although any simulation is artificial to some degree, the more authentic the task, the more easily students will be able to transfer the knowledge and skills to a real situation.

In earlier versions of the open paraphrasing workshop, we used a single (albeit relatively complex) sentence from a scholarly journal article to walk students through our suggested steps in paraphrasing. We provided minimal context for the article itself, but no context for what students would be using the information for . We led students through the mostly decontextualised, mechanistic exercise of breaking the original sentence into lexical chunks, re-organising those chunks into a new sentence pattern, and finding new phrasing for each chunk. The workshop heavily emphasised a tool we called the “BIG-4 Checklist” for evaluating paraphrases: a plagiarism-free paraphrase must (1) have new words, (2) have new sentence structure, (3) have the same meaning as the original, and (4) be cited. Students evaluated a series of paraphrases as acceptable or unacceptable based on the BIG-4 criteria, and in our suggested set of steps to follow for successful paraphrasing, the final step was to “cross-check your paraphrase with the BIG-4.” The learning assessment form students filled out at the end of the workshop asked them to identify one concrete idea/strategy they took away from the workshop, and the most frequent answers were the BIG-4 Checklist and, more specifically, a new awareness that changing sentence structure is a requirement for plagiarism-free paraphrases. What students were taking away from our workshop were techniques for avoiding plagiarism, but what we wanted them to come away with was something deeper, more positive, and more exciting: an understanding of how paraphrasing can make their writing stronger and how it is connected to writer agency.

The revised workshop uses a different source text (an article from Canadian Business magazine), and instead of providing students with a single sentence to work from, we use a passage:

The company has been working to rapidly expand Tim Hortons beyond its Canadian roots. It signed a master franchise joint venture agreement with a private equity firm last year to open more than 1,500 of the coffee-and-doughnut shops in China—home to a burgeoning coffee culture and a hotbed of international coffee chain expansions. It also recently expanded into the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Spain. (Sagan, 2019 , para. 10).

Using a three-sentence passage rather than a single sentence allows students the opportunity to consider which parts of the passage they would select to support a particular claim. And this step—selecting information according to the writer's purpose—is now central to the workshop.

We present two different scenarios to illustrate the importance of information selection in paraphrasing. In the first, students imagine they are taking a Sociology course and are writing a paper about coffee culture around the world. The topic sentence of the paragraph is, “China is another country where coffee culture has taken hold over the past decade.” The students' task is to paraphrase the original passage to best support this topic sentence. In other words, they need to select only the parts of the original that are relevant to the point of the paragraph. Students need to ask themselves whether details such as “signed a master franchise joint venture agreement with a private equity firm” are useful for their purpose.

In the second scenario, students imagine they are taking a Management course and are writing a paper on international expansion. This time, the topic sentence is, “Canadian food and beverage companies have been expanding into Asian markets through joint venture agreements of various types.” In this scenario, students should realise that for this context, the specific type of joint venture agreement is significant and should probably be included in the paraphrase.

Logistically, the changes we have made to the paraphrasing practice activity are simple: (1) use a passage instead of a single sentence, and (2) provide context around what the writer is using the information for . Despite the simplicity of the adjustments, comments on learning assessment forms indicate that students are taking away deeper insights from the workshop.

In my future work in paraphrasing, I will be focusing more on the context of my topic and taking the time to thoroughly decide which ideas are important. As shown in the webinar, I will highlight the sentences that pertain to my subject matter and focus on how I can include that information into my writing. I liked the idea of looking at what isn't important in the source so that you are able to focus on paraphrasing what is relevant. Compared to paraphrasing the entire quote or source. Looking at what parts of the source are relevant to my specific topic and how those important aspects might change depending on the topic. Especially taking a look at how that important information might change depending on if you are looking at it from a business perspective or a sociological perspective.

Although the above changes apply to the open paraphrasing workshop, we are making similar changes to paraphrasing-focused segments of our in-class workshops and asynchronous learning modules (i.e., more complementary and integrated types of support), and our faculty partners are expressing enthusiasm for the new direction. Faculty partners frequently report that our student learning materials are adding to their own understanding of paraphrasing. In reference to an asynchronous learning resource on paraphrasing for nursing students, one faculty partner commented, “I guess, I know how to do [paraphrasing], I have just never seen it so clearly delineated” (J. Harris, personal communication, October 14, 2020).

De-emphasising Plagiarism, But Teaching Paraphrasing in the Context of Academic Integrity

In paraphrasing instruction, plagiarism should cease to have such a central place. Students need a safe space in which to practice source use, one in which the fear of plagiarism is not a deterrent to exploration and experimentation. At the same time, Jamieson and Howard's ( 2019 ) assertion that “textual missteps commonly classified as ‘plagiarism’ do not belong in the category of academic integrity” (p. 74) is problematic. Academic writers have a responsibility to represent their sources fairly, accurately and transparently, and student writers are no exception. Jamieson and Howard ( 2019 ) argue that “like grammar, spelling, and punctuation, whose rules students may not know or may sometimes knowingly or carelessly neglect, careless source attribution and incorporation produces bad writing and should be addressed as such” (p. 72). Careless source incorporation results in more than bad writing, however. It represents a lack of respect for other members of the academic community, which makes it distinct from and more egregious than careless grammar, spelling or punctuation. Careless paraphrasing can result in a misrepresentation of the original author's position, and when this outcome is not connected to the values of academic integrity, specifically fairness, responsibility and respect (International Center for Academic Integrity, 2021 ), students miss out on the opportunity to see themselves as active members of disciplinary communities—members who have a responsibility to one another. Although I agree that single instances of patchwriting should not lead to punishment for the student writer, tying source use instruction to the values of fairness, responsibility and respect is essential.

An experience with senior students at my institution has strengthened my conviction that paraphrasing instruction must be tied to academic integrity. After the instructor identified source misuse in the work of a surprising number of their students' written assignments, I facilitated several small group sessions on referencing and paraphrasing. These sessions, along with reports of conversations the instructor had had with students, revealed that in some cases, the origin of source misuse was a lack of understanding of the purpose of paraphrasing and how to approach it. In other cases, however, the students admitted to “getting away with” sloppy paraphrasing and referencing for years. They were fully aware that they were taking shortcuts, but since no instructor had ever addressed the issue, the students had never felt the need to adjust their practice. These students did not recognise themselves as active, responsible members of their disciplinary community.

Expecting an undergraduate student to recognise a personal responsibility to their disciplinary discourse community is not unrealistic. At MRU, senior undergraduate students make public presentations, engage in primary research activities, and present their results at academic conferences. These students do contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their disciplines and need to understand how the misuse of sources can undermine scholarly discourse.

A collaboration with second-year clinical nursing instructors is providing an opportunity for students to receive feedback on their paraphrasing in a way that helps them make authentic connections between source use and their responsibilities to the communities they serve. Students in this community nursing course work in groups to complete a project in close partnership with a community agency, and one of the students' final tasks is to provide a written report to the agency. Agencies sometimes refer to these reports in funding proposals and/or their own stakeholder communications. Approximately one week before the due date, students can book a one-hour group consultation with a writing strategist, who reviews the report and prepares feedback. Although the feedback can range from matters of organisation to writing style to APA formatting, a key objective is to provide feedback on paraphrasing. Strategists consult the sources students have paraphrased and identify places where they have misunderstood the source, failed to delineate the source authors' conclusions from their own, misrepresented source authors' positions and/or patchwritten. Because all the students in the group and their instructor attend the appointment, the opportunities for discussion about what constitutes acceptable paraphrasing are rich and often nuanced. Over the course of our two-year collaboration, we have worked with approximately 10 different instructors who have consistently told us that (1) they come away from the appointments with new insights on paraphrasing, and (2) they would not have had time to compare students' paraphrases with the original sources and would not have caught many of the paraphrasing missteps we identify. Students are grateful for the feedback on their paraphrasing, especially because they know they will be presenting their report to their agency partner; the fact that their writing will go beyond the school-writing context enhances their sense of accountability.

The changes to our open paraphrasing workshop are also generating evidence that undergraduate students readily make the link between paraphrasing and academic integrity insofar as they recognise the importance of fairly representing the original source author's position. Whereas previous versions of the workshop dedicated little time to misrepresentation, the new version prominently lists misrepresentation as one of four paraphrasing pitfalls and uses a specific example to illustrate the link between the common practice of mining a source for a single useful sentence and unintentional misrepresentation. When asked (in the learning assessment form) to identify their main takeaway from the workshop, students are mentioning strategies for avoiding misrepresenting the original source:

In order to avoid misrepresenting the original author, I will thoroughly read through sources in order to gain knowledge of the authors position accurately. Much of the time I find myself skimming through sources and sometimes this has resulted in me not fully understanding the main idea of the text and ultimately paraphrasing their position inaccurately. to make sure I read the source thoroughly so that I do not misinterpret what the author is saying. I need to make sure I know all the facts before paraphrasing a source, because I could potentially give the wrong interpretation, making it seem like I did not read the source, I just looked for what I wanted to find but did not go into depth with it. Before this workshop I wasn't really aware that it's very common to misinterpret an authors work by just reading small parts of their article. I just always assumed that all the parts of the article would specifically present their idea.

Students seem to be recognising the need for a deeper engagement with source texts—indeed, their responsibility to engage more deeply with source texts.

Future Directions

One-off workshops and learning modules are insufficient if our goal is to help students develop their ability to paraphrase competently and with integrity. Students need multiple opportunities, contextualised within their discipline, and spiralled throughout their program, to focus on source use, and crucially, to receive feedback on their paraphrasing. As writing strategists, we find ourselves working hard to dispel the notion that if all students participate in a paraphrasing and referencing workshop in the first year of their program, then they “should know it” and can be held accountable for source misuse in every course thereafter. We wholeheartedly support bringing key writing strategies like paraphrasing into first-year content classes, but we advocate for and can support next-level opportunities at subsequent stages of students' programs.

An approach analogous to Lang's ( 2016 ) “small teaching” may help make the integration of multiple learning opportunities more feasible. Small teaching activities “require minimal preparation and grading” (p. 8), and should take up only a small amount of class time. Instructors, in collaboration with writing specialists, could design and facilitate short paraphrasing activities so that students revisit key concepts and have chances to practice. A 15 minute block of time would be sufficient for educators to lead students through a side-by-side comparison of a paraphrase and the original passage from which it was derived, for example. Choosing a passage from a text students have already read for class would instantly provide authentic context, and if students evaluate the corresponding paraphrase in the context of a full paragraph rather than in isolation, the activity is more realistic and potentially illuminating. Even a simple comparison activity like this one can engender rich conversations about the line between interpretation and misinterpretation of an author's words/intent or the line between paraphrasing and patchwriting. Other quick classroom activities could include having students notice the balance between quotation and paraphrasing in a disciplinary text (Pecorari, 2013 ), comparing student-generated paraphrases of a passage from a text the whole class has read, or identifying the specific problem in each of several variations on a paraphrase. In all cases, writing specialists could be partners in co-creating the teaching materials and/or co-facilitating the activity.

To progress in their ability to use sources with integrity, students benefit from explicit instruction on the complex skill of paraphrasing and, importantly, feedback on their paraphrasing. When instruction and feedback focus more on what paraphrasing allows the writer to do and less on instilling fear of plagiarism, more on students' responsibilities as members of discourse communities and less on technicalities, students' confidence and abilities will grow. Sustained collaboration between content instructors and writing centre professionals may make it more feasible to weave paraphrasing instruction and feedback throughout a student's program.

Recommendations

∙ Leverage opportunities for instructor-writing specialist collaboration

∙ Acknowledge conflicting notions of authorship

∙ Help students see paraphrasing as a powerful tool

∙ Avoid single-sentence and/or decontextualised practice activities

∙ De-emphasise plagiarism, but link paraphrasing to the values of academic integrity

∙ Provide feedback to students on their paraphrasing

∙ Integrate short activities and feedback opportunities beyond the first year

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Rossi, S.L. (2022). Revisioning Paraphrasing Instruction. In: Eaton, S.E., Christensen Hughes, J. (eds) Academic Integrity in Canada. Ethics and Integrity in Educational Contexts, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83255-1_21

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3 Benefits of Paraphrasing: The Skill for Learning, Writing and Communicating

Paraphrasing is the underrated skill of reinstating, clarifying or condensing the ideas of another in your own words. By paraphrasing, you can curate credible and well-developed documents, and arguments. But there’s more to paraphrasing than the final result, the process of paraphrasing engages your ability to learn actively, write well, and communicate creatively.

Paraphrasing allows you to share another’s ideas in your own words. This powerful technique is useful in both written and verbal communication, and acts as a tool for conveying information effectively. Paraphrasing is an underrated skill that is beneficial to a variety of individuals from students and writers to employees and business owners. In any setting, sharing information well is the key to good quality work and results. The process of paraphrasing itself also has a number of benefits, making you a better learner, writer and communicator. 

Paraphrasing: The Active Learning Strategy 

Paraphrasing requires you to think about the information you want to convey. You need to understand the meaning in order to reword and restructure the idea, and share it effectively. The process of paraphrasing encourages you to get to the core message, and improves your understanding of the material. In this way, you are actively engaging with the material . Instead of passively reading, you are breaking down the ideas and concepts. Rather than slotting information into your writing, you’re reworking and tailoring it to your needs and your audience. 

Paraphrasing can improve your memory by encouraging you to engage with the information. The 5-step approach to paraphrasing suggests writing your first paraphrase without looking at the original material. This engages your ability to actively recall information from memory, and think of new ways to write it out, rather than simply trying to memorise what you read word for word. After your first draft, you’ll revisit the original material to check if your work conveys the same meaning, this part of the process can further strengthen memory. You’re again revisiting the material in a way that is active and assessing your understanding. Likewise, the practice of paraphrasing improves your ability to convey information, ensuring that it is well-written and tailored to your audience.

This learning method is particularly useful for exams. You’ll learn the material well, developing a deep understanding and continue to refine this as you paraphrase the information. You’ll also be practising your ability to share this information in a way that is well-written, avoids plagiarism and engages your audience. This means, you’ll be able to easily add these ideas into your assignments or exams, having already taken the time to understand the ideas deeply and even practised sharing this information. You’ll be able to show the depth of your learning through paraphrasing, proving you understand the bigger picture and the finer details. 

Paraphrasing: The Technique for Improving Writing Ability

Once you’ve understood the concept well, the process of paraphrasing can improve your writing ability in a variety of ways. You’ll improve your vocabulary by making use of synonyms and identifying key words. You might also switch between word categories, using a noun instead of a verb or changing  adjectives into adverbs. Overtime, this will make you a better writer. Paraphrasing is more than changing a few words and can involve switching between the active or passive voice, this can improve your ability to distinguish between the two. Effective paraphrasing also involves playing around with sentence structure, you might utilise shorter or longer sentences to convey the idea at hand. 

These benefits can still be found even when using paraphrasing tools . You’ll still have to test your understanding by assessing the paraphrase the tool produced. Likewise, you’ll be exposed to new ways of writing things, new words, sentence structures, and organisation. You’ll learn how to pick out the paraphrasing styles that do or don’t work for your writing. Beyond the more technical aspects of writing, paraphrasing can also teach you how to communicate more clearly. You might rearrange the information to emphasise a particular point, or simplify the language to make it accessible to your audience. This improves your ability to clarify the ideas of the original material, and make ideas that might be overly complex, easier to digest. 

Paraphrasing: The Skill for Better Communication 

Finally, paraphrasing can make you a better and more creative communicator. By engaging in the process of paraphrasing, you’re developing your ability to share one idea in a variety of ways. For this to be engaging, you have to get creative. You might play around with the tone, switching between formal, informal, casual, or persuasive. Imagine a business launching a new product, communicating the idea to various internal teams, and customers, each would require a different approach and yet the meaning behind the information would remain the same. 

You might ask questions such as, how can I tailor this information to my audience? How can I bring this aspect of the idea to life? This highlights how paraphrasing can really exercise your ability to communicate creatively. Similarly, paraphrasing can teach you how to share ideas in your own personal way. Whether you’re sharing an idea with a friend, or on social media, you’ll find you can share information in your own personal style while still retaining the original meaning. This can make ideas more accessible and relatable to those in your circle. Additionally, this can prove to be a useful skill in your career, studies or creative endeavours.

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Unit 2: Paraphrasing and Avoiding Plagiarism

2 Paraphrasing Techniques

Technique #1: tell-a-friend method.

This method involves using a new way to explain the meaning of the original sentence.

• Read the original sentence(s).
• Make sure you understand the sentence(s) completely.
• Cover the original source.
• Imagine you are talking to a friend and try explaining the information to your friend. Write down your explanation.
• Read the original source and make sure you have retained the original meaning.
• (See Technique #4 below: Using AI-based paraphrasing tools to improve your paraphrasing.)

Practice the Tell-a-Friend method using the proverbs below.

Proverb: You can’t judge a book by its cover.

Paraphrase: Things sometimes look different from what they really are.

Match the proverb with its paraphrase. (Answers located below.)

Technique #2: Chunking method

Another way to paraphrase is to break the original into smaller units, or “chunks.” This method can be useful for longer passages.

• Read the original sentence(s) and make sure you understand the sentence(s) completely.
• Divide the sentence(s) into chunks (these are often grammatical clauses). Underline each chunk, focusing on how you can divide the sentence into phrases.
• Re-write each chunk in your own words.
• Combine these rewritten chunks into one or more sentences to create a paraphrase. Think about how the ideas are related to each other; you might need to include additional words (e.g. transition phrases) as you combine the chunks.
• You may re-order the chunks to make the order of ideas different from the original, but if you do, make sure the paraphrase still makes sense.

Chunking examples:

#1 Original: “As more and more people have become increasingly used to sharing and collaborating outside the workplace via social networks, (chunk 1) they are coming to expect firms to be more open and collaborative places too (chunk 2).” From Author Unknown, “Yammering Away at the Office,” (2010), p. 1.

• 1) people have grown more accustomed to using social media platforms for collaboration and sharing ideas beyond their jobs
• 2) there are increasing expectations that companies will encourage more collaboration.

Paraphrase: Workers are expecting companies to encourage more collaboration since many people have grown accustomed to using social media platforms for collaboration and sharing ideas beyond their jobs (“Yammering away at the office,” 2010, p. 1).

#2 Original: “Psychologists have argued that digital technology is changing the way we write (chunk 1) in that students no longer need to plan essays before starting to write (chunk 2) because word processing software allows them to edit as they go along (chunk 3).” From David Derbyshire, “Social websites harm children’s brains,” (2009), p. 2.

• 1) psychologists claim that computers and software are influencing the writing process
• 2) students can skip the planning process
• 3) word processing programs help them revise throughout the writing process

Paraphrase: Because word processing programs help students revise their essays throughout the writing process and even skip the planning process altogether, psychologists claim that computers and software are influencing the writing process (Derbyshire, 2009, p. 2)

Adapted from Dollahite, N.E. & Huan, J. (2012). SourceWork: Academic Writing for Success.

Technique #3: Paraphrasing plus Summarizing method

Sometimes you will be able to identify one or two specific sentences to paraphrase. However, it is more common to use information from a longer passage, like a paragraph or two, or a section or sections of an article. To do this effectively, you must combine the skills of paraphrasing and summarizing.

• Paraphrasing: Restating an individual sentence that contains key ideas in your own words, keeping the same length and meaning.
• Summarizing: Expressing an overall idea of a longer passage in your own words, keeping the same meaning, but making it much more concise (shorten it).

Follow these steps to summarize AND paraphrase:

• Identify the original chunk(s) of text that you would like to cite in your paper.
• Read the chunk(s) several times to make sure you have accurate understanding and are able to “tell a friend” what the chunks are about.
• In the margins, identify key words, synonyms, or ideas that describe each chunk (color-coding can help identify similar ideas).
• Think about the most logical sequence of these ideas; you could number them.
• Write your summary, keeping it short (1 to 3 sentences). Set it aside.
• Re-read the ideas in the margins and your summary and rewrite any parts you feel could be improved; repeat steps 5-6 as needed.

The example below illustrates how a student used the skills of paraphrasing and summarizing below to condense a paragraph into a single sentence.

Original: “ The pandemic tested the resilience of colleges and universities as they executed online learning on a massive scale by creating online courses, adopting and adapting to unfamiliar technologies, engaging faculty en masse in remote teaching, and successfully meeting the instructional needs of students. Those experiences and lessons should not be discarded. The next phase for higher education in a post-COVID-19 world is to harness what worked well during the emergency response period and use those experiences to improve institutional practices for the benefit of both internal and external constituencies in the future.” From John Nworie, “Beyond COVID-19: What’s next for online teaching and learning in higher education,” (2021), p. 7.

• 1) valuable lessons learned
• 2) higher education institutions developed large-scale online courses
• 3) as a response to the pandemic
• 4) adapting and overcoming challenges in the process
• 5) should be applied to future education models

Paraphrase: Nworie (2021) recommends that the valuable lessons learned as higher education institutions developed large-scale online courses as a response to the pandemic, adapting and overcoming challenges in the process, should be applied to future education models (p. 7).

Proverbs matching answers: 1-d, 2-a, 3-e, 4-c, 5-b

Technique #4: Using Online Tools

AI-based paraphrasing tools can help you improve your writing. Most tools have free and premium versions, which have more features. Examples include:

The best way to use AI-based paraphrasing tools is to write your own version first and then use the tool to find alternative ways to express your paraphrase. Being able to write a paraphrase on your own will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of AI-generated paraphrases.

Benefits of using AI-tools:

• By seeing how the tool rewrites your text, you can learn to identify where your writing could be improved. You can learn to use more effective vocabulary, or how to structure your sentences in a more effective way.
• You can expand your vocabulary and learn effective collocations.
• You can spot grammar errors you make and learn to avoid and correct them.

Follow these guidelines when using AI tools for writing paraphrases:

• Write the paraphrase on your own first. Then paste your paraphrase into the AI with a clear prompt to check its effectiveness.
• When using AI to support your writing, always review the original text to ensure the AI accurately maintained the meaning of the original passage.
• Some tools only change the words and not the overall structure. If they tool only uses synonyms, you must change the grammar yourself.
• Always check the citation format. Do not assume the tool will use the correct citation.

To learn more about how to cite your use of AI Tools see the UW Libraries’ Research Guides on Citing Generative AI.

Knowledge Check

Exercise: take the paraphrasing quiz below..

From Excelsior Online Writing Lab, Paraphrasing – Try it Out

Academic Writing I Copyright © by UW-Madison ESL Program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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HOW PARAPHRASING TOOLS HELPS TO IMPROVE YOUR ACADEMIC WRITING SKILL?

Published by hetvi vashi on 14th november 2022 14th november 2022.

Many students think using paraphrasing tools can affect their creativity negatively. Well, this is true only if students depend a lot on paraphrasing tools.

However, using paraphrasing tools is not counterproductive for students as they can actually learn and improve their academic writing skills with the use of a paraphrase online  tool.

Not every student has great academic writing skills. In fact, a lot of students lack good grammar, vocabulary, and perfect sentence structure in their academic writing.

This is where a paraphrasing tool comes in handy and can help students improve their academic writing skills.

In this post, we will explore how using a paraphrasing tool help students improve their academic writing skills. If you are a student and confused about whether or not paraphrasing tools are helpful, this is the right guide.

What are Paraphrasing Tools and How Do They Help Improve Academic Writing Skills?

Paraphrasing tools are AI-programmed tools that are designed to rewrite any piece of content in a unique way that is free of writing errors and plagiarism.

Paraphrasing tools use Natural Language Processing  technology to analyze and understand the text completely and thoroughly before rewriting it so that the original context of the content is not disturbed.

Many paraphrasing tools work in multiple languages and allow students to create assignments and research papers in any language without worrying about plagiarism and other writing issues.

Let’s discuss how a rephrase online  tool help students improve their academic writing skills:

·  By Showing Different Writing Styles

Writing is not something that can be carried out in the same style. The writing style we use to write a marketing piece can not be used to write an essay, right? Right.

Similarly, the writing style students follow to write an essay can not be used to write a research paper. But, shuffling from one writing style to another is not that comes easy for every student and this could affect their grades.

Therefore, it is crucial for students to know different writing styles to improve their academic writing skills.

A paraphrasing tool can help students improve their academic writing  skills by showing them different writing styles through its different paraphrasing modes.

Usually, a paraphrasing tool comes with modes like:

If the source content is formal and the tool will use the ‘Formal’ mode to rewrite it in a formal tone and style.

Similarly for academic writing, the tool will use ‘Fluency’ and ‘Standard’ modes, as a student it is difficult to learn different writing styles but if you keenly observe the working of different paraphrasing modes you can actually improve your academic writing skills.

Let’s run the same piece of content through two different modes of paraphrasing and compare them to learn how the paraphraser rewrites them in different styles and tones.

Fluency Mode:

Standard Mode:

We can clearly see how the rewriter tool rewrites the same content in two different styles and tones and still maintains its original context.

This is how students can use a paraphrasing tool to improve their academic writing skills.

By Showing Different Sentence Structures

Another reason how a paraphrasing tool helps improve academic writing skills is by showing students how to write content using different sentence structures.

For example, if the source text given to the tool is in active voice sentences then the tool will use one of its modes to rewrite the text in passive voice sentences. This technique is very effective in making paraphrased text completely unique.

Students are taught different sentence structures in school and college but still, many students can’t fully master them, and eventually lack good academic writing skills.

A paraphrasing tool can help students learn different sentence structures by showing them practical demonstrations.

This is another way students can use paraphrasing tools to actually improve their academic writing skills.

By Showing Them to Write Clear And Concise

Academic writing must and should be clear with no unnecessary or irrelevant words.

Students should avoid writing lengthy and complex sentences in assignments or other academic papers because writing lengthy and unclear sentences can show how poor their writing skills are and result in grades below average.

Teachers appreciate concise and clear answers but many students actually think writing lengthy and complex answers can make them look smart in the teacher’s eyes. Well, this is not how it works.

Simple and easy-to-read vocabulary is considered good for academic writing. Write sentences as simple and clear as you can for good grades.

And if you don’t know how to write academic papers in a clear and concise format, a paraphrasing tool can be a great help.

The tool rewrites content by removing any irrelevant and redundant words or phrases from the source text which gives a concise look to the paraphrased version of the source text.

Looking at how tool replaces such words can not just help students write clearly and simply but also enhance their vocabulary by showing different words for the same word.

In this example, the bold words in the right box are the synonyms that the tool uses to replace complex words in the source text so that it becomes easy to read.

Bottom Line

Academic writing is something that constantly needs improvement and if you think your academic writing skills are below average you can take help from paraphrasing tools.

A  paraphraser uses different techniques and strategies to rewrite source text and if students observe these techniques, they can improve their academic writing skills.

Some of these techniques and strategies are discussed in the above sections, you can read and practice them to improve your academic writing skills.

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Paraphrasing Tools for Academic Writing – 10+ Pros & Cons

In today’s digital era of content creation, where academic writing holds significant importance, online paraphrasers have gained immense popularity. These handy tools serve as a time-saving solution for students and researchers, allowing them to effortlessly generate new content while avoiding plagiarism.

When utilized correctly, paraphrasing tools not only enhance the overall quality of writing but also captivate and engage readers on a deeper level. By presenting information in a fresh and unique manner, these tools help to create more compelling and persuasive academic pieces. Tip – most of the AI writers are also good paraphrasing tools.

However, like any tool, sentence paraphrasers for academic writing come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the intricacies of these pros and cons, shedding light on their impact and guiding writers towards informed decision-making.

Understanding Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is a writing technique that involves expressing an author’s original ideas in your own unique words. Rather than simply quoting the original text verbatim, you interpret the message and write it anew, which requires a comprehensive understanding of the material.

Paraphrasing is widely used in academic writing, allowing students and researchers to integrate existing knowledge while maintaining the originality of their work. Effective paraphrasing ensures that the information is accurately conveyed, offering fresh insights, and enhancing the readability of the content. It’s important to note that while paraphrasing involves rephrasing, it is essential to credit the original author to avoid plagiarism.

The Pros of Using Paraphrasing Tools for Academic Writing:

Time-Saving: One of the biggest advantages of using the paraphrasing tool is that it can save a significant amount of time. Rather than spending hours rewriting content manually, a student or researcher can simply input their existing content into a paraphrase online and receive a new, rephrased version almost instantly.

Zero Plagiarism, Zero Effort

Another major benefit of using a paraphrasing tool is that it can help to avoid unintentional plagiarism. By rephrasing existing content in a new way, the tool ensures that the new content is original and free from plagiarism.

is an essential aid for writers who need to produce plagiarism-free content quickly. This tool works by changing the original wording of a piece of text while retaining the same meaning, resulting in a new version that passes plagiarism checks. 

It saves time by automating the process of finding synonyms and rephrasing sentences, allowing writers to focus on other aspects of their work. Additionally, paraphrasing tools can be customized to suit different writing styles, tones, and purposes, making them useful for various writing tasks.

For example, paraphrasingtool.ai is one of the best-known rewriting tools among students and researchers for academic writing. The content generated by this amazingly faster tool will always be 100% unique and plagiarism-free. 

Create New Content every time

A paraphrasing tool can create new content for academic writing every time by using advanced algorithms to replace words and phrases with synonyms and alternative sentence structures. By analyzing the context of the original text and understanding its meaning, the tool can generate unique and plagiarism-free content that conveys the same message as the original but in different words. 

Furthermore, these tools often have vast databases of synonyms and related words, allowing them to generate a wide range of possible paraphrases for any given sentence or phrase. This process can be repeated as many times as needed until the desired level of originality is achieved. In academic writing, where originality is crucial, a paraphrasing tool can be a useful tool for generating new content while avoiding plagiarism.

It can help students and researchers to create new content quickly and easily. By rephrasing existing content, a writer can generate new articles, research papers, and other types of academic writing without having to start from scratch.

Some AI writers also do this, but the ones specializing in paraphrasing do it even better.

Enhances Productivity & Readability

AI paraphrasing online can enhance productivity and reliability for academic writers by streamlining the process of generating unique and original content. With the ability to quickly replace words and phrases, writers can save time and focus on other aspects of their work, such as research and analysis. 

Additionally, by producing multiple versions of a sentence or paragraph, rewriting tool free can help writers to find the most effective way to convey their ideas, leading to a more coherent and well-structured document. 

The use of an AI tool to rephrase sentences can help to ensure the reliability of the work by preventing plagiarism and maintaining academic integrity.

Time Efficiency

Another significant advantage of using paraphrase online tools for academic writing is the time efficiency they offer. Writing a research paper or an essay often requires extensive reading and understanding of various sources. 

Paraphrasing tools can save a considerable amount of time by automatically rephrasing the original text while retaining the essential meaning. 

Instead of spending hours manually rewriting sentences, students and researchers can utilize these tools to quickly generate paraphrased content, allowing them to focus more on critical aspects of their work, such as analysis and synthesis.

Language Enhancement:

AI sentence rephrasers can also be beneficial in improving language skills, particularly for non-native English speakers. Academic writing often demands a high level of proficiency in English, including vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure. 

By using sentence paraphrasing online, students can gain exposure to different sentence constructions and learn new vocabulary, thereby enhancing their language skills. 

Moreover, these tools can help individuals understand the nuances of sentence formation, ensuring that their writing adheres to academic standards. Over time, consistent use of paraphrase online can contribute to language development and foster improved writing abilities.

Improve Content Quality

In academic writing, the quality of content matters the most, and a good paraphrasing tool is one that can improve the quality of the content. By rephrasing sentences and paragraphs, the tool can help to improve the readability and flow of the writing, making it more engaging for the reader.

AI-powered rewriting tools can improve the content quality in academic writing by helping writers to avoid plagiarism and enhancing the overall coherence and readability of the text. When used correctly, the online paraphrase tool can help writers express complex ideas more clearly by rewording sentences and paragraphs in a way that is easier to understand. 

Simplifying Complex Subjects/Assignments

Paraphrasing tools can be highly beneficial for academic writing as they contribute to the enhancement of understanding and comprehension of the original text. 

When utilizing these tools, students are required to carefully analyze the content and extract the core meaning, enabling them to rephrase it in their own words. 

This process helps students grasp complex concepts and ideas more effectively, as they need to fully comprehend the content before paraphrasing it. By engaging with the text at a deeper level, students can develop a stronger understanding of the subject matter and improve their overall knowledge.

Promoting Language Development and Vocabulary Expansion

A rephraser can also contribute to the development of language skills and vocabulary expansion. When students use these tools, they are exposed to various sentence structures and alternative ways of expressing ideas. 

This exposure helps them improve their command of the language, enhances their writing skills, and expands their vocabulary. 

By actively engaging with the paraphrasing process, students can learn new words, phrases, and synonyms, allowing them to articulate their ideas more precisely and eloquently. 

Improves Student Confidence

By using paraphrasing tools, students can confidently integrate external information into their work while maintaining academic integrity. They are able to acknowledge and respect the intellectual property of others by accurately paraphrasing and citing sources. 

This ethical approach to writing not only avoids plagiarism but also encourages students to develop a strong sense of academic honesty and integrity.

 Encouraging Critical Thinking and Analysis

Another advantage of using a paraphrase tool in academic writing is that they foster critical thinking and analysis skills. When students rely solely on copying and pasting or directly quoting from a source, they often miss the opportunity to engage critically with the material. 

However, paraphrasing requires students to think analytically about the content, evaluate its relevance, and determine how to express it in their own words.

The Cons of Using Paraphrasing Tools for Academic Writing

Despite the utility of paraphrasing tools in academic writing, an awareness of their drawbacks is crucial for writers. A notable concern lies in the potential for inaccuracies and grammatical errors, challenging the reliability of paraphrased content. The need for caution is emphasized, suggesting that while online rephrasers offer assistance, they should be judiciously integrated with other research and writing strategies to uphold the highest quality of work.

Accuracy Issues

A significant drawback surfaces in the form of accuracy issues. Paraphrasing tools, often powered by algorithms, may not consistently capture the intended meaning of the original content, introducing errors and inaccuracies in the rephrased material.

Loss of Personal Voice

The adoption of AI rewriting tools carries the risk of a diminished personal voice and writing style. This poses a disadvantage, particularly for students and researchers aiming to articulate their unique ideas and perspectives authentically.

Limited Vocabulary

Another potential limitation is the tool’s susceptibility to a confined vocabulary. This constraint can manifest in repetitive or redundant phrasing within the rephrased content, potentially affecting the richness and diversity of expression.

Limited Contextual Understanding

Paraphrasing tools may struggle with contextual nuances, particularly in technical or specialized content. The lack of contextual understanding can lead to inaccuracies or misinterpretations in the rephrased output, diminishing the tool’s effectiveness in such domains.

Dependence on Technology

A noteworthy concern revolves around the potential dependence on technology. The convenience and ease offered by paraphrasing tools may lead to a reliance that, over time, becomes habitual for students in academic writing. This dependence might impede the development of independent writing skills.

From today’s discussion about “The Pros and Cons of Using Paraphrasing Tools for Academic Writing”, it is concluded that “online sentence rephraser can be useful tools for academic writing, but they are not without their drawbacks.” 

While they can save time, avoid plagiarism, and create new content quickly and easily, they may also result in accuracy issues, loss of personal voice, limited vocabulary, and a dependence on technology. 

Students and researchers should weigh the pros and cons carefully before deciding whether or not to use a word paraphraser for their academic writing.

Frequently Asked Questions about Paraphrasing Tools

• How does a paraphrasing tool work? A paraphrasing tool uses advanced algorithms and databases to identify words and phrases in the original text and replace them with synonyms or alternative sentence structures.
• Are there any free online paraphrasing tools available? Yes, there are many free online paraphrasing tools available, but they may have limitations such as word count restrictions or accuracy issues.
• Can I trust the accuracy of a paraphrasing tool? While some paraphrasing tools may provide accurate results, they should not be solely relied upon for important academic writing tasks. It is always recommended to proofread and edit the final paraphrased content.
• Is it ethical to use a paraphrasing tool for academic writing? It is not unethical to use a paraphrasing tool, as long as the original source is properly cited and the content is not plagiarized. However, it is important to ensure that the final paraphrased content does not misrepresent the ideas or research of others.
• Are there any alternatives to using a paraphrasing tool for academic writing? Yes, there are alternative methods for paraphrasing such as reading and understanding the original text thoroughly, taking notes, and then rewriting the content in your own words. Another option is to consult with a writing tutor or colleague for feedback and suggestions on how to effectively paraphrase.
• Can a paraphrasing tool improve my writing skills? While using a paraphrasing tool may help with time management and provide alternative sentence structures, it is not a substitute for developing strong writing skills. It is important to continue practicing and learning how to effectively paraphrase in your own words.
• How can I ensure my paraphrased content is not plagiarized? To avoid plagiarism, it is important to properly cite the original source and use a variety of synonyms and sentence structures when paraphrasing. It is also helpful to compare the original source with your paraphrased content to ensure it accurately reflects the ideas and research of others.
• What should I do if I am unsure about whether my paraphrased content is accurate? If you are unsure about the accuracy of your paraphrased content, it is recommended to seek feedback from a writing tutor or colleague. You can also compare your paraphrased content with the original source to ensure it aligns with the main ideas and information presented.
• Is it ethical to use a paraphrasing tool for academic writing? As long as the original source is properly cited and the content is not plagiarized, using a paraphrasing tool can be considered ethical. However, it is important to use these tools as a supplement and not rely solely on them for academic writing.
• How can I improve my paraphrasing skills? The key to improving your paraphrasing skills is practice. It is helpful to read and analyze various sources, then try rewriting them in your own words. You can also consult with a writing tutor or take a writing course to learn specific techniques and strategies for effective paraphrasing. Additionally, expanding your vocabulary and knowledge of synonyms can also aid in producing well-written paraphrased content. Overall, the more you practice and receive feedback, the better you will become at accurately and effectively paraphrasing.
• What are some common mistakes to avoid when paraphrasing? Some common mistakes to avoid when paraphrasing include copying whole phrases or sentences without proper citation, failing to change the sentence structure or wording enough, and using synonyms that do not accurately convey the same meaning as the original source. It is also important to properly cite all sources used in your paraphrased content.
• Can I use quotations while paraphrasing? Yes, it is acceptable to use quotations while paraphrasing as long as they are used sparingly and properly cited. Quotations should only be used when the original wording is essential or cannot be accurately paraphrased. It is important to use your own words as much as possible in order to demonstrate your understanding of the source material.
• How can I make sure my paraphrasing is accurate and reliable? To ensure accuracy and reliability in your paraphrased content, it is important to carefully read and understand the original source material before attempting to rephrase it. It can also be helpful to compare your paraphrased version with the original source to ensure that you have captured its main ideas and key points. Additionally, seeking feedback from a writing tutor, teacher, or peer can also help identify areas for improvement in your paraphrasing skills.
• What are some strategies for effectively paraphrasing? Some effective strategies for paraphrasing include changing the sentence structure and word order, substituting synonyms for key terms, and condensing longer passages into shorter ones while still retaining the main ideas. It is also important to use your own writing style and voice in the paraphrased content, rather than simply copying the structure or tone of the original source.
• Why is it important to properly cite sources when paraphrasing? Properly citing sources when paraphrasing is crucial as it gives credit to the original author and demonstrates academic integrity. It also allows readers to access the original source for further reading or verification. Failing to cite sources can result in accusations of plagiarism, which can have serious consequences in academia and beyond.
• In what situations should I use quotations instead of paraphrasing? Quotations should only be used when the original wording is essential to convey a specific point or argument, or if it is difficult to accurately paraphrase the content.

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Paraphrasing Tool – Academic Rephrase Tool for Researchers

Ref-n-write’s paraphrasing tool has a powerful AI (Artificial Intelligence) module that is specifically designed for academic writing. It is very important to avoid plagiarism when it comes to academic writing. You can no longer use your own text after it is published, it should be paraphrased manually or with a good rephrase tool, otherwise it will be considered self-plagiarism . Ref-n-write has been ranked as one of the best paraphrasing tools available out there. Ref-n-write’s legacy phrase templates feature offers the ability to rephrase sentences individually, while the newly added paraphrasing tool allows the users to rephrase paragraphs with one click. These tools work hand-in-hand with the academic phrasebank and rewording tools to provide a full suite of tools for researchers. This makes Ref-n-write one of the best research tools available for students and academics. In a recent survey of rewriter tools available to students and academics to reduce plagiarism, Ref-n-write was rated as the best scholarly paraphrasing tool . Click here to see the video of paraphrasing tool in action rephrasing a paragraph.

What is a Paraphrasing Tool?

A paraphrasing tool is used to rewrite or rephrase a sentence without altering its meaning. This is accomplished by substituting any number of alternate versions for specific words, phrases, sentences, or even whole paragraphs to create a slightly different variant.

How do you use the Ref-n-Write’s Paraphrasing Tool in Word?

You have to select a passage and click the ‘Paraphrase’ button in the Ref-n-write’s button panel. Ref-n-Write will rewrite the text and display the results in the panels below. Following figure demonstrates Ref-n-Write’s paraphrasing tool in action.

Can Ref-n-write’s Paraphrasing Tool correct grammatical errors in the text?

The Ref-n-Write’s paraphrasing tool functions as a grammar checker. In addition to rephrasing and rewording the text the tool can detect and correct grammatical errors. You don't have to spend extra money on a separate grammar check as these tools can be quite expensive and you have to sign up for an annual subscription.

How do you Rephrase a Sentence?

Rephrasing a sentence follows the same process as paraphrasing, but the most important consideration is to make the sentence clearer. Rephrasing may or may not be coupled with rewording or synonym adjustments. It may only entail rearranging the original sentence as long as clarity is obtained.

Can Ref-n-write Rephrase a Sentence?

Perfectly! It is an all-in-one tool that will assist you with every aspect of academic writing. Ref-n-write makes it very easy to rephrase, reword, rewrite, paraphrase, cite and avoid plagiarism.

Is it Okay to use a Paraphrasing tool?

Yes, it is okay to use a paraphrasing tool. However, there has been much debate about whether or not using a paraphrasing tool is a good practice. Some may argue that it prevents authors and students from improving their ability to express themselves in their own words. As with any invention, these paraphrasing tools can be misused. But that doesn’t mean using them is bad. These tools provide suggestions and ideas to help the user paraphrase, but the final product is still up to the user. Only when authors, students, or users see these paraphrasing tools as a direct substitute for citation does it become a bad practice.

How do you Paraphrase Correctly?

• • Read the text to get an understanding of its message and flow.
• • Identify and highlight keywords that must not be changed to retain the text’s meaning.
• • Identify words that can be rearranged or moved without changing the meaning or flow of the text.
• • Identify words and phrases that can be changed and replace them with appropriate synonyms.
• • Double-check that you included all of the vital information in the original text.

How do you Professionally Paraphrase?

You Paraphrase professionally by following our guidelines on paraphrasing correctly and appropriately citing and referencing the source materials. A paraphrasing tool (ideally Ref-n-write) will make the process quicker and faster, increase the overall quality of your work, and provide you with a greater variety of ideas to work with.

How do you Rephrase a Paragraph?

• • Paraphrasing each sentence that makes up the paragraph.
• • Ensuring there is an adequate flow from sentence to sentence
• • Ensuring every sentence is clear
• • Ensuring the meaning of each sentence and the overall message of the whole paragraph is not altered

How can I make a Sentence Better?

It is essential that a good sentence be clear, concise, appropriately punctuated, free of grammar errors, and have a proper flow. All of the elements stated above must be improved for a sentence to be better. Effective paraphrasing may help you improve a sentence, and employing the right paraphrasing tools can help you improve a sentence even more.

Can you use the Ref-n-Write’s Paraphrasing Tool Offline?

Most of the existing rephrase tools requires access to the internet. On the contrary, the Ref-n-write’s paraphrasing tool can be operated in both online and offline modes. Following images show the rephrased output of the paraphrasing tool when operating in online and offline modes. If you look at the rephrased paragraph, you will notice that the rephrased sentences are colour coded in offline mode indicating the confidence of each word replacement - green means very confident; blue means moderately confident and red means not very confident. There is no colour coding in the online mode, however the quality of rephrasing is much better in the online paraphrasing mode compared to the offline mode. It is highly recommended to use the paraphrasing tool in online mode since this is much more powerful than the offline mode.

How do you Paraphrase a file with Ref-n-Write?

Ref-n-Write allows users to paraphrase their file one passage at a time. This enables the author to learn and understand the paraphrasing process and do it without outside help in the future. Since Ref-n-write is a Microsoft Word add-in, paraphrasing can be applied directly to the document without losing the formatting.

What is the best free online paraphrasing tool?

There is no such thing as the best online paraphrasing tool. An excellent online paraphrasing tool should provide final paraphrased results that adhere to the steps recommended in our guideline to correctly paraphrasing. Ref-n-write provides a 15-day free trial period in which you can test the paraphrasing feature before charging a one-time fee.

Can I get the paraphrasing tool for free?

As the saying goes, “the great ones don’t come cheap.” Ref-n-write is the best academic paraphrasing tool available. It is a Microsoft Word add-in that is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers. If you are a scholar, student, researcher, author, or you have a job that requires a lot of writing, Ref-n-write is the best for you. Ref-n-write provides a 15-day free trial period before charging a one-time fee of around £29.99 for the full version. That is significantly less expensive than any other paraphrasing tool that charges a monthly fee. It aids in citation and allows you to import your source materials and conduct a full-text search to avoid plagiarism. Ref-n-write is the most affordable all-in-one paraphrasing tool available.

What is the difference between free and paid Paraphrasing tool?

Paraphrasing with a free or paid tool follows the same steps as mentioned above for correctly paraphrasing. However, when compared to the paid version of Ref-n-write, using a free tool has some limitations on the word count of the text being paraphrased.

Is Ref-n-write Paraphrasing Tool Safe?

Ref-n-write’s paraphrasing tools are secure and dependable. They take the security and privacy of their members seriously, and they operate in line with all relevant privacy and data protection legislation.

Is using Paraphrasing Tool Cheating?

Some may argue that employing paraphrasing tools is unethical because the information is not original and the tools do not acknowledge the original writer. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, is not plagiarism if adequately cited and referenced. Hence, utilising paraphrasing tools with correct citation and reference is not considered cheating.

Is Paraphrasing Tool Legit?

The utilisation of paraphrase tools determines their legitimacy. When used correctly, they are legal; nevertheless, when misused, they constitute plagiarism, which is illegal. True, these paraphrase tools make work easier and faster, especially when one is on a tight deadline, but they must be utilised correctly.

Can Turnitin Detect Paraphrasing Tool?

An excellent way to avoid plagiarism scanners is by paraphrasing. Turnitin’s algorithms do not detect paraphrasing. They are primarily concerned with recognising similar language structures, grammatical patterns, and phrases. This paraphrasing tool will not be flagged as plagiarised as long as it generates unique content that exhibits little or no similarity to anything in the Turnitin database.

Is Paraphrasing Tool Plagiarism?

As previously stated, combining paraphrasing tools with proper citation and referencing is a good practice. Yes, some of these paraphrasing tools can produce 100% unique content, but the source material should be acknowledged. As a result, if proper citation is not used, a paraphrasing tool can constitute plagiarism.

Is there a Website that can Paraphrase Sentences for you?

You can try the Ref-n-write paraphrasing tool on the website, however it is recommended to install the plugin on your Microsoft Word as it offers more options and is easy to use. If you conduct a Google search, you will be presented with an unending list of websites to consider. Many of these websites reword sentences; they do not adequately rewrite them.

What is the Best Paid Paraphrasing tool?

We are possibly the best paid paraphrasing tool available. Ref-n-write does more than just paraphrase; it also assists with citation and referencing and allows you to import all of your source materials and perform a full-text search to check for similarity and text overlap. Our academic phrase bank provides you with a variety of phrases related to your topic of interest from which to choose. Ref-n-write helps you enhance your writing to suit today’s standards. Oh, and did I forget to mention that it is very affordable compared to other paid tools? We give you good value for your money.

How do you Use the Paraphrasing Tool in Word?

Microsoft Word’s Web version now includes rewrite suggestions, but it is very basic. However, this is a new function and has not yet been implemented on the PC or mobile versions. There are various paraphrasing tools available as Microsoft Word add-ins on PC, including Ref-n-write and many others. These add-ins will assist you in rewording your texts in a variety of ways.

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