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Paraphrasing

To build a strong argument in your academic writing, you need to master paraphrasing. It’s about using ideas from other texts in your own words, ethically and effectively. Read on to learn practical strategies to paraphrase with confidence and avoid plagiarism.

Learn how to paraphrase effectively.

How to paraphrase 

The point of paraphrasing a text – apart from being best practice - is to demonstrate your understanding of the material and its context within the work you are doing. A paraphrase does not need to ‘sound fancy’ or use complex language – it simply needs to sound like you in conversation about a topic. 

To paraphrase a text, read the source and make a list of bullet points outlining the original argument, discussion or idea. Read the original passage again to make sure you really do understand what has been written. Check your bullet points to ensure you have covered everything. 

Next apply the following five key strategies to your bullet points to develop a paraphrase from them.  

Your paraphrase will be most effective if you combine several of these strategies. Don't apply only one or two of these strategies – it won't be enough.

Paraphrasing strategies

Summarising

Summarising is a paraphrasing skill that involves taking a key text (book or article) or passage and condensing it when you write about it in your work.  

You may choose to summarise if you want to:  

  • provide an overview of a text 

For example: 'In her seminal work, Gender Trouble (1990), Butler argues that...' 

  • write about it in general  

For example: 'Research into psychopathic behaviours in managers (Andrews & Furniss, 2009) suggests that they spend more effort in manipulating people than in other aspects of management.' 

  • condense complex or lengthy ideas for the sake of brevity 

For example: 'Coronavirus has been shown by Byttebier (2022) to be caused by...' 

  • refer to an author’s overall findings, oeuvre (body of work), or key texts 

For example: 'In his last three important works (2010; 2012; 2015), Derrida turned to exploring...' 

  • discuss a text, theory or concept developed over a long period of time 

For example: 'The feminist movement can be traced back several centuries to Mary Wollstonecraft (1792), who wrote that...' 

Example paraphrase

This original quote is by Plutarch, translated from Greek into English. It is not an easy passage to read! 

By paraphrasing, the writer hopes to improve the flow of the writing without changing the meaning. 

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