A paraphrase is a restatement of an idea into your own words. You turn a sentence you have read or heard into about the same number of your own words. Different words, same meaning. For example:
Original sentence: “Taking a few minutes away from our too-busy lives each day can provide the mental refreshment we need to recharge and move forward.” –Anony Mous
Paraphrase: According to Anony Mous, we should interrupt our overly busy daily schedule each day by spending a few minutes off, to supply the mental restoration we require to refill our energy and continue our productivity. –Anony Mous
Here we have 24 words paraphrased into 31 words, which is a similar number. The central idea of a paraphrase is that it preserves all the meaning and details (whereas a summary omits details and preserves only the main ideas).
Paraphrasing Is an Aid to Learning
Paraphrasing is a valuable learning strategy for the following reasons:
- Active engagement with the material. The act of turning a statement into your own words and writing them down (or typing them up) engages your mind and body with the content. Writing or typing up sentences involves kinesthetic (physical movement) interaction with the material as well as mental. Paraphrasing causes you to think about the ideas rather than just dumping them into your brain unexamined.
- Improved memory. Active engagement improves your memory of the ideas. Even copying the idea down word for word increases retention, whether or not you ever review your notes. But paraphrasing is even more powerful for aiding memory.
- Improved understanding. In order to convert an idea into your own words, you must think about it and understand what the writer or speaker is telling you. You can copy the exact words robotically without even thinking and therefore with less understanding. And without understanding, you are likely to forget the information sooner because your brain didn’t connect it to anything else.
- Make the idea your own. Using your own writing style, your own vocabulary, and your own thinking adds the idea to your regular mental inventory. When someone asks, “What was the point of the book?” you are more likely to answer in your natural style rather than in the possibly elaborate vocabulary and phrasing of the book.
Paraphrasing Allows You to Organize Ideas
You can use paraphrasing to
- Put the ideas in a different order. IF the writer discusses things in an order different from the one you find most useful for your study, rearrange them in your paraphrase to emphasize what is important.
- Simplify the language. This is perhaps the most useful benefit of paraphrasing. Some writers use overly elaborate sentence structures or too much jargon or unnecessarily abstract vocabulary.
- Clarify the ideas. Some writing is simply difficult to understand. Many great thinkers lack the ability to express themselves as clearly as we would hope. Paraphrasing is your opportunity to translate difficult writing into clearer writing.
How to Paraphrase
The formula for paraphrasing is:
- Read the sentence or passage over and over until you really understand it.
- Write out the meaning, either in outline form or conversational style
- Locate the main ideas and arrange the order you want to present them
- Write the paraphrase from your rearranged outline
- Check to see that you have preserved the meaning and included all the ideas
- Edit as needed
- Add a citation to give the source credit. (You can’t make an idea your own simply by changing it into your own words. You still need to cite the source of the idea.)
Examples of Paraphrases
Original Sentence: “It turns out to be very difficult, for instance, to unlearn or ignore bad information–even when we know it is wrong or should be ignored.” –Joseph T. Hallinan, Why We Make Mistakes Get Why We Make Mistakes from Amazon.com
Paraphrase: Even when we are told that some information is wrong and should be disregarded, we still find it hard to forget it or avoid it. –adapted from Joseph T. Hallinan, Why We Make Mistakes
Original Sentence: “Leaders empower employees through consistent information sharing and increased decision-making responsibility and autonomy.” –Paul Marciano, Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work
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Paraphrase: When leaders regularly share information, give decision-making authority, and allow autonomy, they empower their employees. –adapted from Paul Marciano, Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work
Original Sentence: “Learning occurs best when new information is incorporated gradually into to the memory store rather that when it is jammed in all at once. –John Medina, Brain Rules
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Paraphrase: The best way to learn something it is to study it a little at a time instead of trying to memorize it all at the same time. –adapted from John Medina, Brain Rules
