WRITING GUIDE: 7 Ways to Paraphrase
Alexander College Writing & Learning Centres
The original passage:
“Artistic, diverse and ever-changing, Vancouver is a hub of cultural activity. The fact that the
city boasts a number of notable cultural institutions, such as the Vancouver Art Gallery and the
Vancouver
Opera, is known to many” (Lang 20).
A good paraphrase:
Vancouver is a major cultural centre on Canada’s west coast. The Vancouver Art Gallery and
the Vancouver Opera are just two examples of its many famous cultural venues (Lang 20).
NOT A PARAPHRASE – potential plagiarism
Creative
and varied, Vancouver has a lot of culture. The idea
that Vancouver has several
cultural centres, like the Vancouver art gallery
and the Vancouver opera,
is common
knowledge to everyone (Lang 20).
***IMPORTANT
Gaining knowledge of English vocabulary as well as grammatical terms will
greatly improve your ability to paraphrase. While practicing paraphrasing, it is better to use an
English dictionary and an English grammar book rather than a translation app or device.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR PARAPHRASE, SIMPLIFY
Eliminate wordiness:
Learning new words is great, but if you use too many, your paraphrase will not be
successful and will not match your regular writing style.
Focus on the details that are important for
your essay
, not on reporting
everything the original author has said.
Keep Keywords:
names of theories, places, people
– terms that the original author uses
repeatedly in the original text.
Focus on ideas:
paraphrase the author’s ideas instead of replacing words with
synonyms.
Simplify your explanation:
Explain the ideas as if you were telling a friend who has not
read the original text.
