How to paraphrase for an essay

How to paraphrase an essay?

It is considered a serious offence to copy someone else’s content. This offence is termed as plagiarism. Plagiarism occurs while writing an essay or a research paper or any other writing form. How to avoid such mishaps? How to save yourself from such offence? There is a solution which helps in avoiding plagiarism which is called paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing can be used for an article that you read or any journal. The basic idea is to introduce the information keeping the context of the paragraph intact. Paraphrasing is an act of rephrasing the words in a distinct approach.

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is a technique that allows borrowing ideas from the original text which is done with the purpose of avoiding plagiarism.

It allows the writer to explain the context in own words thereby reducing or avoiding plagiarism. It should always contain in-text citations so that there is no place for plagiarism.

Why should I paraphrase my essay?

1.To clarify the meaning

2.To avoid plagiarism

3.To shorten lengthy sentences keeping the meaning of content intact

Perfect techniques to paraphrase an essay

1.Using synonyms: To paraphrase an essay, the words that are already present in the original text must not be repeated. Instead, its synonyms must be used. Synonyms will help in improving the vocabulary as well enhance the quality of an essay.

Words from thesaurus must be referred to use them in a paragraph.

2.Change the structure of the paragraph: To avoid plagiarism, the structure of the paragraph must be changed. This way, your own words can be added at the same time, will help in paraphrasing the content. 

3.Put the information in random order: The best technique to paraphrase an essay is to put the information in random order. Here it is important to understand that the meaning of the context must remain the same whereas the order in which it is being represented can be changed.

4.Usage of quotation marks: Some of the content which cannot be paraphrased is difficult to put in your own words can be done by adding quotation marks.

Adding quotation marks will help in giving the content an authenticity as well as the mention of the author’s original content.

5.Use different connecting words: If the original content contain shorter sentences, while paraphrasing they can be combined via connecting words called as conjunctions.

Words such as and, but, or, nor etc can be added while paraphrasing an essay using this technique.

6.Include the author’s name: The original author’s name can be mentioned while an paraphrasing for an essay. This will not lead to plagiarism thereby will help in retaining the essence of originality.

7.Change from active voice to passive voice: To avoid plagiarism, it is advised to change the voice of the sentences that are being written. If the original text is in active voice, it must be changed to passive or vice versa.

Tips to consider for paraphrasing

1.The sentences that are constructed must be of your own words.

2.It is important to add citations because it is reconstructing someone else’s work.

3.Paraphrasing and summarizing are different terms they must not be confused. Paraphrasing is to express the context in your own words whereas summarizing involves your opinions and some of the content being included.

4.Read the text to be paraphrased many a times. This will allow in grasping the content in an appropriate manner.

5.You must be clear in representing the information. The ideas that are being presented must correlate to the original text.