paraphrase?

What
Writing ideas in your own words Change Words Sentence structure

When
assignments research working life

Where Why
Will be seen as copying ideas Not considered as own work plagiarism serious offence Acknowledge source assignments proposals

How
read on for further explanations

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6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing

1. 2. 3.
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.

4. 5. 6.

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.

(adapted from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01/)

Examples of Paraphrase:
( Taken directly from http://library.csusm.edu/plagiarism/howtoavoid/how_avoid_paraphrase.htm#)

Original Text
Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is linked together in a kind of collective learning process. Very little is discovered "de novo," that is, without a solid foundation in other researchers' previous exploration and understanding. Citation is an act of humility and an act of appreciation for what other scholars have pieced together about the nature of a particular problem or an aspect of some phenomenon.

Example of Unacceptable Paraphrase

Intellectual honesty is the admission that humanity is linked together in a kind of joint learning process. Not very much is discovered new without really understanding other scholars' previous research and knowledge. Citing shows you are grateful and appreciate what other researchers have figured out about a particular issue.

This paraphrase is considered plagiarism because:

it only makes small changes such as:

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Original text Paraphrase collective learning process joint learning process de novo new researchers previous scholars previous research exploration what other scholars have pieced what other researchers have together figured out

it doesn't show where words are copied directly from the source, and it doesnt cite or give the source for either the paraphrased or the directly copied information.

Also a problem, is that the meaning is not accurately conveyed from the original source (Citing shows you are grateful is a different idea than citation is an act of humility). Unacceptable paraphrase is usually caused by making only superficial changes to the original text such as replacing some of the words with synonyms or changing the sentence order. The paraphrase is so close to the original that it is considered essentially a direct quote without attribution. It usually shows the student does not have a significant understanding of the subject and opens the possibility of misunderstanding the original author's ideas.

Example of Acceptable Paraphrasing:

Hoemann says that there is very little absolutely new knowledge. Most of our discoveries take advantage of work done by those who have gone before us. The process of learning is, in fact, a long tradition passed on from generation to generation. Acknowledging the source of ideas gives recognition to the contributions of others in this tradition and is, as Hoemann says, an act of humility. 1. Hoemann, George. Electronic StyleWhy Cite? 14 September 1998. University of Tennessee. 3 Oct. 2000 http://web.utk.edu/~hoemann/why.html

This paraphrase is acceptable because it: accurately conveys the information, re-expresses it in substantially different words and phrases, identifies where words are exactly copied from the original, and cites the original source of the information.

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Also notice in this example that the original author is mentioned in the text. It is often considered good form to identify your source in the paraphrase itself, usually in the lead sentence introducing the ideas. The source of the small direct quote is also made clear by preceding it with the authors name. Acceptable Close Paraphrase: As with all cases of partial plagiarism, it is possible to use a close paraphrase with the appropriate attribution and citation style. While direct quotation is almost always preferred, close paraphrase might be used in cases where the quoted passage uses some difficult to understand terms, or is unnecessarily long for the purposes of the paper, or uses an inconvenient grammatical turn.