•When you paraphrase, you write or say something that someone else has written or said, in your own words.
•Paraphrasing is an important skill for you to practice because it shows your ability to express the idea of another person using different words, without copying the exact text or speech.
•When you paraphrase properly, you avoid plagiarism, which is a form of academic theft that is considered unethical.
•Paraphrasing can be done in the following ways: by substituting keywords with synonyms, by changing the sentence structure, and by transforming the parts of speech of certain vocabulary words in the sentence.
•Regular practice paraphrasing helps you build your overall ability to use a range of vocabulary and practice varying your sentence structure.
•Paraphrasing improves your ability to restate the gist of the passage, which helps you better grasp the meaning of the passage.
•You become a better speaker and writer because you practice playing with grammar, sentences, and words.
Is the HERD framework hitting home with you? Herding wild horses! Think of the HERD strategy when you need to quickly paraphrase an academic text.
I’m in the midst of designing some free paraphrasing lesson plans for teachers at varying levels. Let me know if you or your students need practice with this skill.
Here are some paraphrasing tools you can use: Quillbot, an online paraphraser, Thesaurus, online dictionaries, Grammarly, and wordreference.
Get your free Paraphrasing practice lesson!
Additional Resources: