13.5.1 Paraphrasing

Paraphrases allow you to describe specific information from a source (ideas from a paragraph or several consecutive paragraphs) in your own words. Paraphrases of the text should be expressed in your own words, with your own sentence structure, and in your own way. You should not simply “word swap” or replace a few words from the original text with synonyms. If you use a few of the author’s words within your paraphrase, place quotation marks around them.

Paraphrases are more common in number-driven fields such as sciences and social sciences than in text-based fields such as the humanities or sciences focusing on human participants. However, while there is a difference between quoting and paraphrasing, how quotes and paraphrases are cited is not that different at all. As with a quote, you need to explain to your reader why the paraphrased material is significant to the point you are making in your paper or presentation.

This section is derived from Using Sources in Your Document in Howdy or Hello? Technical and Professional Communication Copyright © 2022 by Matt McKinney, Kalani Pattison, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Anders, and Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.