paraphrasing and summary exercises

• Paraphrase Online

Paraphrasing and Summarizing Exercises with Answers

Paraphrasing and Summarizing are two skills that are highly useful for writers. With these two techniques, writers can get help creating their content and providing it to their readers in an easy-to-peruse way.

However, if you happen to be new to the field of writing, you could be a little unaware and untrained in both these skills. But don’t worry. Everyone starts out as a beginner.

In this post, we’re going to be looking at some  paraphrasing and summarizing  exercises along with their answers and explanations. By following along, you’ll get a good idea about how you can use these techniques in your own capacity.

Let’s begin!

What is Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Before we get to the exercises, let’s digress a little and understand what paraphrasing and summarization actually are.

Let’s start with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing  is the process in which a particular piece of content is reworded and rephrased in such a way that it looks different from its original version but it has the same meaning and context.

A simple example of paraphrasing would be to change “John likes his cat” to “John adores his feline pet”. Paraphrasing can be as slight as merely changing some words in the text, or it can be as drastic as fully changing the tone, structure, order, and words of the content.

On the other hand,  Summarizing  is the process in which a piece of content is shrunk and shortened to about one-tenth of its original size. In this shortened version, the main idea and concept of the content is provided.

Summarization is usually used by authors and writers when they want to give a brief outline of a book or article to their readers.

Now that we’ve looked at the definitions of both, let’s move ahead to look at some exercises.

Paraphrasing Exercises (with Answers)

The main purpose of providing these exercises along with their answers is to help you understand what these techniques look like when they are implemented. Since we have explained their core definition above, you can try and work along the exercises to improve your skills a little as well.

Related:  Difference Between Paraphrasing And Rephrasing

Paraphrasing Exercise # 1:

Here is a sample paragraph that we will be paraphrasing as an exercise. We’ll write the paragraph alone first, and then provide the answer after a brief explanation.

Sample Paragraph:

"John could not find the butter in his fridge. He went to buy some from the store. On coming back, he saw his cat sitting on the floor, smacking its lips. There was some yellow stuff smeared all around its face. Thus, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

So, as we mentioned earlier, paraphrasing can be done simply and sparingly, or it can be done drastically.

One of the primary and basic ways of paraphrasing is to simply change some words in the provided content with their synonyms. This is, we reiterate, a very basic level of paraphrasing, and it is often very easy to see through it.

So, for this first exercise, we are going to be doing only that level of paraphrasing as a way to illustrate how it looks like.

Here is what the above paragraph looks like when paraphrased:

Paraphrased Paragraph:

"John could not locate the butter in the refrigerator. He went to purchase some from the shop. On coming back, he observed his cat sitting on the ground, licking its lips. There was some yellow material smeared all around its face. Hence, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

While we are on this discussion, it will also be salubrious to understand that when changing words with their synonyms for the purpose of paraphrasing, you have to be careful that you pick those that don’t mess up the context and intent of the lines.

Paraphrasing Exercise # 2:

Moving on, let’s look at another paraphrasing exercise. Here is the paragraph that we will be using for this one:

"John’s cat got lost in the forest. He went looking for it in the night time. He heard some movement in one of the bushes. He put his hand in and felt the fur. He pulled the thing out, thinking it to be his cat. After coming home, he realized it was an angry raccoon."

We mentioned in the last exercise that the basic level of paraphrasing is to change some of the words in the given text with their synonyms. And we also mentioned how that sort of paraphrasing can be easily detected.

So, for writers who want to paraphrase something in such a way that it does not resemble its original form a lot, there’s a step further that they can go, and that is to change the sentence structures + phrases.

Essentially, by changing the phrases used in the content as well as the arrangement of the sentences, the overall look of the paraphrased piece looks very different. If someone wants to go even ahead of that, they can shuffle the sentence  order  as well.

Considering this type of ‘extensive’ paraphrasing, here is the answer to the paragraph given above:

"John’s cat went missing in the forest. He went to search for it when it was dark. He discerned some movement in the hedge. After putting his hand inside it, he felt some fur. Thinking that it was his cat, he pulled the animal out. It was only after coming home that he realized that it was a frustrated raccoon."

Read more: How And Why to Paraphrase Your Content?

Summarizing Exercises (with Answers)

Now that we have looked at the paraphrasing exercises, let’s move on to look at some for summarizing.

Just as we’ve looked at two types of paraphrasing above, we’ll also look at two different types of summarizing.

Actually, it’ll be better if we explain those two types before getting to the exercises.

Basically, there are  two types of summaries . One of them is called  extractive  and the other is called  abstractive .

In extractive summarization, the summary of a piece of content is generated merely by taking out some sentences from it and joining them together. This is usually the type of summaries that you get from automated tools.

When extractive summaries are created, there is no effort to understand the actual meaning and context of the text. Rather, the purpose is only to take some lines from it and join them together in such a way that they make sense.

On the other hand, abstractive summaries are those that are written using a completely new and different set of words, phrases and sentences than the content (that is being summarized). As opposed to extractive summarization, abstractive summarization involves understanding the meaning and context of the text, and then creating a completely new summary that features all those concepts and ideas.

Summarizing Exercise # 1 (Extractive)

In order to demonstrate and explain extractive summarization, we’re going to first write a paragraph here and then provide its summary afterwards:

Sample paragraph:

"John’s car broke down. He stopped by the road side and screamed at people to stop and help him. But no one stopped for him. He continued howling and howling for hours. People kept driving by. After getting tired, he picked up a sheet and wrapped it around himself. Then, he started spinning on his spot. He grew dizzy. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Now, since we have to use the “extractive” summarization technique here, we’ll create the summary using the lines and sentences used in the content itself.

"John’s car broke down. But no one stopped for him. Then, he started spinning on the spot. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Summarizing Exercise # 2 (Abstractive)

For this exercise, we will use the same para that we did above. However, the technique used for the summarization will be different.

Since we will be using the abstractive technique here, the summary will be created using different words and phrases as the original.

"John’s vehicle went phut. But, no one stopped their car to help him. After he was tired, he made himself dizzy by spinning and then went to sleep."

So, that’s about it.

If you were a little confused about paraphrasing and summarization techniques, hopefully you’re a little more confident about them now.

These skills can come in handy for writers in a lot of different situations. If you don’t have the hang of them already, you should try and get it as quick as you can.

Best 5 Paraphrasing Exercises

Read on to see our helpful paraphrasing exercises and tips in this article to get you started.

One of the most important skills you can hone as a student or writer is to paraphrase the words of other academics and experts effectively. Since new knowledge is built upon that which is already known, it makes sense that you’d want to reference the ideas of others in your work. However, this is often easier said than done. Paraphrasing , especially if you want to do it well, can be challenging.

Fortunately, as is the case with most other skills in life, you can improve your ability to paraphrase through practice . For instance, you can improve this skill by regularly doing paraphrasing exercises . As I was an academic for a long time in my life, I thought it might be helpful to those who have little or no experience in paraphrasing if I provided a list of paraphrasing exercises . If you’re such a person, I hope that this article will get you started on your journey toward mastering the art of paraphrasing . Your academic or writing career will undoubtedly be better off for it when you do.

The Art of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing exercises and activities to help you master the skill, 1. broaden your vocabulary, 2. create a word map, 3. paraphrase in small chunks, 4. ways to paraphrase shorter and easier sentences, 5. imagine you’re explaining the source material to someone, helpful tips, 1. avoid plagiarism, 2. summarizing is not paraphrasing, 3. changing word order is not paraphrasing.

Although paraphrasing is an essential skill when writing papers, essays, or articles, it’s one that many find challenging to master. To paraphrase the words of others, you need first to comprehend their meaning, and then you need to express this meaning in your own words. To do this effectively requires a broad and sophisticated range of vocabulary and advanced grammar skills.

As stated in the introduction, you can improve your paraphrasing skills through paraphrasing exercises . Doing this will help you construct meaningful and original paraphrased sentences and increase the speed at which you work. Especially when you’re a student, reading, and paraphrasing the words of other scholars and experts can form a big chunk of your work. Learning how to paraphrase well and at a quick pace will enhance your academic experience and will open up your schedule for other activities, such as sports or parties.

Our paraphrasing vs. summarizing guide might be helpful.

Now that you know the importance of paraphrasing , let’s dive right in and look at some exercises and activities that can help you improve. Remember, as is the case when learning any other new skill, you need to engage with these exercises regularly.

Since you cannot paraphrase appropriately without a decent range of vocabulary, it makes sense to aim to add more words to your vocabulary bank constantly. Of course, if you’re an academic , you’ll want to focus on improving your academic vocabulary in your specific field. However, since academic language has a formal tone, you can add general terms to your vocabulary bank to help you express yourself more sophisticatedly. Examples of such words, for instance, are verbs such as “theorize,” “opine,” “constitute,” and “approximate.”

There are various ways in which you can enrich your academic vocabulary. These include:

• Keeping a word journal: A great way to learn new words is to carry a little book along with you, in which you can write down words that you don’t know. You can write down the word and then look up the meaning when you have time. It can also be helpful to construct your sentence with the word once you’ve jotted down its definition.
• Highlight words in texts: Whether you’re working with a physical copy of a text or a digital version, it’s good to highlight or underline words that you don’t know. You can then either write a definition of the words in the margin or, if you’re working with a digital copy, you can add a comment. Another good tip is to write by hand – people learn better when writing something by hand than if they typed the same information.
• Read as much as you can: Although this may be obvious, the best way to improve your vocabulary is to read as many books and articles as you can fit into your schedule. Even if you don’t have the time to look up the meaning of each word that you don’t understand, just seeing the word pop up in different contexts will help you work out the meaning for yourself over time. Apart from reading, you can also listen to podcasts or watch documentaries and news channels.

If you’re battling to paraphrase an original paragraph or sentence into your own words, it can be helpful to create a word map. You can, for instance, write a few complex words or phrases down on a piece of paper. Next, draw a box around each word or phrase, and leave enough space around each so that you can draw and link other boxes. As a next step, you can draw boxes in which you write the synonym of each word. You can also write down the definition of each word if you’re unsure of its meaning.

Next, you need to clarify the relationship between these words or terms. Draw arrows between them indicating patterns, correlation, or cause and effect. You can also add boxes between the original words or phrases in which you add other words, such as verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, or adjectives. Doing so can help you further explain the terms or link them meaningfully. Once you’ve added all the information you can think of, try to create a paraphrased sentence or paragraph from your word map.

A valuable way to learn how to paraphrase when you’re a beginner is to break sentences into smaller parts. For example, instead of paraphrasing a long and complex sentence, which can become overwhelming if you’re not used to this process, you can focus on shorter phrases. Let’s take a look at an example. Here, for instance, is a long and complex sentence:

“ Many impacts are unavoidable and will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns — but collective action from governments to both curb greenhouse-gas emissions and prepare communities to live with global warming could yet avert the worst outcomes. “

You may find it challenging to paraphrase this sentence as a whole. However, breaking it into smaller chunks makes the task more doable. You can break this sentence up in the following way:

• Many impacts are unavoidable
• And will hit the world’s most vulnerable populations hardest, it warns
• But collective actions from governments
• To both curb greenhouse-gas emissions
• And prepare communities to live with global warming
• Could yet avert the worst outcomes

Remember, the sentence structure of your paraphrased version can and often will look different from the source. This means that you can form two or multiple sentences if this helps you create a meaningful paraphrased version, even if the original is one sentence.

If you want to practice your paraphrasing skills, you can do so by paraphrasing a sentence in two or three different ways. You can practice finding different synonyms, grammar, and sentence structures while retaining the meaning across all versions.

If you have time, you can do this exercise with longer sentences. However, it may be good to start by paraphrasing shorter sentences. Doing so will allow you to focus on finding multiple synonyms and different ways to write the same sentence.

Here’s an example:

“ Scientists know that bees are dying from a variety of factors. “

Paraphrased version 1:

“Experts maintain that the future of bees is in danger due to multiple causes.”

Paraphrased version 2:

“There are many different reasons why bees are going extinct, according to scientists.”

A helpful way of practicing paraphrasing while reading through articles or research papers is to recite your paraphrased version of some more complex sentences. Since the first step of paraphrasing is to ensure that you’ve correctly understood the source, repeating what you’ve just read in your own words can help you grasp the meaning of the source material.

You don’t need to use formal academic language and complex terms when doing this paraphrasing exercise. Instead, the aim is to repeat what you’ve read in plain and simple terms. Also, since you don’t need to write anything down for this paraphrasing exercise, it’s something you can regularly do while you’re reading through the source material.

It’s vital that you understand what you’re reading and that all the information is not just going over your head. Doing this exercise, primarily when you find yourself drifting off or having problems grasping a sentence, will ensure that you’ve understood the section you’ve read. At the same time, you get to practice your paraphrasing skills.

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind while paraphrasing .

Even though you’re not using direct quotes when paraphrasing but rather stating another author’s ideas in your own words, you still need to reference their work. Failing to do so amounts to plagiarism, a serious offense, whether you’re producing academic work or an article for a web page.

The format you have to use when citing the work of others varies. For instance, in academic writing, you need to provide in-text citations and a list of references at the end of your essay, article, or thesis. The precise way you’ll write your in-text citations and list of references will be determined by the formatting style, whether this is APA , Harvard , Chicago , or MLA .

Although both tools or techniques involve using your own words to describe somebody else’s text, they are different. You need to retain the original work’s meaning with both techniques while using your own words. When you’re summarizing a work , you’re selecting only the most essential points of the text and rewriting these in your own words. This means that you provide a short overview of what a text is about.

It would be best to remain far more loyal to the source material with paraphrasing . You refer to specific ideas an author has provided to incorporate these into your work. To ensure that you’re not changing the original version too much or skewing the meaning the author intended to bring across, you have to rewrite actual sentences and paragraphs. You can’t just write a summary of large chunks of text.

Although this is a “technique” employed by lazy students, you should be aware that merely swapping around the word order of an original text does not constitute paraphrasing . It’s also not good enough to merely change a sentence from passive voice to active voice or vice versa.

Using either of these as your only paraphrasing method when rewriting somebody else’s words can amount to plagiarism since you’ve not used your own words or demonstrated your understanding of the source material. In such instances, you’d be better off simply rewriting the author’s exact words and placing these in quotation marks.

To learn more, check out our guide on paraphrasing vs. plagiarism .

Avoiding Plagiarism: Quoting, Paraphrasing & Summarizing

• What is Plagiarism?
• Methods of Avoiding Plagiarism
• Quoting, Paraphrasing & Summarizing
• Building a Bibliography
• Copyright Guide
• Types of Plagiarism with Examples

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

Purdue owl resources:.

• Information about quoting, paraphrasing & summarizing The web page includes definitions of all and exercises to improve your understanding of the differences.
• Paraphrase Exercises Exercises to practice paraphrasing.

Additional Info:

• Handout from Aquinas College Library This guide shows a nice chart of when to quote, paraphrase or summarize.

Paraphrasing Example

This is a short video on how to paraphrase a paragraph of an article you've found. This was produced by EasyBib.

Paraphrasing from EasyBib on Vimeo .

• << Previous: Methods of Avoiding Plagiarism
• Next: Building a Bibliography >>
• Last Updated: May 29, 2024 1:28 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.txstate.edu/avoiding-plagiarism

• Olympic College
• Research Guides
• Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote
• ENGL 91 Library Guide
• Read for Comprehension
• Writing Basics
• Plan Your Writing
• Write a Thesis Sentence
• Revising & Proofreading
• Find Library Resources
• Find Web Resources

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

• Quoting, Summarizing, Paraphrasing, from OWL of Purdue Three ways of incorporating the words and ideas of other people into your own writing as explained by Purdue University Online Writing Lab.

Examples and Exercises for Understand Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Practice identifying appropriately paraphrased passages with the University of Arizona's Global Campus Writing Center Paraphrasing Activity .

Practice summarizing and paraphrasing with this introductory exercise from the Owl of Purdue, answers provided.

Write your own paraphrases and evaluate then with the OWL of Purdue paraphrasing exercise and answers .

Examples of plagiarism and Tutorials to learn more

• Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting from the OWL of Purdue
• Academic Integrity Tutorial with examples  from NIU
• Examples of Plagiarism from Bowdoin College
• Plagiarism Tutorial from IU
• Plagiarism Tutorial playllist on YouTube from Texas A&M

See also...

• MLA Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism
• MLA 9th Edition Guide from OC Libraries
• MLA Guide from OWL of Purdue
• Zotero Bib Free, high-quality citation generator with no ads
• << Previous: Write a Thesis Sentence
• Next: Revising & Proofreading >>
• Last Updated: Oct 6, 2023 12:10 PM
• URL: https://libguides.olympic.edu/ENGL91

Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Summarising

Efl & esl english language skills.

Skills:  Reading & Writing

Level:   B2  Upper-intermediate and above

Learn how best to rewrite correctly, with a creative paraphrasing and summarising activity based on movies

Printables: Paraphrasing exercises , Logline activities

What is paraphrasing?

How to paraphrase in three easy steps, paraphrasing exercises, how to quote, summarising with loglines, the avengers  logline, write your own logline.

Paraphrasing is the ability to copy what we heard or read by repeating it in our own words composed by our own thoughts. Being able to paraphrase well is an essential speaking and writing skill.

It’s also a reading skill. Sentences normally only have one idea. So that we can repeat what we read while keeping the original meaning at the same time, it’s important that we understand everything, including the finer details. Paraphrasing is often done for short pieces of text such as one or two sentences, which brings us on to its purpose.

There are a couple of reasons to paraphrase. Firstly, if we are writing an original piece of work, say an essay or a blog, and we want to include an extract from a copyright text such as a book or an article, then we can paraphrase it. We could perhaps quote it instead, but this often comes with some limitations, for example how much is legally allowed to be copied or maybe the extract itself is just too wordy.

This is the second reason to paraphrase. We can make the extract shorter and simpler and pass our understanding on to the reader by making it clearer too.

Therefore, paraphrasing is different to directly quoting or plainly summarising. All three are ways of rewriting something but they each have a different purpose. We don’t paraphrase a book, we summarise it, as books have many ideas. You can find one type of summary on the back of most books, which is called a blurb .

In fact, on the back of a novel you might see all three examples at play. The opening sentences of the novel could be paraphrased in an interesting way at the top. In the centre there will be a descriptive summary of the story and the author. Below that it might have some catchy quotes from reviewers.

Paraphrasing is effective at demonstrating that we understand a writer’s point of view in a sentence they wrote. Another benefit to this technique is that because paraphrasing is not just copying word for word, it helps to avoid the problem of plagiarism. Although, whether we are paraphrasing, quoting, or summarising someone else’s words, it’s always necessary to mention the source of the information.

Here are some examples of paraphrasing:

Norwegian law says that anything found that is older than 1537 is state property.

Paraphrased:

Objects found in Norway from before 1537 should be returned to the government.

Fatou sometimes asks herself, “I can’t dance, I can’t rap ... What am I doing?”

Every so often, Fatou finds herself questioning her singing and dancing abilities.

In a statement given by the European Council, they said that “batteries contain many valuable resources and we must be able to reuse those critical raw materials”.

It’s important that the precious natural materials that go into making batteries are reusable, the European Council have officially stated.

When we need to copy some text without quoting it, we can’t get away with just changing the word order and call it paraphrasing! Here is how to paraphrase in three easy steps.

Do you understand the idea(s) of the sentence(s)? Do you know the meaning of all the words?

When we want to use what someone else wrote in our own work, it’s probably because we like it. It’s certain that we understand it if that is the case. If, however, we want to paraphrase something because we disagree with it, it’s worth checking that we understand the full meaning. Either way, asking yourself the two questions above is a great first step.

The next step is to identify the words that carry the meaning of the sentence. There are a few things to be aware of here:

• The facts cannot be changed, such as who or what the sentence is about. Things such as proper nouns or facts and figures will most likely stay the same.
• The rest of the important words can be changed with synonyms to suit our taste, such as government for state . Also, looking at names or data as words, it is possible to use synonyms. Compare for example, a percentage figure of 51% could be written as “just over half”.
• The sentence structure might also change too. Using verbs instead of nominalisations could be useful when rewriting something, especially to make it clearer. For example, the opening phrase “In a statement given by...” compared to the closing phrase “...have officially stated”.

The last thing to do is to re-read your new sentence to see if it carries the same meaning as the original. Finally, the original needs to be referrenced in an appropriate way.

Choose between A or B as the best paraphrased answer.

1. Original :

Snoop Dogg said the store “stays true to who I am” and that Tha Dogg House will be mind-blowing.

Paraphrase A:

“I’m a true artist” said Snoop Dogg, talking of his mind-blowing new project, Tha Dogg House.

Paraphrase B:

It will blow people’s minds Snoop Dogg said, speaking of Tha Dogg House being a reflection of his creativity.

B is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase A is a bad example of paraphrasing because quote marks are used for words that Snoop Dogg doesn’t actually say.

2. Original :

Finally Zimmer managed to ask, “Will you marry me?” There was screaming and clapping from the crowd as the newly-engaged couple hugged.

Zimmer eventually got around to asking the big question. The crowd showed their delight with a large applause as Zimmer and his partner had an embrace.

The audience gave a loud applause after Zimmer proposed and gave his partner an embrace in front of them.

B is the best paraphrase because it uses only one sentence to paraphrase the information.

3. Original :

Research in 2018 shows that today’s generation consumes 20% less alcohol than the previous one.

The latest generation drinks quite a bit less alcohol than older generations — 20% less actually, according to 2018 research.

Recent studies reveal that today’s generation drinks a fraction less alcohol than older generations did.

A is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase B tries to rephrase the data but is too subjective.

4. Original :

The initiative aims fundamentally to help men who struggle with problems like depression and anxiety in their everyday life.

The purpose of the scheme is to help men with their day-to-day mental difficulties.

They have a plan to help people who are failing to cope with the stresses of modern life.

A is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase B is too vague.

5. Original :

Dua Lipa recommends the books she reads on social media and that reading helps her to “understand emotions and feelings”.

Dua Lipa shares what she reads on social media, believing it helps her feel better about herself in the process.

Dua Lipa shares the books she has read on social media because she believes it helps us to understand ourselves better.

B is the best paraphrase. Paraphrase A doesn’t make it clear what Dua Lipa is reading or why she shares it.

top   |  print paraphrasing exercises

Quoting is linked to paragraph structure, for example as a way to illustrate a point, which is a language skill for another time. So this section will mostly cover the technical know-hows of quoting instead of diving into the reasons why, and offer some higher-level synonyms for the word said .

Quotes are often used as evidence, compared to paraphrasing something in your own terms. In fact, quoting is sometimes known as “direct quoting” whereas paraphrasing is sometimes known as “indirect quoting”. Direct quotes require quotation marks but paraphrasing doesn’t need quotation marks. Typical examples of direct quoting would be a famous movie line or the words of an expert. Or both at the same time, as in this passage from Matthew Bortolin’s 2005 book The Dharma of Star Wars :

Yoda’s words about Luke in The Empire Strikes Back can easily be applied to us: “Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing.” Likewise, our minds are rarely in touch with where we are and with what we are doing.

It is also possible to make a quote fit within the rhythm of your own sentence:

Scientist Rayyanah Barnawi was thrilled to say “hello from outer space” from on board the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Or even to employ paraphrasing and a quotation together:

The RAC said they want the trialled cameras in the worst areas affected, and “the sooner effective camera enforcement can be put in place the better”.

Here are some alternative verbs to use instead of relying on say .

A2 Pre-intermediate and lower:

B1 Intermediate:

B2 Upper-intermediate:

C1 Advanced:

A short final note on usage. British and American English rules of quotation can vary slightly. American English uses double quote marks, “like this” and British English uses single quote marks, ‘like this’. However, British media tends to use the double style too, as do the lessons on Every Bit English. And according to British English rules, your sentence punctuation goes outside the quote marks. Look out for an in-depth language skills page on punctuation here in the future!

In the first section What is paraphrasing? above, it was mentioned that paraphrasing, quoting, and summarising have different purposes, and it had book blurbs as an example. Well, now we’re on the summarising section, we will see that summarising can have various purposes and styles of its own.

Instead of looking at how to write an academic summary, say a book summary for an essay, we’ll look at summaries in the form of loglines .

A logline is a short, one or two sentence summary of a movie (or television show or book) written with the aim to catch the reader’s interest. It is short but packed with detail such as the main theme of the story, what the characters are like, and it will be written in an exciting style.

You’ll see loglines on Netflix for example, typically directly underneath the movie’s image and title. This is because loglines play an important role in advertising a movie and they’re written before a movie ever even starts production.

A writer needs a useful way to summarise their script and so they write a logline. This will be a carefully written summary that uniquely captures exactly what their story is about. If it is written successfully, then producers and studios who read it (before the script) are more likely to be interested in making it into a movie.

If we turn writing a logline into an English lesson activity, then it presents a fascinating way to practice the reading and rewriting skills necessary for good summarising and paraphrasing. Remembering the first step of paraphrasing above, to write any paraphrase requires understanding the original text. The same applies to summaries and their original texts. For both techniques, some level of reading analysis is required.

In the next section a movie logline is analysed and in the final section the materials and guidance are offered to try it yourself.

Earth’s mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

Source (external link):  IMDb.com

Sounds like an exciting movie judging by this summary! We can tell from just these few words that it’s a fantasy action movie. It pictures a massive-scale battle between good and bad, and possibly in between the heroes too. Let’s take a closer look at what the logline manages to detail.

The setting:

The heroes:

mightiest heroes

Their present situation:

must come together and learn to fight as a team

Their goal:

if they are going to stop

The problem:

the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.

As every movie has a different story, loglines always tell a different story. As summaries, loglines will often contain these narrative elements:

• The setting. This is usually a place or a period in time.
• The hero or heroine. It could be a group as in the above example. The literary term for the main character is protagonist .
• The main character’s present situation. Where they start their story. In a logline, this is often a time of difficulty or change in their life.
• The goal. What the main character has to do for a happy ending to the story.
• The problem. In literary terms, the villain, or hero’s enemy, is called the antagonist . This could be anything from a fantasy figure with evil plans, to a long journey to be overcome.

Writing a logline is a good exercise for practising summarising and paraphrasing. There are two activities presented below. In the first, you can practice paraphrasing by rewriting a logline, and in the second, you can practice summarising by writing your own logline.

Before that, here are some tips for writing a better logline:

• The order of events as shown in the above example is good for loglines
• Try not to use the main character’s name. Describe them instead.
• For practice purposes, keep it only one sentence long.
• Don’t say how the story finishes! (No spoilers .)
• Don’t finish with a question mark.

Once you’ve completed the activities and written some loglines, share them and see if anyone can guess what movies they are!

Look up any logline and write it down. Then analyse it for the five narrative elements and write each element in the table. Use the keywords in the logline to help identify what element it is. Then think of some synonyms for the keywords. Use your new keywords to paraphrase the original by writing your own version of the logline.

Think of a movie you know well. Fill in the table with ideas for keywords that describe and summarise the movie. Then compose your own logline for it. Afterwards, look up the original and see how close you were!

top   |  print logline activities

Was this skill helpful? Summarise what you liked about it in a post on Facebook  or on Twitter !

Lesson Collection

Printable worksheets, topic selections, warm-up activities, discussion questions, grammar guides.

Paraphrasing Exercises with Answers

Paraphrasing is one of the most accessible tools in the English language that allows you to create original content from scratch. With the help of this article paraphrasing exercises with answers you will do better at paraphrasing. Anyone can do a little bit of research of their own online and comfortably talk about their findings to make new articles or produce a research report. The scale of paraphrasing is quite an importance in the life of anyone who is into writing a lot of stuff. It is an acquired Academic skill which can be perfected with the help of some practice.

If you are someone who has to write content in your day to day life regularly, then using a reword tool along with the art of paraphrasing would help you to produce better articles.

Related Article: Summarizing and Paraphrasing Examples

Many of our readers have asked us about how one can get better at paraphrasing articles. The answer to that comes from the simple saying of practice makes perfect.

ABOUT PARAPHRASING

Paraphrasing can be put into simple words by just saying that it is the procedure of rewording information. It involves researching multiple sources online, and when one puts their understanding of the subject into their own words, It is known as paraphrasing. You may want to read this article – the meaning of paraphrasing .

HOW TO GET BETTER AT PARAPHRASING

To get better at paraphrasing specific rules and regulations need to be followed while trying to create your content. Following these basic necessary steps would help you get better at paraphrasing.

• Read the text thoroughly to understand it.
• When you feel that now you have enough knowledge about the subject, try to write a paraphrase about it.
• Speak your thoughts out while writing a paraphrase to write it better.
• Repeat steps 1 to 3 if you forget any essential topics from the original passage.
• After completing your paraphrase read the source material to confirm all topics have been mentioned in your paraphrase.

Here are a few paraphrasing exercises that would help you to practice your newly acquired paraphrasing skills.

Paraphrasing Exercises

1) Condenser microphones have been a part of society for a long time now. Because of their fantastic sound quality that has been little to no innovation in the mic industry for over 30 years now. The basics of condenser mic have remained the same which allow countless many new manufacturers to create great mic for low prices. One such example of this comes from China where the patent laws are quite loose. Now anyone can buy a decent condenser mic just under the price of a pizza.

2) Albert Einstein is one of the most influential scientific figures in recent history. His theory of black holes was just confirmed a few days ago when the first picture of a black hole was photographed. It is incredible how such an influential scientific figure once had to turn down a task much more significant than him. In 1952 Einstein was offered the role of the Israeli President since he had been considered as the best Jew in the world. The ironical part about this was that Albert Einstein wasn’t even Israeli, to begin with.

1) The microphone industry has been using the same technology involved in making condensers for over 30 years. A condenser mic has an impressive sound quality and has been in the market for a long time. The procedure, as well as the mechanics involved in making a condenser mic, has remained the same allowing new businesses to produce mics with competitive pricing. China is a leading hub of microphone manufacturing because of the non-existent labor laws.

2) Scientist and influencer Albert Einstein are one of the most historic figures. Because of his theories, we now know more about space than ever. Even without having adequate resources Einstein theorized the existence of black holes which have been recently photographed by space researchers. What we don’t know about the man is that he was once offered the job of leading the nation of Israel in 1952. Even though Einstein was not Israeli, he still had positive ratings in the country as he was considered one of the best Jewish men in the world.

• ← Summarizing and Paraphrasing Examples
• When to Use Dashes Between Words? →

You May Also Like

When to paraphrase and when to quote

Paraphrasing Examples for a Better Writing

Summarizing and Paraphrasing Examples

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

🍪 We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood our Privacy and Policy

By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies and similar tracking technologies described in our privacy policy .

Plagiarism Exercises

/ AHA Resource Library

/ Plagiarism Exercises

Published Date

January 1, 2007

This resource was developed as part of Plagiarism: Curricular Materials for History Instructors by Michael Rawson.

Two groups of plagiarism exercises appear below, one for undergraduate students and one for graduate students. The undergraduate exercises focus on prevention by helping students understand correct summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and citation. The graduate student exercise encourages a deeper understanding of how scholars use sources in their work. Both sections contain discussion questions that emphasize the kinds of situations that undergraduates or graduates are likely to encounter. Instructors are encouraged to tailor the assignments to suit their individual needs and teaching styles.

Undergraduate Students

Exercise 1: summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and citing.

[ PDF version ]

The exercise below provides students with a text and asks them to paraphrase, summarize, and cite it. The instructor must then evaluate their work. To give students more control over the assignment, instructors can ask them to work with an Internet text of their own choosing. Students must understand the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing before attempting the assignment.

Pretend that you are writing an essay on how the frontier experience shaped the development of the United States. While researching, you come across the following passage written by the historian Frederick Jackson Turner:

From the conditions of frontier life came intellectual traits of profound importance. The work of travelers along each frontier from colonial days onward describe certain common traits, and these traits have, while softening down, still persisted as survivals in the place of their origin, even when a higher social organization succeeded. The result is that to the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics. That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom—these are traits of the frontier, or traits called out elsewhere because of the existence of the frontier. (Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,”  The Frontier in American History  (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920), 37.)

You decide to include a paraphrase or summary of the entire passage in your essay. Remember that a paraphrase records all the important details of a passage, and a summary condenses a passage to the main ideas.

• In your own words, write the best  paraphrase  you can of Turner’s passage. Write a citation for your paraphrase.
• In your own words, write the best  summary  you can of Turner’s passage. Write a citation for your summary.
• Rewrite your summary or paraphrase to include a  quotation  from Turner’s passage. What is the best way to cite both the summary or paraphrase  and  the quotation?
• Purposely write a  poor   paraphrase  and  summary  of the above passage with  poor  quotations and citations, and make a short list of the characteristics that make them poor.

Exercise 2: Quoting and Citing

The following exercise asks students to find their own sources, write citations for them, and then practice quoting and citing material from them. The instructor should provide directions regarding the preferred style of citation (Chicago, MLA, etc.). The exercise is adapted with only slight alterations from one developed by Maureen Nutting of the Department of History in North Seattle Community College, and is used with her permission.

• Find one  book  that deals with a topic in U.S. history from earliest settlement to the 1860s. Provide a full citation for that book: author or editor (last name first, then first name); title; edition, if indicated; place of publication; publisher; and date of publication. a. Select a phrase from page 100 of the book. Write a sentence in which you quote from the book, using that phrase, and add a footnote number to the end of the sentence. Then create a footnote/endnote for the sentence that includes author’s name; title; place of publication; publisher; date of publication; and page number. Attach a photocopy of page 100. b. Select an idea from page 130 of the same book. Paraphrase that idea in a sentence (that is, put the idea in your own words) and add a footnote number to the end of the sentence. Then create a footnote/endnote citation for the sentence. Attach a photocopy of page 130.
• Find a  web site  that deals with a topic in U.S. history from earliest settlement to the 1860s. Write a citation for the web site that provides the following: name of author or page maintainer, if there is one; name of the page; URL; date accessed.
• Find an  article in a history journal  that deals with a topic in U.S. history from earliest settlement to the 1860s. Provide a full citation: author; title of article (inside quotation marks); name, number, volume, and date of journal; and pages on which the article appears. a. Write a sentence in which you quote from the first page of the article. Provide a footnote/endnote for the quote. b. Write a sentence in which you paraphrase an idea from the second page of the article. Provide a footnote for the paraphrase. Attach a photocopy of the first two pages of the article.
• Find an  article in a newspaper  that deals with a topic in U.S. history from earliest settlement to the 1860s. Write a citation to the article that includes the following information: author’s name, if given; title of article; name of newspaper; date; and page, if given.
• Find an  article in an online database  that deals with a topic in U.S. history from earliest settlement to the 1860s. Provide a full citation: author; title of article (inside quotation marks); name, number, volume, and date of journal; start page for the article or number of paragraphs; URL; and date accessed.

Exercise 3: Summarizing, Paraphrasing, Quoting, and Citing

[ PDF version ]  (NB: Answers below are not included)

Instructors should explain the proper use of summary, paraphrase, quotation, and citation before assigning the following exercise .

The passage below, taken from George Trevelyan’s England in the Age of Wycliffe, 1368–1520, discusses the Peasant’s Rising of 1381. The sentences that follow it use the passage as a source. Determine whether the sentences use and cite the material in the passage properly or whether they constitute plagiarism, and rewrite the sentences where necessary. All notation symbols refer to the footnote at the bottom of the exercise.

The demand for personal freedom, which had been the chief cause of revolt, was for the moment crushed. The Parliament of November gratefully confirmed the King’s repeal of the liberating charters. A unanimous vote of county and town members together contradicted all rumours that the emancipation of the serfs was seriously considered by Parliament. The Rising had failed. But the process of manumission, which had been going on for so long, continued steadily during succeeding generations. Under the Tudors the last remains of serfage were swept away, and in James the First’s reign it became a legal maxim that every Englishman was free. It must remain a matter of opinion whether this process was accelerated or retarded by the Peasants’ Rising; it is impossible to apply hard facts to the solution of such a problem. (George Macaulay Trevelyan,  England  in the Age of Wycliffe, 1368-1520  (1899; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1963), 253.)

• The events that followed the Peasant’s Rising crushed the chief cause of the revolt: the demand for personal freedom. 1 [Plagiarism. The sentence uses identical language to that found in the passage from Trevelyan: “chief cause of the revolt” and “the demand for personal freedom.”]
• Trevelyan found it difficult to determine the effect that the Peasant’s Rising had on the development of freedom in England. 2 [Correct. The sentence summarizes Trevelyan’s idea and cites the source.]
• Although freedom did not come all at once for England’s serfs, George Trevelyan claims in  England in the Age of Wycliffe, 1368–1520 , that manumission “continued steadily during succeeding generations.” [Incorrect citation. The writer may be trying to cite the source in the text, rather than in the notes, and fails to include the page number. But since the writer does place the borrowed material in quotation marks and attempts to cite Trevelyan, the sentence does not represent plagiarism.]
• According to George Trevelyan, a vote confirming the King’s repeal of the liberating charters “contradicted all rumours that the emancipation of the serfs was seriously considered by Parliament.” 2 [Plagiarism. Although the writer correctly cites the material in quotation marks, the phrase “confirming the King’s repeal of the liberating charters” precisely tracks Trevelyan’s language but remains unattributed.]
• The idea that all Englishmen were born free did not become a common belief until the reign of James the First. 2  [Correct. The sentence summarizes Trevelyan’s claim and cites the source.]
• Although the actions of the King and Parliament after the Peasant’s Rising denied freedom to England’s serfs, serfdom nevertheless continued to erode. By the reign of the Tudors, it had disappeared completely, and by the time of James the First, all Englishmen considered themselves free. The role played by the Peasant’s Rising in this transition remains unclear. [Plagiarism. This is a good summary of Trevelyan’s paragraph, but it fails to cite the source.]
• The King of England reneged on his promises to the peasants, and in November 1381, Parliament confirmed the King’s actions. [Correct. Since the sentence relies on Trevelyan only for factual material that is widely available elsewhere, the writer does not need to cite the source.]

Exercise 4: Discussion Questions

Instructors should discuss the fundamentals of plagiarism with students  before  asking them for reactions to the scenarios that follow. Students must understand the proper use of paraphrase, summary, quotation, and citation, and the reasons that plagiarism is wrong, before they venture into grayer areas of ethical behavior.

• The night before the paper was due in Morgan’s course on World War II, a classmate approached her to proofread his final draft. As she read Ben’s paper, Morgan realized that he had copied several paragraphs directly from a source that she also had consulted. Morgan advised Ben to rework the paragraphs or, at the very least, to set them in quotation marks and cite the source. After handing in their papers the next day, Morgan asked Ben if he was satisfied with his final revisions. She was startled when Ben confessed that he had passed in his paper without making the changes she had suggested. What should Morgan do?
• Ted worked hard on the final paper for his class in Southeast Asian history and was pleased with the result. When the professor handed back his paper, however, she pulled Ted aside and showed him several passages that he had taken verbatim from well-known books on similar topics. During the conversation, Ted realized that sloppy note taking had led to the similarities. He produced the notebook in which he copied the passages and showed the professor where he neglected to write down the sources. Ted claimed that he had mistaken the passages for his own words when consulting the notebook to write his paper. The professor agreed that the copying was unintentional. Was Ted still guilty of plagiarism?

Graduate Students

Exercise 1: checking citations.

The classic plagiarism exercise used with graduate students is to give them a work of history and instruct them to verify its sources by checking the notes for particular pages or chapters. The exercise introduces graduate students to how a practicing historian handles notation, reinforces its importance, and teaches them how to detect plagiarism. The exercise is most useful, however, to those students who have access to a large research library. Instructors should place works cited in the notes on reserve so that students do not have to compete for them.

Exercise 2: Discussion Questions

• Samantha hoped that her dissertation, a biography of George Washington, would bring new insights to a familiar subject. After reading several of her chapters, Samantha’s advisor noticed a number of passages that resembled sections in previously published biographies. He asked Samantha to rework the passages but, to his surprise, Samantha defended the textual similarities as unavoidable. All Washington biographers, she noted, drew on the same set of primary sources and described the same events. Although she interpreted these sources and events differently, she claimed that framing them in similar patterns and echoing previous works was inevitable. Samantha’s argument convinced her advisor, and the passages remained as they were. Did they make the right decision?
• When Kathy’s seminar professor announced that the topic for the research paper would be the trans-Atlantic slave trade, she was greatly relieved. Kathy had written a strong paper on slavery the prior semester, and she hoped to use it for background. As the due date approached, however, Kathy found herself pressed for time and copied two paragraphs almost word for word from the old paper into the new. Something about reusing the passages troubled her, but she was confident that she could not plagiarize herself. Was she right?
• Short on time to complete his paper on the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton for an undergraduate history class, Bill resorted to cutting and pasting material from Internet sites. He got caught. The professor discovered that Bill had copied at least 10 percent of his paper directly from other sources, and without attribution. Bill was penitent, but claimed the extent and kind of copying to be a mitigating factor. A full 90 percent of the paper represented his own work, Bill noted, when he could have copied the entire paper from the web. And the paper’s thesis was original. He insisted that the professor consider these facts when determining his punishment. How should the professor respond? Is there a relationship between the extent and kind of plagiarism and the magnitude of the offense?
• Connor had been a teaching assistant in a Latin American history course for only four weeks when two students handed in remarkably similar papers. Although the language in the papers was not identical, their arguments, evidence, and organization strongly echoed each other. The assignment had given students a choice of five questions to answer, and since the two students had chosen the same question, some similarities might be expected. But Connor remained suspicious. When he met with the students, they apologized for the similarities and explained that they had worked closely in the early stages of writing by brainstorming approaches to the question and outlining their answers together. Connor concluded that the similarities resulted from too close a collaboration and were probably unintentional. Were the students guilty of plagiarism? How should Connor handle the problem?
• Why is a reputation for professional integrity valuable? What are the possible prices that a graduate student or professor might pay for the perception of plagiarism? How can you ensure that your own work avoids the ethical ambiguities explored in the questions above?

Next section: Suggested Readings on Plagiarism for Graduate Students

• George Macaulay Trevelyan, England  in the Age of Wycliffe, 1368-1520 (1899; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1963), 253. [ ↩ ]
• George Macaulay Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wycliffe, 1368-1520 (1899; reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1963), 253. [ ↩ ] [ ↩ ] [ ↩ ]

Related Resources

June 20, 2024

16 Months to Sumter: Newspaper Editorials on the Path to Secession

June 16, 2024

The History of Racism and Racist Violence: International Contexts and Comparisons

The history of racism and racist violence: monuments and museums, join the aha.

The AHA brings together historians from all specializations and all work contexts, embracing the breadth and variety of activity in history today.

Content Warning

This page contains words or ideas that might be offensive to modern readers. To maintain the accuracy of historical documentation, the content is reprinted in its entirety as it was originally published. This accurate reproduction of original historical texts therefore contains words and ideas that do not reflect the editorial decisions or views of the American Historical Association.

Encouraging critical thinking in an era of AI paraphrasing

By completing this form, you agree to Turnitin's Privacy Policy . Turnitin uses the information you provide to contact you with relevant information. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

In the age of digital transformation, where generative AI and AI paraphrasing are prevalent, the ability to think critically has never been more important.

Education is navigating a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, and the way we process and interpret information is rapidly evolving. Critical thinking—the practice of analyzing and evaluating information to form a reasoned judgment—is a fundamental skill that empowers individuals to make informed decisions and solve complex problems.

Writing for Forbes, Ron Carucci notes that, “There’s a big difference between machine learning and ‘machine thinking’ … the minute we start looking at AI as machine thinking, we’re in trouble, because it means we’ve tried to outsource our own critical thinking and problem solving skills to a machine that is only replicating and regurgitating information it has gathered.” But AI paraphrasing tools are making it easier than ever to bypass this deeply important skill.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of teaching critical thinking in an era dominated by AI, with strategies for educators to promote critical thinking and ethical AI use among students.

What is paraphrasing vs AI paraphrasing?

A key aspect of critical thinking in academic and professional writing is paraphrasing. Writers generally paraphrase to reference credible authors, which in turn, establishes their own credibility.

Traditional paraphrasing requires a deep understanding of the content at hand, plus an ability to express it in a new form without altering the original meaning. It’s an alternative to using a quote, when a writer wants to use their own words, their own voice, but someone else’s idea. When a writer paraphrases, they show that they understand the meaning of the text, and it’s a common technique used to present information more concisely or clearly while properly attributing the original source.

AI paraphrasing, on the other hand, refers to the process of using AI technology to rewrite text while retaining the original meaning, sometimes without proper attribution. These AI-powered tools analyze the input text and generate alternative versions that convey the same information using different words or sentence structures. When powered by Natural Language Processing (NLP), AI paraphrasing tools can be remarkably sophisticated (more so than traditional text spinners) which is cause for concern for academic integrity.

Why is fostering critical thinking essential amidst AI paraphrasing tools?

The internet provides a vast amount of information, often with varying degrees of reliability. It is our critical thinking skills that enable us to discern credible sources from unreliable ones , ensuring we only rely on accurate information. AI paraphrasing tools do not carry out this task for us, thus understanding their limitations is key to academic and research success.

While AI paraphrasing tools can produce text that is grammatically correct, in parallel, they can produce contextually inaccurate or misleading information. Critical thinking helps users recognize these limitations and verify the information provided by AI.

Moreover, an over-reliance on AI paraphrasing tools can impact original thought and creativity. Teaching critical thinking encourages intellectual independence among students, empowering them to form their own ideas and arguments rather than passively accepting AI-generated content as being factually correct.

The use of AI in content creation also raises ethical questions about plagiarism and intellectual property. Critical thinking fosters ethical awareness, helping individuals use AI responsibly and respect the original authorship of content.

What are the risks of over-reliance on AI paraphrasing tools?

As AI paraphrasing tools become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, it's tempting to use them as a crutch for generating content quickly, particularly during periods of academic pressure . While these tools offer convenience, over-reliance on them presents several significant risks to students, their institutions, and the wider society.

AI paraphrasing tools often work by reordering or substituting words and phrases to create new sentences. This can result in bland and uninspired content that lacks the unique voice and creativity of the original author. Over time, this dependency can stifle a writer's ability to produce original work and diminish their creative capabilities, resulting in the atrophy of essential skills such as critical analysis, vocabulary development, and grammatical precision.

For students and learners, the process of writing and paraphrasing by hand is an essential part of learning. It encourages deep engagement with the material and promotes a better understanding of the subject matter. By using AI to paraphrase, they miss out on the mental exercise of evaluating, analyzing, and synthesizing information. This can lead to a superficial understanding of the material, as users may accept AI-generated content without questioning its accuracy or depth.

AI paraphrasing tools are only as good as the data and algorithms behind them. If the original content contains errors or biases, these can be perpetuated and even amplified by paraphrasing tools. Students may unwittingly propagate misinformation or incorrect interpretations, leading to a cycle of inaccuracies that could result in awarding a degree or certificate to a student lacking crucial subject knowledge. This is particularly concerning when awarding high-stakes qualifications, such as law or medicine, raising ethical concerns. Students, for example, may use these tools to bypass the hard work of writing and learning, which can undermine the educational process and academic integrity standards of their institution.

To deter students from relying heavily on generative AI, educators can take steps to prepare their students for a world where generative AI and critical thinking coexist in harmony.

How can educators encourage critical thinking in an era of AI paraphrasing?

Critical thinking is a higher-order skill and arguably one of the most valuable in academia. It significantly impacts problem-solving and decision-making and is transferable across many disciplines and domains. Developing critical thinking takes practice, beginning at the earliest possible level and evolving to proficiency over time. Transferring critical thinking from one domain to another involves explicit and deliberate instruction.

While there is ongoing debate about whether critical thinking can be taught directly or merely encouraged, we believe it’s prudent to provide a set of tips designed to help students develop critical thinking skills.

Promote active learning and collaboration

Active learning—sometimes referred to as authentic learning —involves engaging students directly in the learning process, putting them at the center of the learning experience. To engage students in active learning, educators can encourage students to participate in discussions, debates, and problem-solving activities. These activities require students to analyze information, form arguments, and critically evaluate different perspectives. Techniques such as case studies, group projects, and hands-on experiments can also facilitate active learning.

A study by Deslauriers et al. ( 2019 ) sought to measure actual learning vs. feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. The results indicated that although students felt that they learned more in the traditional lecture setting—rendered by an inherent student bias against active learning—they actually learned more when taking part in active learning strategies.

Encourage questioning

Foster a classroom environment where questioning is not only allowed but encouraged. Teach students to ask probing questions about the material they read, write, and the outputs of any generative AI tools they may have adopted to produce their work. Questions that challenge assumptions, explore alternative viewpoints, and dig deeper into the subject matter can significantly enhance students’ critical thinking skills. Questions can also help you, as an educator, to uncover misconceptions among students, which provides a means of formative assessment data that can be leveraged to improve future teaching and learning.

Immerse students in project-based learning

Presenting students with real-world problems can enhance their critical thinking skills by providing a practical and engaging context for applying knowledge. Students are asked to identify, analyze, and prioritize multiple variables, helping them to develop well-reasoned, evidence-based solutions. Real-world problems are also inherently engaging and relevant, increasing student motivation and enthusiasm for learning.

By integrating project-based learning in the form of real-world problems into the curriculum, educators create a dynamic learning environment that teaches critical thinking and prepares students for the complexities of real-world situations. Zhang and Ma ( 2023 ) found that “project-based learning significantly improved students’ learning outcomes and positively contributed to academic achievement, affective attitudes, and thinking skills, especially academic achievement.”

Integrate AI as supplementary aids

AI writing doesn’t have to mean academic misconduct. With practical strategies for embracing the challenge and also the potential that comes along with AI technology and writing, teachers can use AI as supplementary aids to enhance critical thinking and writing skills rather than replacements for traditional learning. For instance, students can use generative AI and AI paraphrasing tools to understand complex texts better, but they should also be encouraged to analyze and critique the AI's output. Writing for the Times Higher Education, science faculty member at Colorado State University, Urbi Ghosh , notes that, “AI technology helps to connect ideas, merging them to create stronger concepts and produce a wide range of ideas quickly.”

Can AI paraphrasing tools be used while upholding academic integrity?

While the use of AI paraphrasing tools poses challenges to academic integrity, there are situations where they can be employed ethically. For instance, these tools can be valuable aids for students and researchers in rephrasing complex ideas or improving the readability of their writing. When used appropriately, AI paraphrasing can complement original thought and enhance the overall quality of academic work.

However, it's crucial for users to understand the limitations and risks associated with AI paraphrasing. Simply relying on automated tools without a deep understanding of the content can lead to unintentional plagiarism or distortion of the original ideas. Therefore, it's essential for individuals to use AI paraphrasing tools responsibly, ensuring that they maintain transparency about the sources they are paraphrasing and accurately attribute ideas to their original authors .

Educators play a vital role in guiding students on the ethical use of AI paraphrasing and promoting a culture of academic integrity. By providing clear guidelines, offering resources for proper paraphrasing techniques , and encouraging critical thinking skills, educators can empower students to use AI paraphrasing tools effectively while upholding academic standards.

AHelp Essay Rewriter

Fast and efficient paraphrase generator.

7 paraphrasing modes

Smart rewording algorithms

Plagiarism-free content

New ideas at the tips of your fingers.

Have you ever felt like your assignments are never-ending? That every time you finish one, another is creeping up on you from around the corner? And there is always not enough time, but you still have to come up with new and original ideas to make your paper really shine. We are pretty sure, you have found yourself in that position one time or another. It is absolutely exhausting having to come up with exciting ways to engage your audience while rephrasing the same information again and again. And don’t even get us started on grammar checks, structure, outline, vocabulary, and many other things. Learning is supposed to be fun and interesting, and one way to make it such is to use a paraphrasing tool to optimize your routine. 

Let’s discuss what paraphrasing is all about, the benefits of trying one, and how you can work with it effectively!

AHelp Paraphraser – Your Go-To Study Buddy

Want to know more about our tool? The Paraphraser by AHelp equipped with intelligent rewording algorithms is a handy companion for anyone regularly engaged with writing tasks. Whether you’re drafting a formal email, an essay, a research proposal, or you just strive for clearer communication, this tool is versatile with its seven different paraphrasing modes. 

More than just rearranging words or altering sentence structures, it is a pro at keeping the core meaning of the text while making it more engaging and easy to read. Our Paraphraser delivers content that is free from plagiarism, allowing you to present your work with confidence. For writers, students, and professionals looking to present high-quality, original content without the risk of copying, this paraphrasing tool proves itself to be a go-to resource.

The Benefits of Using a Paraphrase Tool

Have you ever found yourself stuck trying to rephrase your writing to make it clearer or more engaging? This is where paraphrase tools come into play, offering a handy way to breathe new life into your text. Here are five reasons why these tools can be incredibly useful:

• Clearer communication . Sometimes, the way we phrase things can be a bit complex, especially when juggling technical terms or intricate ideas. Paraphrase tools help simplify and clarify your writing, so your audience can easily grasp what you’re trying to convey. This results in stronger engagement and improves the overall impact of your message, which is always a plus.
• Steering clear of plagiarism . We all know the importance of keeping our work original, especially when strict academic rules are in place. Paraphrase tools are great for rewording content while maintaining the meaning of the original text. This way, you can avoid plagiarism and keep your integrity intact, whether you’re crafting a research paper, writing up a report, or putting together a simple essay.
• Sparking creativity . Ever feel like you’re just recycling the same phrases over and over? A paraphrase tool can suggest fresh ways to express your ideas, which can be particularly refreshing when you’re stuck. It’s a bit like shaking up a can of soda and watching new bubbles pop up, bringing a creative fizz to your work! This can be a major boost when you’re looking to innovate or add a unique twist to your writing.
• Time Saver . Let’s face it, rewording content manually can eat up a lot of time. With a paraphrase tool, you can rework a piece in a fraction of the time, freeing you up to focus on other parts of your writing or even just giving you a break to catch your breath. This efficiency not only speeds up the editing process but also helps you maintain a flow of ideas without getting bogged down by details.
• Better Learning Comprehension . Paraphrase tools do more than just alter text—they provide an opportunity to see different ways to structure sentences and use language. This can be particularly beneficial for non-native English speakers or those looking to improve their language skills. Users can learn new vocabulary and different sentence constructions, improving their overall language level by observing variations in phrasing.

With that being said, our Paraphraser doesn’t just shuffle words around—it helps make your writing more effective, engaging, and accessible. Whether you’re a student polishing an essay or a professional fine-tuning a project, trying a paraphrase tool can elevate your writing game significantly.

How to Effectively Write with a Paraphrasing Tool

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, so simply copying the entire text into your assignment file won’t do. Of course, using a paraphrasing tool can boost your writing performance, but it can be even more effective if you try some extra techniques. Remember,  it’s not just about plugging in and cranking out text; it’s about using the tool thoughtfully to get the best results. Here’s what you can do.

First off, consider the original message of your text . A paraphrasing tool isn’t just about finding fancy synonyms; it’s about reshaping your message in a way that might be clearer or more engaging. Give the tool solid sentences to work with, and it’s more likely to give you something back that’s ready to go with little need for tweaks. This can be especially handy when you’re tackling topics that are complex or filled with specific terminology.

Next, keep an eye out for plagiarism . Even the slickest tools can occasionally echo too much of your source. Using the paraphrased text as a starting point, make sure to add your own flair so that the final product stands apart. This step is absolutely necessary, as it keeps your integrity intact and your content original.

Also, remember that while synonyms can spice up your writing, relying on them too heavily can backfire , leading to odd phrases or even misuse of terms. It’s important to not just swap out words but to play with the structure of sentences for a smoother flow. Engage with the tool’s output by tweaking and refining it. This way, your style shines through, keeping the text natural and relatable.

Lastly, treat your paraphrasing tool as your assistant, not your replacement . Use it to enhance your understanding of how sentences can be shaped and ideas expressed differently. You’ll not only avoid potential pitfalls but also polish your skills in composition when you stay involved in the editing process.

If you stick to these practices, you can use paraphrasing tools to their fullest potential, ensuring your writing remains sharp, effective, and uniquely yours. Whether you’re a student or a professional, these tools can help elevate your writing and make it more accessible and engaging for everyone.

Using a Paraphrase Generator for Work and Study

Paraphrasing tools aren’t just for tackling essays or schoolwork—they’re also incredibly useful in the workplace. Whether you’re drafting emails, writing reports, or preparing proposals, a paraphraser can be your secret weapon for clear and professional communication. In any job, getting your message across clearly directly affects your (and others) performance. A paraphrasing tool helps polish your words so they’re easy to understand. This is especially handy when you need to explain complex topics simply and clearly, making technical speech accessible to everyone.

Paraphrasers also spark creativity. If you find yourself using the same phrases over and over, this tool can mix things up, suggesting new ways to say the same info. This keeps your writing fresh and interesting, which is great for things like marketing or customer communications where catching and keeping attention is key. And let’s not forget about time-saving! Paraphrasing tools allow you to quickly revise drafts and frees up your schedule to focus on other important tasks. This can be a lifesaver in a fast-paced work environment where every minute counts.

So, it’s clear that paraphrasing tools are not just for students. They offer a lot of value in professional settings, too, helping to boost readability, stir up creativity, and save precious time. Whatever your role, incorporating a paraphraser can make a big difference in how effectively you communicate.

FREE PARAGRAPH REWRITER

What is the best paraphrasing tool online free?

One of the top free options for paraphrasing online is the AHelp Paraphraser. It offers many rewriting modes that cater to a wide range of needs and doesn’t take much time to complete the task. This makes it ideal for students and professionals looking to improve the clarity and creativity of their text or just rephrase it in a new light.

What is the best free AI to paraphrase?

The best free AI for paraphrasing is AHelp's Paraphrasing Tool. It was designed with advanced algorithms in mind to restructure and refine text while keeping the authentic meaning, which provides an invaluable resource for producing unique and engaging content.

Is using AI to paraphrase cheating?

Using AI to paraphrase is not really cheating; it depends on how you use it! If used to understand and rephrase text for clarity or learning, it's a legitimate tool. However, passing off AI-paraphrased work as entirely your own in contexts where originality is expected can be considered unethical and you can even face penalties for it.

Remember Me

What is your profession ? Student Teacher Writer Other

Forgotten Password?

Username or Email

8 Best Paraphrasing Tools in 2024 (Compared)

Pricing: $4.17 per month Standout Features: Advanced Paraphrasing Ability, Powerful Grammar Checker, User-friendly Interface

Pricing: $39 per month Standout Features: Intelligent Paraphrasing, Built-in Grammar Checker, Supports 30+ Languages

Pricing: $27 per month Standout Features: AI Detection-free Rewriting, High-quality Content, Plagiarism-free

Are you tired of rewriting text manually? Paraphrasing tools can help you save time and create unique content without sacrificing quality. However, choosing the right paraphrasing tool can be challenging. That’s why, in this post, we’ll compare the best paraphrasing tools so you can choose the right one for your needs. So relax while we help you level up your writing game!

• 1 What is a Paraphrasing Tool?
• 2.1 1. QuillBot
• 2.2 2. Jasper
• 2.3 3. WordAi
• 2.4 4. TextCortex
• 2.5 5. Writesonic
• 2.6 6. SpinRewriter
• 2.7 7. Paraphraser.io
• 2.8 8. Hypotenuse
• 3.1 Paraphrasing Tool Feature Comparison
• 3.2 Paraphrasing Tool Price Comparison
• 4 What is the Best Paraphrasing Tool?
• 5 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a Paraphrasing Tool?

A paraphrasing tool is a software or online application that helps you rewrite existing text. It alters the original phrasing while maintaining the same meaning. It uses synonyms and sentence restructuring strategies to formulate new content from pre-existing material.

Paraphrasing tools are frequently utilized by writers, researchers, students, and professionals who need to rephrase sentences or articles to prevent plagiarism or enhance readability. They offer a quick and easy solution for generating unique content, removing the necessity for time-consuming and manual rewrites.

The Best Paraphrasing Tool

We have handpicked eight incredible online paraphrasing tools to enhance your writing experience. Let’s take a look!

The Best Paraphrasing Tools Listed In Order

• SpinRewriter
• Paraphraser.io

1. QuillBot

🥇 best paraphrasing tool overall.

QuillBot is a great AI-powered writing assistant. It’s designed to streamline the art of writing. Thanks to its advanced paraphrasing and grammar-checking abilities, it has gained significant recognition as one of the best tools.

Excelling at rephrasing sentences while preserving their original meaning aids in preventing plagiarism and enhancing readability. This makes the writing process not only simpler but also more effective. For those who value accurate word choice, QuillBot is undoubtedly captivating.

Additionally, QuillBot features a powerful grammar checker that accurately identifies errors and offers helpful suggestions for corrections. Its user-friendly interface promises easy navigation. QuillBot is a top paraphrasing tool — a priceless asset for anyone looking to boost their writing abilities, including students, professionals, or aspiring writers.

What We Like About QuillBot

• Free Plan: QuillBot provides a free plan that doesn’t require you to sign up. This allows you to try out the tool before you decide to subscribe. You can test the tool’s features and determine whether to upgrade.
• Writing Enhancement Tools: QuillBot provides various helpful tools such as a grammar checker, summarizer, citation generator, and plagiarism checker. These tools can improve your writing experience and quality.
• Integrations: QuillBot provides extensions and apps for Microsoft Word, Google Chrome, and macOS. These extensions help you easily use QuillBot in your everyday writing on different platforms.

What Could Be Improved

• Only Two Free Writing Modes: The free version of Quillbot may limit your writing options, which could restrict you if you’re seeking more advanced paraphrasing features.
• Character Limitations in Plans: You can find character limits in free and paid QuillBot plans, restricting how much text you can process.

🥇 Why We Picked It

QuillBot is our top choice for an AI paraphrasing tool because it empowers you with advanced paraphrasing to produce plagiarism-free and semantically accurate content. Its intuitive interface, diverse modes, and extensive customization options seamlessly cater to writers seeking an effortless and effective way to rephrase text with precision.

Who is QuillBot Best For?

Whether you’re a student, professional, or just aiming to rephrase your writing, QuillBot is one of the best paraphrasing tools to accommodate your needs.

Community Reviews and Ratings

Users appreciate QuillBot’s effortless paraphrasing and summarizing features, user-friendly interface, language options, and helpful customer support.

Quilbot offers a free plan with limitations such as 125 words in paraphraser, only 1200 words to summarize, and access to only standard and fluency modes. Premium with unlimited access to all features starts from $4.17/Month.

Get QuillBot

🥈Best Paraphrasing Tool For Teams

Jasper AI is a cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology focused on Natural Language Processing (NLP) and comprehension. Its primary purpose is to generate text that resembles human writing, deliver accurate responses when asked questions, and engage in coherent conversations within specific contexts.

Jasper AI’s Intelligent Paraphrasing capabilities make it stand out from other technologies. These capabilities allow Jasper AI to grasp the subtleties of text and rephrase it without losing its original meaning. This functionality is particularly advantageous for content creators, writers, and anyone looking to enhance the clarity and uniqueness of their writing.

Using Jasper AI’s paraphrasing ability, users can effectively elevate their content by presenting alternative wordings while maintaining core ideas and intentions. With this remarkable feature, writers can save time on manual rewriting processes while ensuring their texts remain captivating and distinctive.

What We Like About Jasper

• Efficiency:  Jasper offers a speedy process for creating several reworded iterations of your text. This not only saves you precious time and energy but also guarantees the content stays true to your preferred tone.
• Originality: Jasper can help you avoid plagiarism by providing unique phrasings of your ideas, which can be important when paraphrasing text.
• User-Friendly Interface: The tool offers an easy-to-use interface, making it accessible even for beginners in AI writing tools.
• Unlimited Words: With every plan, you receive unlimited word credits. This lets you freely create content without stressing over word counts.
• Price: Jasper’s pricing starts at $39 per user per month, which might be costly for specific individuals, such as high school or college students.

🥈 Why We Picked It

Jasper stands out as another leading AI rephrasing tool due to its robust capabilities as an AI writing assistant. It excels in producing top-notch content, providing options for customizing tone and style, and effortlessly integrating with various platforms. With its easy-to-navigate interface and advanced language models, Jasper is a prime option for enhancing efficiency and productivity in essay writing.

Who is Jasper Best For?

Jasper caters to professionals and businesses, offering a pricing model that reflects its premium positioning.

People appreciate Jasper AI as a highly effective tool facilitating content creation. It is the preferred choice for many due to its unparalleled efficiency and quality in generating content.

You can get started with a free 7-day trial, after which you must upgrade to paid plans starting at $39/user/month

🥉 Best Paraphrasing Tool For SEO

WordAi is an artificial intelligence-based tool that aims to generate human-like text. It uses advanced algorithms and machine learning techniques to understand context, grammar, and syntax to produce high-quality written content.

One of the notable attributes of WordAi is its contextual comprehension and ability to produce coherent, contextually significant content. WordAi provides various modes for paraphrasing that enable users to customize their output according to specific requirements. These modes offer the ability to produce easily understandable, SEO-optimized content, whether for everyday reading or creative pursuits.

WordAi also claims that its rephrased content is entirely free from plagiarism and detection by AI Content Detector. This versatility makes WordAi ideal for a diverse range of requirements in content creation.

What We Like About WordAI

• Bulk Rewriting: WordAI enables you to rewrite a significant amount of text at once, helping you save time and effort, especially if you have a lot of content to work on.
• Plagiarism, AI Detection-free Content: The tool is made to create text similar to what humans write, improving the clarity and quality of the text. This helps prevent AI detectors from recognizing it as AI-generated.
• API Integration: Developers can easily integrate WordAI’s rewriting capabilities into their applications or platforms using the API feature.
• Speed: WordAI allows you to generate content efficiently and effectively with its fast output speed.
• Cost: WordAi offers a starting price of $27 per month with the annual subscription or $57 per month for the individual option. This positions it as one of the more expensive tools for paraphrasing content.
• English-Only: Currently, WordAi only works with English text for rephrasing. This limitation could disappoint those wanting to rephrase content in different languages.

🥉 Why We Picked It

WordAI is another powerful AI paraphrasing tool that offers high-quality rephrasing while preserving the original meaning, making it ideal for creating unique content quickly and efficiently. Its advanced natural language processing capabilities ensure accurate and human-like results that can easily pass the AI detection test.

Who is WordAI Best For?

WordAi is an excellent tool for content creators and marketers who require a fast and effective solution for rephrasing premium quality, distinctive, and organic content.

WordAi is appreciated for generating high-quality, readable content with advanced spinning capabilities, providing diverse output efficiently, and saving time by automating the content spinning process.

A free 3-day trial, $27/monthly  after that when purchased annually.

4. TextCortex

TextCortex is an AI-powered writing tool that assists in producing top-notch content with greater speed and efficiency. It can paraphrase, generate text, perform language translation, compose creative content, and provide informative answers to your inquiries.

TextCortex’s AI-driven paraphrasing tool assists professionals and students in rewriting text while maintaining the original meaning. It allows you to effortlessly convert your ideas into compelling and high-quality content within seconds, all while creating a fully personalized AI model that adapts to your input, knowledge, and style. With TextCortex, generic interactions are now a thing of the past.

If you are seeking a solution to rephrase your content and effortlessly generate high-quality, tonally-matched text at an accelerated pace, TextCortex is worth considering.

What We Like About TextCortex

• Ease of Use: TextCortex provides a user-friendly interface, allowing small marketing teams, business owners, and solopreneurs to create content swiftly.
• Personalization: You can use the tool to create personalized AI personas and input knowledge connectors. This helps tailor the generated content to match specific tones and styles according to your preferences.
• Variety of Content: TextCortex offers tools that help you create different types of content like blogs, product descriptions, YouTube captions, Instagram posts, email content, and outreach emails to meet your marketing requirements.
• Intelligence:  Advanced deep learning algorithms and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, such as sentiment analysis, actively empower ZenoChat to efficiently comprehend user queries and, consequently, deliver relevant responses.
• Content-Length Restriction: The free account limits the length of content you can generate to 200 words, which makes it challenging to create detailed articles and blog posts without switching to a paid plan.

Who is TextCortex Best For?

TextCortex is an exceptional tool for writers, marketers, and business owners who aim to produce high-quality content quickly and easily.

Users of TextCortex highly appreciate the tool for its exceptional output quality, user-friendly interface, wide range of applications, integrations, and other features. These positive reviews can be found on platforms like G2 and Capterra.

The  free plan  lets you create up to 2500 words with all features. If you need more, the Lite plan begins at  $5.59 per month  for up to 12,500 words, and you can always choose to upgrade for more words.

Get TextCortex

5. Writesonic

Writesonic is an advanced AI writing tool powered by GPT-3.5 and GPT4 32K. It claims to speed up content creation by ten times. The tool operates as a cloud-based platform, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to produce text, translate languages, generate various forms of creative content, and provide informative responses to your queries.

Writesonic’s paraphrasing tool lets you effortlessly rewrite sentences, paragraphs, essays, and articles free from plagiarism with just one click. Moreover, Writesonic offers a bulk upload feature that allows users to quickly paraphrase or rephrase thousands of sentences, paragraphs, articles, or essays within seconds. It’s an excellent tool for individuals or businesses seeking to paraphrase content quickly and effortlessly. Whether you are a content writer, a business owner, or someone who regularly creates text-based material, Writesonic can significantly assist you in producing large quantities of engaging content with ease.

What We Like About Writesonic

• Multiple Languages Supported: With support for content generation in 25 languages, Writesonic is a versatile tool for users worldwide.
• Content Personalization: You can adjust the tone of your content from enthusiastic and formal to humorous and theatrical, enabling you to create customized content.
• Generous Free Plan: Unlike other platforms, you can generate up to 50 standard feature items without a word limit.
• Advanced AI Models: You benefit from the advanced AI technology that Writesonic employs, which includes GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and exclusive algorithms. This ensures the quick and efficient generation of top-notch content.
• Confusing Price Structure: Writesonic’s pricing structure can be a bit confusing. Although there are paid plans starting at $12 per month, this plan only allows you to use its Chatbot, Chatsonic. To access templates and other advanced features, you must upgrade to the Individual Plan, which costs $16.67 monthly.
• Credits-based Usage: Writesonic divides its features into Standard and Advanced categories. Standard features include the chatbot, rewriter, photo generator, templates, etc. Advanced features include a fact checker, plagiarism and citation checker, SEO features, and more. With the paid plans, you can use standard features unlimited times, but credits limit advanced features.

Who is Writesonic Best For?

Writesonic is an ideal choice for writers, content creators, and marketers seeking aid in producing top-notch content.

Writesonic users appreciate its user-friendly interface, AI-generated content speed, quality, and versatility in content creation, such as blog posts, ads, and articles.

Free plan available, with paid plans starting at $12 monthly

Get Writesonic

6. SpinRewriter

SpinRewriter is a tool designed for spinning content and rewriting articles. Its primary purpose is to create unique versions of existing articles or content, making it particularly useful in content marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. By generating multiple variations of an article, Spin Rewriter enables users to publish them on various websites or platforms without worries about duplicate content.

By leveraging Emulated Natural Language (ENL) technology for spinning articles, SpinRewriter can understand the relationships between words within their contexts. This profound comprehension leads to creating top-quality, easily digestible articles that mirror human accuracy, all achieved with just a simple button click.

SpinRewriter has become increasingly popular among content writers, bloggers, and SEO professionals. Its unique functionality allows users to produce exceptional and authentic content for websites, blog posts, articles, and various marketing materials.

What We Like About SpinRewriter

• User-Friendly Interface: The Spin Rewriter dashboard is easy to use, allowing you to navigate and make the most of the tool effortlessly.
• Readability: The tool makes spun articles easy to read by spinning content at the sentence and paragraph levels, using emulated natural language (ENL) technology.
• Pricing Options: Spin Rewriter provides various pricing plans to cater to your needs and budget. One of the options available is a lifetime single payment plan, offering you flexibility in choosing the best option.
• Limited Language Support: Spin Rewriter currently only supports spinning content in English, which might be a restriction for you if you require content in other languages.
• Manual Corrections: Although Spin Rewriter offers various features, you still need to try to edit and refine the content it generates to ensure it meets quality standards.

Who is SpinRewriter Best For?

SpinRewriter is an invaluable tool for content writers, bloggers, and growth hackers, explicitly designed to help them excel in their fields.

A 5-day free trial is available with the annual plan that costs $77/Yearly afterward.

Get SpinRewriter

7. Paraphraser.io

Paraphraser.io is an AI-driven online tool that uniquely rephrases text while preserving its original meaning. It is a valuable tool for improving content coherence and ensuring it remains plagiarism-free.

Furthermore, Paraphraser.io is an exceptional resource for individuals seeking to enhance the clarity and readability of their text while avoiding plagiarism-related issues. Students and researchers requiring help paraphrasing in academic environments will particularly appreciate this.

Paraphraser.io is an excellent option to consider if seeking a straightforward approach to enhancing the readability and clarity of your text without any extra features.

What We Like About Paraphraser.io

• User-Friendly Interface: The platform has a straightforward and user-friendly interface, allowing beginners to use paraphrasing tools easily.
• Multilingual Support: Paraphraser.io is a helpful tool for people who deal with content in languages other than English since it allows paraphrasing in multiple languages.
• Variety of Paraphrasing Modes: The tool provides various paraphrasing modes like Fluency, Standard, and Creative to meet different paraphrasing requirements.
• Intrusive Ads: You may notice that the free version of the tool includes many ads that could disrupt your experience as a user.

Who is Paraphraser.io Best For?

Paraphraser.io serves as an ideal tool for writers, students, and professionals alike, offering assistance in rephrasing and reworking text for a range of uses.

Paraphraser.io users find the service valuable due to its complimentary plan, affordable pricing, and user-friendly interface. Many reviewers, primarily students from schools and colleges, value the assistance the tool offers for their assignments.

You can use Paraphraser.io for free for up to 600 words and basic modes such as Standard and Fluency. The paid plan starts at $12.5/month with a limit of 1500 words to paraphrase and access all methods, such as Creative, Smarter, and Shorten.

Get Paraphraser.io

8. Hypotenuse

Hypotenuse AI is an artificial intelligence-powered writing tool that assists in producing top-notch content with incredible speed and efficiency. It uses a powerful language model trained on extensive text and code datasets, enabling Hypotenuse AI to generate highly accurate and creative text effortlessly.

Hypotenuse AI leverages AI technology to rephrase and enhance your content to match the desired tone you wish to convey, whether conversational, authoritative, or enthusiastic. This feature ensures the maintenance of your unique voice and style while guaranteeing that your text remains authentic, original, and plagiarism-free.

Whether you’re seeking an AI writing assistant to enhance content creation efficiency, accurately accommodate your tonality, and ensure high-quality output, Hypotenuse AI is a worthy choice.

What We Like About Hypotenuse AI

• Ease of Use: Hypotenuse AI offers a user-friendly interface, making it easy to navigate and use its features effectively.
• Template Variety: Hypotenuse AI offers you a variety of ready-to-use templates for various types of content, helping you kickstart your projects promptly and efficiently.
• Fact-Checked Content: Hypotenuse asserts that all the content it creates is accurate. This could be an excellent method to prevent incorrect content and hallucinations that many AI tools can produce.
• No Chrome Extension: Not having a Chrome extension can be inconvenient if you prefer having an AI writing tool in your browser for easy access.

Who is Hypotenuse AI Best For?

Hypotenuse AI is the ideal tool for Content Marketers and Agencies due to its profound emphasis on marketing and growth-oriented resources.

Hypotenuse AI is appreciated for its blog rewriting feature, customizable tone, and professional content creation tools, offering users a comprehensive and polished writing experience.

A free 7-day trial . Then, you must upgrade to paid plans starting at $24 monthly for up to 50K words.

Get Hypotenuse AI

Comparing the Best Paraphrasing Tool

AI writing tools are rapidly advancing, with various specialized tools focusing on tasks like paraphrasing. In such an intriguing period, selecting the right tool might pose a challenge. Therefore, we have organized these tools into convenient tables to assist you in making an informed decision.

Paraphrasing Tool Feature Comparison

These are our top three highly recommended paraphrasing tools. We’ve carefully analyzed their key characteristics to assist you in selecting the one that best suits your requirements.

Paraphrasing Tool Price Comparison

Finding the perfect paraphrasing tool that fits your budget can be challenging. We have compiled a table comparing the top-rated paraphrasing tools and their respective prices. This will provide you with a comprehensive overview of cost-effectiveness, simplifying your decision-making process.

What is the Best Paraphrasing Tool?

If you require a paraphrasing tool, whether it be for academic assignments or casual use, our top recommendation is QuillBot . This powerful tool offers many features and advanced capabilities that make paraphrasing content effortless. With QuillBot, you can easily change the style, tone, and length while maintaining the original meaning intact.

However, Jasper AI is ideal for a business or agency looking to paraphrase or generate content at scale. Its advanced features, like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Intelligent Paraphrasing capabilities, provide unmatched solutions for writing content and paraphrasing at a quality unmatched by other tools.

On the other hand, if you’re a content creator or blogger needing to paraphrase or spin articles that feel human-written without being detected by AI content detection systems and ensuring zero plagiarism, WordAi is your ultimate choice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Let’s take a look at some of the common inquiries about the best paraphrasing tools. If you have any other questions we overlooked, feel free to ask, and we will respond!

Which is the best paraphrasing tool?

Which is the best paraphrasing tool for seo, is it ok to use ai to paraphrase, can ai detectors detect paraphrasing content, what is the different between paraphrasing and plagiarism.

Featured image by cosmaa / shutterstock.com

Explore Our Top Picks

Here are our favorites! 👇

Get QuillBot Today!

With so many great options available, it can be hard to pick one. find out why quillbot is our favorite. 👇.

Aayush, a writer with a flair for detail, champions open-source software and is a reservoir of intriguing facts. As a WordPress aficionado, he navigates the areas of design, development, and marketing, bridging the gaps between these areas of interest.

Explore Divi, The Most Popular WordPress Theme In The World And The Ultimate Page Builder

Check Out These Related Posts

Wix vs Divi AI: Which AI Website Builder to Choose in 2024?

Posted on June 5, 2024 in Business

Are you tired of AI website builders that don’t deliver? Are you looking for AI features that actually work? In this post, we will discuss two of the best and most popular AI site builders available: Wix (the AI website builder) and Divi (the AI-powered WordPress theme). Both can build...

How to Make a Small Business Website with WordPress in 2024

Updated on June 4, 2024 in Business

Building a brand new website for your business is an excellent step to creating a digital footprint. Modern websites do more than show information—they capture people into your sales funnel, drive sales, and can be effective assets for ongoing marketing. Luckily, WordPress offers flexibility,...

Shopify vs Etsy: Which One’s Better for eCommerce? (2024)

Posted on May 28, 2024 in Business

Have you ever dreamed of selling your crafts online? Two popular platforms, Shopify and Etsy, have the potential to turn those dreams into reality. But which one is right for you? Buckle up because we’re diving into Shopify vs. Etsy to see which fits your unique business goals! Let’s...

My name is kelvin.before chatgpt came alot of content writers were everywhere looking for helpers.at the time,i was heavily writing content for my sweetlingo.com.i can surely agree with you that quillbot actually tops all ai writers if there was no chatgpt.and i agree with how you list them

Leave A Reply Cancel reply

• Recent Posts
• Get a Free Chinese Restaurant Layout Pack For Divi
• How to Make a Church Website with WordPress (2024 Tutorial)
• Do You Need a WordPress Page Builder in 2024?
• Download a Free Spa Theme Builder Pack for Divi
• WordPress Pricing: How Much Does WordPress Cost? (2024)
• Divi Resources
• Theme Releases
• Tips & Tricks

974,872 Customers Are Already Building Amazing Websites With Divi. Join The Most Empowered WordPress Community On The Web

We offer a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee, so joining is Risk-Free!

Divi Features

• All Features Explore Divi
• Divi Modules
• Divi Layouts
• No-Code Builder
• Ecommerce Websites
• Theme Builder
• Marketing Platform
• Speed & Performance
• Premium Support
• Divi Marketplace
• Divi AI Brand New!
• Divi Hosting
• Extra Theme
• Bloom Plugin
• Monarch Plugin
• Plans & Pricing Get Divi Today
• Documentation
• Help Articles & FAQ
• 24/7 Support
• Developer Docs
• System Status
• Product Updates
• Best Plugins
• Best Hosting
• Divi Meetups
• Divi Facebook Group
• Divi Examples
• Divi Integrations
• Divi Reviews
• Community Forum
• Affiliate Program
• Terms of Service
• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2024 Elegant Themes ®

Suggested Searches

• Climate Change
• Expedition 64
• Mars perseverance
• SpaceX Crew-2
• International Space Station
• View All Topics A-Z

Humans in Space

Earth & climate, the solar system, the universe, aeronautics, learning resources, news & events.

NASA, MagniX Altitude Tests Lay Groundwork for Hybrid Electric Planes

Perseverance Finds Popcorn on Planet Mars

NASA Satellites Find Snow Didn’t Offset Southwest US Groundwater Loss

• Search All NASA Missions
• A to Z List of Missions
• Upcoming Launches and Landings
• Spaceships and Rockets
• Communicating with Missions
• James Webb Space Telescope
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Why Go to Space
• Commercial Space
• Destinations
• Living in Space
• Explore Earth Science
• Earth, Our Planet
• Earth Science in Action
• Earth Multimedia
• Earth Science Researchers
• Pluto & Dwarf Planets
• Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
• The Kuiper Belt
• The Oort Cloud
• Skywatching
• The Search for Life in the Universe
• Black Holes
• The Big Bang
• Dark Energy & Dark Matter
• Earth Science
• Planetary Science
• Astrophysics & Space Science
• The Sun & Heliophysics
• Biological & Physical Sciences
• Lunar Science
• Citizen Science
• Astromaterials
• Aeronautics Research
• Human Space Travel Research
• Science in the Air
• NASA Aircraft
• Flight Innovation
• Supersonic Flight
• Air Traffic Solutions
• Green Aviation Tech
• Drones & You
• Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
• Space Travel Technology
• Technology Living in Space
• Manufacturing and Materials
• Science Instruments
• For Kids and Students
• For Educators
• For Colleges and Universities
• For Professionals
• Science for Everyone
• Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
• STEM Engagement at NASA
• NASA's Impacts
• Centers and Facilities
• Directorates
• Organizations
• People of NASA
• Internships
• Our History
• Doing Business with NASA
• Get Involved
• Aeronáutica
• Ciencias Terrestres
• Sistema Solar
• All NASA News
• Video Series on NASA+
• Newsletters
• Social Media
• Media Resources
• Upcoming Launches & Landings
• Virtual Events
• Sounds and Ringtones
• Interactives
• STEM Multimedia

Why Scientists Are Intrigued by Air in NASA’s Mars Sample Tubes

Studying the Sun

First of Its Kind Detection Made in Striking New Webb Image

Former Astronaut Charles M. Duke, Jr.

Lakita Lowe: Leading Space Commercialization Innovations and Fostering STEM Engagement 

Former Astronaut Russell L. “Rusty” Schweickart

NASA-Led Mission to Map Air Pollution Over Both U.S. Coasts

NASA Announces New System to Aid Disaster Response

Tropical Solstice Shadows

NASA Releases Hubble Image Taken in New Pointing Mode

Investigating the Origins of the Crab Nebula With NASA’s Webb

NASA Engineer Honored as Girl Scouts ‘Woman of Distinction’

Globetrotting NASA Research Model Increases Accuracy

Augmented Reality Speeds Spacecraft Construction at NASA Goddard

Giant Batteries Deliver Renewable Energy When It’s Needed

Flight Test Sheds New Light on In-Space 3D Printing, Propellant Slosh

Slow Your Student’s ‘Summer Slide’ and Beat Boredom With NASA STEM

15 Years Ago: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Begins Moon Mapping Mission

NASA Interns Blast Off for Their First Week at Goddard 

NASA Announces Winners of 2024 Student Launch Competition

Astronauta de la NASA Frank Rubio

Diez maneras en que los estudiantes pueden prepararse para ser astronautas

Astronauta de la NASA Marcos Berríos

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

NASA Briefing on Asteroid Threat Scenario Exercise

NASA will host a media briefing at 3:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 20 to discuss the newly released quick-look summary of the fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise (TTX5) […]

• Open Video Player
• WhatsApp https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/nasa-briefing-on-asteroid-threat-scenario-exercise/ Copy URL to clipboard> Share
• ICS File Add to Calendar

NASA will host a media briefing at 3:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, June 20 to discuss the newly released quick-look summary of the fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise (TTX5) held April 3, 2024.

• Page Last Updated: Jun 18, 2024
• Responsible NASA Official: Rebecca Sirmons

Die Iliasglossare auf Papyrus: Unterschungen zu einer Textkategorie

Ronald blankenborg , radboud university. [email protected].

The book under review studies the glossaries to Homer’s Iliad transmitted through papyri, the larger part of the Homerica in the papyrological record, as a separate paratextual category, distinct from, for example, the scholia vetera . Fontanella aims to provide an exhaustive overview, and from that overview, an analysis and description of these scholia minora as a text category. Die Iliasglossare auf Papyrus reads hysteron proteron : the Introduction discusses the text category’s characteristics and definition; chapters 1-3, on documentation, content, and author and usage respectively, present the data and the discussion. The concise conclusion, the book’s clearest reminiscence of its origin as a dissertation, broadens the perspective on the glossaries with reference to their patrimonial value in the cultural history of Egypt. Three appendices constitute the book’s second half: Appendix I containing a new annotated edition of P.Strasb. Inv. Gr. 1015 recto, P.Berol. Inv. 11634 verso , and P.Berol. Inv. 13420 verso , Appendix II listing alphabetically the scholia minora to be added to the list by Lundon, [1] and Appendix III, a full inventory of the roughly 90 extant Iliad -glossary fragments on papyrus (adding up to ca. 60 glossaries) listing description, date, provenance, content, and edition(s) of each. The book is concluded by a bibliography, indices to the glossaries and the papyri, and color photographs of eleven different glossaries, one paraphrase on papyrus, [2] and one ostracon (O.Bodl. II 2000), a private letter requesting one Isidorus to deliver materials, designated as λέξεις, on the Iliad. Fontanella argues (p. 78) that the λέξεις refer to γλῶσσαι and lists O.Bodl. II 2000 under Papyri in the Index (p. 335).

The introduction summarizes the main arguments to distinguish glossaries on papyrus as a separate text category within Homerica and scholia minora : their isolated position within the textual tradition, and the limitation of the usage of ‘gloss’ to its ancient application as an unusual poetic or dialectological attestation. Glossaries aim to further the understanding of Homeric words and text (cf. p. 200). Much terminological confusion may thus be left behind, though Fontanella’s parameters become somewhat self-fulfilling; the procedure does, however, create a meaningful distinction from established text typologies such as hypomnemata , hypotheses , paraphrases , lexica , lemmata, and the Mythographus . Glossaries comprise lists of glossanda and interpretamenta , separated by graphic aids: they are produced ‘horizontally’, gloss and explanation together, rather than ‘vertically’, with a scribe writing down the list of glosses first, and only then adding the explanations in the space available. Guided by these criteria, [3] Fontanella presents a list of Glossaries that incorporates several Homerica previously classified differently and excludes others (like Homeric fragments containing marginalia ), notably P.Cair. J.E. 45612, P.Vindob. Inv. Gr.26221, and P.Sorbonne Inv. 2088. Formal criteria for inclusion in the category, like the use of scriptio plena, ἔκθεσις, and the use of the paragraphos to indicate the new verse, are disposed of as inadequate (p. 21-22). Readers not yet convinced of Fontanella’s typology, and those who wish to consult her study as an addition to, rather than a replacement of, existing categorizations are referred to the scheme on p. 30, a comparative enumeration of only the excluded papyri (and fragments from these) that are still retained by Fontanella, plus the newly edited ones. Conversely, characteristics of the ‘separate text category’ do allow for observations concerning the comparanda , notably against the assumption of a standardization of Scholia Minora : ‘Die Papyrusglossare scheinen keine kontinuierliche Überarbeitung einer Standardsammlung, aus den die ‘ursprünglicher’ Text rekonstruiert werden kann, sondern vielmehr die vielfältigen Formen darzustellen, in denen sich der Strom der Scholia Minora zusammenfügen und von den Schreibern je nach ihren Quellen, kulturellen Bedürfnissen und ihrem Wissen ständig angepasst werden konnte.‘ (p. 152).

The first chapter opens with an inventory of glossaries categorized by date and location. These data lead to an exploration of the provenance of the ‘Roman’ glossaries (all to be dated to the 1 st -7th centuries AD) as a type of paratext only to be expected after a certain level of standardization of the Homeric epic (2 nd century BCE), despite references to glossary-like texts as old as Aristophanes’ Δαιταλῆς (Fr. 233 K.-A.). A comparison of the various materials as carriers of text, and of the use of graphic symbols, leads to the conclusion that the constitution of the various glossaries, often exercises by students or the corrections by their instructors, reflects a high level of individuality and leeway for personal preferences.

The extant glossaries on papyrus refer to the Iliad far more often than to the Odyssey , with Iliad A (31) and B (18) as the center of gravity, followed by E (11). References to other Iliadic rhapsodies are limited to one to five instances. Iliad A is almost fully covered (98%), followed by E (80.6%), N (67.6%), and O (65.5%). Of other rhapsodies roughly half (B, Δ, Θ, Λ, Ξ, Σ, Υ), of the remainder only small parts or none at all (M, Ψ, Ω). In addition to this overview, chapter 2 further discusses the content of the glossaries with special attention to the discrepancies between the presentation of lemmata in the glossary and their orthography in the text referred to. [4] In the discussion on mythological and dialectological interpretamenta and the application of sermo grammaticus , Fontanella is inevitably selective in her illustrative use of examples (although the list of attested terms for figures of speech is exhaustive [p. 138]), but the individual instances are analyzed in great detail and with a wide and relevant variety of references; in passing judgment the author is prudent rather than intent on innovation. Underlining the independent status of the papyrus glossaries and refuting the claim that the Byzantine D-scholia are the continuation of standardized glossaries, table 1 (on Il. 1.1-18; pp. 158-165) and table 2 (on Il. 5.197-256; pp. 166-173) present an inventory of the correspondences between the papyrus glossaries and the D-scholia, listed in order of verse numbers.

The heterogeneity of the papyrus glossaries, and their popularity, raise questions with regard to their makers, their intended audience(s), and their usage. These issues constitute the core of chapter 3. Whereas scholars no longer follow Wilamowitz’ view that all the glossaries were for use in schools, quite a few glossaries (23) are still considered as school material. These texts appear impromptu affairs, written in untrained hands, and full of errors and corrections, like exercises. Others are seen as the work of professional scribes, written in imitation of the contemporary calligraphic fonts. These professionally conceptualized glossaries (Fontanella identifies sixteen examples) are regularly found on the back of rolls already inscribed. A third group now count as privately owned. Though difficult to identify on the basis of characteristics, [5] these texts, equally on the reverse of documentary papyri, are usually palimpsests, incompletely erased and hence visibly trying to avoid whatever confusion may arise from the insufficient care given to the erasure – through an irregular mise en page . Users are identified as anywhere on the spectrum between striving amateurs and proficient readers, both representative, Fontanella argues, for the audience of popular-scholarly exegesis of Homer in Roman and Byzantine Egypt.

The appendices will be of most direct use to scholars. The new, annotated editions of P.Strasb. Inv. 1015 recto, [6] P.Berol. Inv. 11634 verso , [7] and P.Berol. Inv. 13420 verso [8] are comprehensive, very detailed, and address all issues from lectiones in both the Homeric text and the glossary, to variations in handwriting, adequately illustrated by clear full-color photographs. Appendix II, the addition to Lundon’s alphabetical list, presents the Homeric lexeis that were recently edited with their metaphraseis . The usability of Fontanella’s addition is highly furthered by her decision to follow the editorial principles applied by Lundon (including the use of ■ to indicate the ink spot in PSI XVII 1667) and Esposito. [9] In Appendix III, the catalogue of glossaries, dates, descriptions, contents, uses, and editions [10] are readily stated, but a few question marks remain, for the discussion of which the reader is referred to the initial three chapters of the study; here, cross-references in footnotes would have been helpful in addition to the accessible index on pp. 329-336. Future work remains to be done on, among other glossaries on papyrus, unpublished P.Oxy. Inv. 105/62a, P.Oxy. Inv. 5B.51/E(4-5)a, P.Oxy. Inv. 72 / 9 (b), P.Oxy. Inv. 4 1B.74 / D (d), P.Oxy. Inv. *30 4B.39 / J (1-3) a and P. Oxy. Inv. 101 /30 (a) – these, too, would be well off in the capable hands of the current editor.

The study is very well produced by Brill | Schöningh, especially the photographs. There are no infelicities of any significance. [11] The author’s choice to lavishly use footnotes (to a total of 708) not only makes the Appendices stand out as separate works since they go without, but also results in some overlap and untimely presentation of discussion (e.g. in the illustration of the author’s use of recto and verso as late as footnote 178).

Fontanella’s book will prove a valuable study and reference tool for anyone, student and scholar alike, working on the Homeric glossaries on papyrus. In complementing online-available lists like Lundon’s, presenting new editions, and providing readily accessible overviews of the Iliad -glossaries on various materials, Fontanella enables and furthers the description and analysis of a particular text type, that well represents the flexibility of learning and cultural profiling in an important period of intellectual history. Those not convinced by the identification of a separate text category will nonetheless still find much of interest in its lively discussion and defense in the book’s first half.

[1] Lundon, J., The Scholia Minora in Homerum. An Alphabetical List , Version 1.0, November 2012. https://www.trismegistos.org/dl.php?id=14 (last accessed 20 March 2024).

[2] P. Vindob. G 26221, labelled a ‘continuous Homeric paraphrase set out in the manner of scholia minora’ (Lundon, J., ‘P.Vindob. G 26221: Scholia Minora or Paraphrase?’, in B. Palme (ed.), Akten des 23. Internationalen Papyrologenkongresses. Papyrologica Vindobonensia 1, Vienna (2007), 407-414.

[3] Following Rafaelli, L., ‘Repertorio dei papiri contenenti Scholia Minora in Homerum’, in F. Montanari (ed.), Ricerche di filologia classica II, Pisa (1984), 130-177.

[4] ‘Banalisation’, as coined in Tagliapietra, L., ‘Scholia Minora to Iliad 2.212-225 and 272-295’, BASP 54 (2017), 9-30. There appears to be no consistency in the quotation of nu ephelcysticon or the application of scriptio plena .

[5] As listed in Johnson, W. A., Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus (Toronto 2004), 157.

[6] To replace Plasberg, O., ‘Strasburger Anekdota’, APF 2 (1903), 185-228.

[7] To replace Poethke, G., ‘Homer-Präparation für den Schulgebrauch auf einem griechischen Papyrus aus Ägypten‘, FBSM 8 (1967), 105-110.

[8] To replace Müller, W., ‘Griechische literarische Texte auf Papyrus und Pergament‘, FBSM 10 (1968), 113-132 (esp. 119-120), and Sijpesteijn, P.J., Homerica. Fünf literarische Papyri aus der Amsterdamer Papyrussammlung‘, ZPE 6 (1970), 121-131 (esp. 128-130).

[9] On P.Berol. Inv. 11647: Esposito, E., ‘P.Berol. Inv. 11647: Scholia Minora al V libro dell’Iliade’, in A. Casanova, G. Messeri & R. Pintaudi (eds), E sì d’amici pieno. Omaggio di studiosi italiani a Guido Bastianini per il suo settantesimo compleanno , Firenze (2016), 207-215.

[10] Notes announce that P.Berol. Inv. 10511-10512, P.Berol. Inv. 10510, P.Berol. Inv. 10508, and P.Berol. Inv. 10509 will be newly edited in a forthcoming issue of Berliner Klassikertexte ( BKT , not listed in the bibliography).

[11] Just one that makes the reader smile: in quoting Dickey 2007, 108: “there is soften no difference between ‘and’ or ‘or’” (p. 90).

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Paraphrasing is one way to use a text in your own writing without directly quoting source material. Anytime you are taking information from a source that is not your own, you need to specify where you got that information.

A paraphrase is...

• Your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form.
• One legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source.
• A more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea.

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

• It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished passage.
• It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
• The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.

6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

• Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning.
• Set the original aside, and write your paraphrase on a note card.
• Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card, write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase.
• Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form.
• Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source.
• Record the source (including the page) on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper.

Some examples to compare

Note that the examples in this section use MLA style for in-text citation.

The original passage:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers . 2nd ed., 1976, pp. 46-47.

A legitimate paraphrase:

In research papers, students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester 46-47).

An acceptable summary:

Students should take just a few notes in direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).

A plagiarized version:

Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.

A note about plagiarism: This example has been classed as plagiarism, in part, because of its failure to deploy any citation. Plagiarism is a serious offense in the academic world. However, we acknowledge that plagiarism is a difficult term to define; that its definition may be contextually sensitive; and that not all instances of plagiarism are created equal—that is, there are varying “degrees of egregiousness” for different cases of plagiarism.