50 Focusing on Paraphrasing
Christina Frasier and Lisa Ford
Learning Objectives
- Learn when paraphrasing is more appropriate and effective than directly quoting.
- Understand the value of paraphrasing as a tool for writers.
In general, it is best to paraphrase when:
- There is no good reason to use a quote to refer to your evidence. If the author’s exact words are not especially important to the point you are trying to make, you are usually better off paraphrasing the evidence.
- You are trying to explain a particular a piece of evidence in order to explain or interpret it in more detail. This might be particularly true in writing projects like critiques.
- You need to balance a direct quote in your writing. You need to be careful about directly quoting your research too much because it can sometimes make for awkward and difficult to read prose. So, one of the reasons to use a paraphrase instead of a quote is to create balance within your writing.
Tips for Paraphrasing
- Introduce your paraphrases to your reader, especially on first reference.
- Explain the significance of the paraphrase to your reader.
- Cite your paraphrase properly according to the rules of style you are following in your essay.
- Paraphrase when the exact words aren’t important, when you want to explain the point of your evidence, or when you need to balance the direct quotes in your writing.
Paraphrasing in MLA Style
In this example, the writer is using MLA style to write a research essay for a literature class. Here is a BAD example of a paraphrase:
Example
- While Gatsby is deeply in love with Daisy in The Great Gatsby, his love for her is indistinguishable from his love of his possessions (Callahan).
There are two problems with this paraphrase. First, if this is the first or only reference to this particular piece of evidence in the research essay, the writer should include more information about the source of this paraphrase in order to properly introduce it. Second, this paraphrase is actually not of the entire article but rather of a specific passage. The writer has neglected to note the page number within the parenthetical citation.
A GOOD or at least BETTER revision of this paraphrase might look like this:
Example
- John F. Callahan suggests in his article “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Evolving American Dream” that while Gatsby is deeply in love with Daisy in The Great Gatsby, his love for her is indistinguishable from his love of his possessions (381).
By incorporating the name of the author of the evidence the research writer is referring to here, the source of this paraphrase is now clear to the reader. Furthermore, because there is a page number at the end of this sentence, the reader understands that this passage is a paraphrase of a particular part of Callahan’s essay and not a summary of the entire essay. Again, if the research writer had introduced this source to his readers earlier, he could have started with a phrase like “Callahan suggests…” and then continued on with his paraphrase.
Paraphrasing in APA Style
Paraphrasing in APA style is slightly different from MLA style, and overall, APA privileges paraphrasing over quoting.. Consider first this BAD example of what NOT to do in paraphrasing from a source in APA style:
Example
- Hackers have many ways to perpetrate credit card fraud (Cameron, 2002).
The main problem with this paraphrase is there isn’t enough here to adequately explain to the reader what the point of the evidence really is. Remember: your readers have no way of automatically knowing why you as a research writer think that a particular piece of evidence is useful in supporting your point. This is why it is key that you introduce and explain your evidence.
Here is a revision that is GOOD— or at least BETTER:
Example
- Narrative style paraphrase: Cameron (2002) points out that computer criminals intent on committing credit card fraud are able to take advantage of the fact that few officials work to enforce computer crimes. Criminals are also able to use the technology to their advantage by communicating via email and chat rooms with other criminals (p. 63).
- Regular paraphrase: Criminals intent on committing credit card fraud are able to take advantage of the fact that few officials work to enforce computer crimes. Criminals are also able to use the technology to their advantage by communicating via email and chat rooms with other criminals (Cameron, 2002, p. 63).
Again, this revision is better because the additional information introduces and explains the point of the evidence. Please note that in these examples, the page number is not references in either of the parenthetical citations. Your instructor might insist on using the page number–check to make sure.
Academic Writing I by Lisa Ford, CC BY 4.0