How to Paraphrase | Effective Techniques for Writers
Writers often need to incorporate ideas from other resources into their content. However, it requires them to understand and paraphrase the material’s crux. Paraphrasing can be challenging for most writers as it is difficult to preserve the exact meaning while changing the outlook of the content.
There are several tried and tested paraphrasing strategies that can help writers. They need to learn these practices to become a skilled writer.
In this guide, we will describe all the useful techniques writers can implement for better performance. But before getting started, we need to get down to brass tacks of paraphrasing to increase its impact. So, let’s dive right in.
Fundamentals of Paraphrasing
As you already know, paraphrasing is stating the same thing differently while maintaining the context. This practice is commonly used for removing plagiarism or restating others’ narratives. If you’re concerned about originality, the first step is to check the content for plagiarism. It helps in removing plagiarism or restating others’ narratives. Either way, effective paraphrasing requires you to understand the source material thoroughly to get the main idea.
Before starting the actual process of paraphrasing, you have to read the whole text for accuracy. Active reading is an effective way to understand and learn the original text. It improves comprehension and enables you to read in a focused manner.
Also, you need to identify the key points within that text. The paraphrased text will be based on the same arguments, so these points will be useful for finding the main ideas. After understanding the original content, you can paraphrase it easily.
How to Paraphrase Effectively with Examples?
Paraphrasing might appear straightforward, but it requires significant skill and effort. This skill is developed by using effective techniques and consistent practice. So, writers need to learn paraphrasing skills to improve their content quality. Paraphrasing techniques that are found to be successful are discussed below.
1. Word Substitution
To change the outlook of any piece of content, you can substitute the words with their synonyms. Adding synonyms in the place of certain words is helpful to create a new text with the same meaning. Here is an example.
Original Text: After months of planning, the team finally launched the project, hoping to exceed everyone’s expectations.
Paraphrased Text: After months of preparation, the team successfully initiated the project, hoping to surpass everyone’s expectations.
Word substitution is the easiest way to paraphrase any content. However, this technique is only effective for text written in simple language. Content that contains subject-specific words cannot be paraphrased by using synonyms as they may change the meaning of the content. For such content, other techniques might work better.
2. Use Different Forms of Words
Another technique for effective paraphrasing is to change the word class. In this method, words are changed with a different form of the same word. You can change nouns with verbs and adjectives with a noun from the same word family.
Original Text: The teacher’s guidance was crucial for the students to understand the complex material.
Paraphrase Text: The teacher’s guidance was crucial to the student’s understanding of the complex material.
Using a different word class changes the sentences drastically. It keeps the main idea without changing the meaning. This approach can also be used for subject-specific content that uses complex terminologies.
3. Rearrangement of Sentence
Rearranging the structure of sentences is helpful when you are paraphrasing content. It changes the overlook of content and preserves the context completely. In this technique, the phrases or clauses of the sentences are interchanged.
Original Text: The Company aims to improve work-life balance by allowing flexible working hours.
Paraphrase Text: By allowing flexible working hours, the Company aims to improve work-life balance.
In this example, we just swapped two parts of the sentences to form a new sentence. Sentence modification can also work by merging or splitting different phrases. Let’s consider another example.
Original Text: Despite the heavy rain, the concert continued, and the audience danced enthusiastically under their umbrellas.
Paraphrase Text: Despite the heavy rain, the concert continued. The audience danced enthusiastically under their umbrellas.
In the above paraphrased sentence, we just divided the sentences into two parts. Both sentences give off the same meaning as the original one.
4. Change of Voice
Another useful technique for paraphrasing any content is to change the voice of sentences. This process is carried out by converting active-voice sentences into passive-voice. Alternatively, sentences written in passive voice are changed to an active voice.
Original text: The chef prepared a delicious three-course meal for the guests.
Paraphrase text: A delicious three-course meal was prepared for the guests by the chef.
Change of voice is a helpful method of paraphrasing when you don’t want to use a substitute word or alter the word form. However, it is suggested that a combination of both active and passive voices be used throughout the text. This is because using a lot of passive sentences makes the content less readable.
5. Change the Word Order
Changing the word order of the sentence can help paraphrase the content. The words remain the same, but their place changes within that sentence. Here is an example of changing the order of the paraphrasing words.
Original Text: The bar chart illustrates the percentage of people in different age groups who participated in online shopping in 2023.
Paraphrased Text: The percentage of people from various age groups who engaged in online shopping during 2023 is illustrated by the bar chart.
In this paraphrase example, we changed the word order, which made the sentence structure different. We also transformed the verb from active to passive, which significantly altered how the information is conveyed.
6. Use Multiple Techniques Together
Successful paraphrasing requires a blend of multiple techniques. When multiple paraphrasing techniques are used in a combination, its impact increases. You can use synonyms and change the word arrangement at the same time. It is suggested to combine two to three techniques in a sentence, but not more than that. Otherwise, you will just be tiring yourself out, as it is not effective.
7. Take Assistance from an online tool
Using the online paraphrasing tool is another effective way to transform the content. This tool can save you from the effort of going through the whole content and paraphrasing each sentence. The tool changes the text while preserving accuracy, coherence, and clarity. It can be an asset for writers as it minimizes the time and effort required to paraphrase. Moreover, it uses all the effective paraphrasing techniques so that the content transforms and the context remains the same.
Wrap Up
Mastering the skill of paraphrasing is essential for writers who want to produce unique and engaging content. By implementing strategies such as changing the word order, adjusting the voice, and utilizing different word classes, writers can transform original ideas while maintaining their core meaning. These techniques ensure that the paraphrased text is both distinct and accurate. Integrating multiple techniques and using the paraphrasing tool can further enhance the process. By developing a thorough understanding of these methods, writers can refine their skills and produce high-quality content that stands out.
