In a previous article, we demonstrated the advantages of adequately citing sources to avoid being accused of plagiarism. Today, we will focus on paraphrasing: an essential citation technique that you ought to master in order to successfully tackle your written projects!
Summary
Paraphrasing does not simply involve replacing a few words of a sentence by synonyms. You must make the cited passage your own by adapting it to your personal writing style and change its structure without altering its meaning.
It is a difficult exercise that requires training in order not to be engaged in a form of « superficial paraphrasing » in your works.
Advice to the wise: if you are not certain that you have fully grasped the author's concept, don't incorporate it in your project. You will have a hard time putting it into your own words and your teacher will quickly sense that you are uncomfortable with the theory, then will probably ask you questions specifically on this point. Choose references that make sense to you and will allow you to bring your own perspective to the table.
Paraphrasing an author's ideas is not forbidden as long as you do not conceal their origin to the reader. As a matter of fact, paraphrasing an idea cannot be done without citation or reference to the author: when borrowing someone's idea you have to cite him. Otherwise you will effectively commit plagiarism, an offense that can lead to a variety of sanctions. Proof of this can be seen in the case of two University of Brest students who, at the end if 2016, were expelled from their school for copying and pasting online passages without citing their authors.
As stated before, when you master the art of paraphrasing as a student, you provide evidence to your examiners that you have a clear understanding of what you wrote. If your teachers ask you for bibliographic references it is precisely to assess your capacity to gather manuscripts with the aim of developing a specific subject by means of pertinent explanatory comments.
In the workforce, no matter what your future occupation might be, it seems that paraphrasing will be a valuable asset to your success. Here are different examples :
To help you paraphrase your written projects, here are a few phrases you can use to introduce an author's words :
After reformulating your text, we advise you to analyse it through our anti-plagiarism software for students: Compilatio Studium.
This analysis allows you to fix incorrectly referenced sources, so that you can remain calm after submitting your paper.
For more information on reformulation:
- "How to Paraphrase in 5 Easy Steps | Tips and Examples" Scribbr. 24/09/2021. Consulated on 08/03/2022.
- "Quoting and Paraphrasing" The Writing Center. University of Wisconsin - Madison.Consulated on 08/03/2022.
- "How to paraphrase" Joanna Kimmerly-Smith, Scribendi. Consulated on 08/03/2022.
- "Paraphrase = plagiarism?" Compilatio. 26/07/2019. Consulté
- "Brest. Plagiarism at the law school: two students excluded" Ouest-France (article in french). 08/11/2016. Consulated on 08/03/2022.
