paraphrasing articles example

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Using Evidence: Examples of Paraphrasing

Examples of paraphrasing.

Here is the original source an author might use in a paper:

Differentiation as an instructional approach promotes a balance between a student's style and a student's ability. Differentiated instruction provides the student with options for processing and internalizing the content, and for constructing new learning in order to progress academically.

Here is an example of bad paraphrasing of the source. Even though the student is citing correctly, underlined words are simply synonyms of words used in the original source. You can also see how the sentence structure is the same for both the original source and this paraphrase.

Differentiation is a way to encourage equality between the approach and talent of the student (Thompson, 2009). This type of instruction gives students different ways to deal with and grasp information , and for establishing new learning to move on in education (Thompson, 2009).

Here is an example of a better way to paraphrase the source. In this example, the author has taken the essential ideas and information from the original source, but has worded it in her own way, using unique word choice and sentence structure. The author has condensed Thompson's (2009) information, including what is relevant to her paper, but leaving out extra details that she does not needed.

Teachers use differentiated instruction to help students learn, allowing the teacher to cater lessons to the way each student learns and each student's skill (Thompson, 2009).

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Purdue Online Writing Lab College of Liberal Arts

Sample Essay for Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

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The following is a sample essay you can practice quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Examples of each task are provided at the end of the essay for further reference. Here is the citation for Sipher's essay:

Sipher, Roger. “So That Nobody Has to Go to School If They Don't Want To.” The New York Times , 19 Dec. 1977, p. 31.

So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don't Want To

by Roger Sipher

A decline in standardized test scores is but the most recent indicator that American education is in trouble.

One reason for the crisis is that present mandatory-attendance laws force many to attend school who have no wish to be there. Such children have little desire to learn and are so antagonistic to school that neither they nor more highly motivated students receive the quality education that is the birthright of every American.

The solution to this problem is simple: Abolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education to attend.

This will not end public education. Contrary to conventional belief, legislators enacted compulsory-attendance laws to legalize what already existed. William Landes and Lewis Solomon, economists, found little evidence that mandatory-attendance laws increased the number of children in school. They found, too, that school systems have never effectively enforced such laws, usually because of the expense involved.

There is no contradiction between the assertion that compulsory attendance has had little effect on the number of children attending school and the argument that repeal would be a positive step toward improving education. Most parents want a high school education for their children. Unfortunately, compulsory attendance hampers the ability of public school officials to enforce legitimate educational and disciplinary policies and thereby make the education a good one.

Private schools have no such problem. They can fail or dismiss students, knowing such students can attend public school. Without compulsory attendance, public schools would be freer to oust students whose academic or personal behavior undermines the educational mission of the institution.

Has not the noble experiment of a formal education for everyone failed? While we pay homage to the homily, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink," we have pretended it is not true in education.

Ask high school teachers if recalcitrant students learn anything of value. Ask teachers if these students do any homework. Quite the contrary, these students know they will be passed from grade to grade until they are old enough to quit or until, as is more likely, they receive a high school diploma. At the point when students could legally quit, most choose to remain since they know they are likely to be allowed to graduate whether they do acceptable work or not.

Abolition of archaic attendance laws would produce enormous dividends.

First, it would alert everyone that school is a serious place where one goes to learn. Schools are neither day-care centers nor indoor street corners. Young people who resist learning should stay away; indeed, an end to compulsory schooling would require them to stay away.

Second, students opposed to learning would not be able to pollute the educational atmosphere for those who want to learn. Teachers could stop policing recalcitrant students and start educating.

Third, grades would show what they are supposed to: how well a student is learning. Parents could again read report cards and know if their children were making progress.

Fourth, public esteem for schools would increase. People would stop regarding them as way stations for adolescents and start thinking of them as institutions for educating America's youth.

Fifth, elementary schools would change because students would find out early they had better learn something or risk flunking out later. Elementary teachers would no longer have to pass their failures on to junior high and high school.

Sixth, the cost of enforcing compulsory education would be eliminated. Despite enforcement efforts, nearly 15 percent of the school-age children in our largest cities are almost permanently absent from school.

Communities could use these savings to support institutions to deal with young people not in school. If, in the long run, these institutions prove more costly, at least we would not confuse their mission with that of schools.

Schools should be for education. At present, they are only tangentially so. They have attempted to serve an all-encompassing social function, trying to be all things to all people. In the process they have failed miserably at what they were originally formed to accomplish.

Example Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation from the Essay:

Example summary: Roger Sipher makes his case for getting rid of compulsory-attendance laws in primary and secondary schools with six arguments. These fall into three groups—first that education is for those who want to learn and by including those that don't want to learn, everyone suffers. Second, that grades would be reflective of effort and elementary school teachers wouldn't feel compelled to pass failing students. Third, that schools would both save money and save face with the elimination of compulsory-attendance laws.

Example paraphrase of the essay's conclusion: Roger Sipher concludes his essay by insisting that schools have failed to fulfill their primary duty of education because they try to fill multiple social functions (par. 17).

Example quotation: According to Roger Sipher, a solution to the perceived crisis of American education is to "[a]bolish compulsory-attendance laws and allow only those who are committed to getting an education to attend" (par. 3).

Paraphrasing Examples: Top 5 Ways to Use Paraphrasing

Study these 5 paraphrasing examples to learn how to paraphrase when writing research papers and essays.

When writing a research paper or other project, you often need to work with other people’s writing. While you could easily put together a piece using many direct quotations, learning how to take someone else’s work and paraphrase it in your own words is valuable in your writing toolbox.

A good paraphrase keeps the author’s main ideas intact but says them differently. It shows that you have fully understood the information and can rephrase it to fit your overall piece’s writing style and tone.

As you learn to paraphrase, remember that you must still cite the original author. Unless the idea you are referencing is common knowledge in the field you are writing about, you must tell where the idea came from. In-text citations , as well as a bibliography page, are both essential.

As you consider how to change the wording of the original piece to fit your writing, looking at different paraphrasing examples will help you get a feel for what this rewriting looks like.

1. Paraphrasing Sentences by Changing Verb Tense

2. paraphrasing sentences by using synonyms, 3. paraphrasing an original work by changing the writing style, 4. paraphrasing paragraphs, 5. paraphrasing an entire work.

One way to paraphrase is to change the verb tense of the source material. For example, if it is written in passive voice, you could change it to active voice. If written in the past tense, you could change it to present or future tense.

Here are some examples:

• Original: Giraffes will eat Acacia leaves and hay, eating up to 75 pounds a day. (future tense)
• Paraphrase: A giraffe eats up to 75 pounds daily, including Acacia leaves and hay. (present tense)
• Original: Influenza can cause a runny nose and fever. (active voice)
• Paraphrase: People with influenza have experienced fevers and runny noses. (passive voice)

Changing the tense of the verbs may be all you need to do to adjust the sentence enough for it to be a paraphrase.

Another way to paraphrase your original passage for your research paper is to use synonyms for words. This will convey the same meaning without using the original author’s exact words. Remember that you still need to provide a citation using MLA or APA formatting to avoid plagiarism if the idea is the same as the source, but using synonyms is a great restatement option. Here are some examples:

• Original: In Santiago, COVID-19 dealt the hardest blow to people with low socioeconomic status, because of factors such as crowded households, a lack of health care, and an inability to work from home.
• Paraphrase: Because few people could telecommute, medical care was hard to get, and homes were crowded with people, the coronavirus pandemic hurt Santiago’s poorer people worse than other economic groups.
• Original: Paul McCrory, a prominent researcher whose work on concussions has shaped much of the sporting world’s current policies on diagnosing and treating head injuries, resigned March 5 from his role as chair of the Concussion in Sport Group following allegations of plagiarism.
• Paraphrase: Paul McCrory, concussion researcher who put a lot of work into the athletic world’s policies on head injury diagnostics and treatment, left his position as head of the Concussion in Sport Group on March 5 after accusations of plagiarism.

As long as the source is properly cited, these are appropriate paraphrases in academic writing.

Sometimes the goal of paraphrasing is to improve the accessibility of the work. You can take a scientific research study, for instance, and boil it down into its main points, using a more accessible tone and writing style in your own words to present the information. Again, as long as you use the APA pr MLA format to cite the paraphrased text, you can use this technique to present ideas in your writing.

• Original: When we go to the zoo, we may see penguins if the exhibit is open.
• Paraphrase: If the penguin house is open, we may be able to observe the birds on our visit to the zoo.
• Original: Many people reported symptoms of anxiety after the terrorist attack.
• Paraphrase: The terrorist attack caused anxiety symptoms in a number of the people.
• Original: For example, one study showed that food insufficiency was independently associated with all symptoms of poor mental health, but that association was mitigated for those who received free groceries or meals.
• Paraphrase: People who do not have enough to eat may struggle with their mental health, but free groceries or meals can help limit this problem.

These examples keep the sentence’s meaning but change the writing style to make it the writer’s own.

When you need to paraphrase an entire paragraph, you will likely use a combination of these techniques to rewrite the passage in your own words. Keep in mind that without citation, this is still considered plagiarism. Here are some examples:

• Original: The adolescent finds himself faced with multiple questions, contradictory demands, and ideas, which force him to deal with multiple conflicts, especially in light of physical, mental, social, psychological, emotional, and family changes. If these changes are negative, it will result in the failure of the adolescent to successfully form his identity, in addition to facing many problems such as social role disorder, identity confusion, or the adoption of negative identity, harming the adolescent’s life and future.
• Paraphrase: According to a 2021 Heliyon study, teenagers often face questions of identity, and they can have conflicting ideas about who they are and where they fit in society. The changes they face as they grow and develop, if they are negative, can cause them to have a poor identity formation. This problem can lead to challenges as the adolescent grows into adulthood.
• Original: In the immediate wake of a traumatic experience, large numbers of affected people report distress, including new or worsening symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Most people will recover, though that recovery can take some time. A notable fraction of people will develop chronic symptoms severe enough to meet criteria for a mental illness, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depressive disorder.
• Paraphrase: The National Institutes of Health warms that a traumatic experience, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, will cause a large number of mental health problems. People often report their symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, getting worse. Though recovery happens for many, it does take time, and some people will have problems like PTSD or major depressive disorder that require mental health treatment.

In these examples, the paraphrased writing seems easier for the average reader to understand, with less industry-specific jargon.

Finally, you can paraphrase an entire work by boiling its main points into a more concise format. If you shorten the work significantly, you are summarizing, not paraphrasing. However, this idea deserves a spot on this list because it is a way to use a source in your writing without using direct quotes. Here are some examples:

• Original: The first book in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
• Paraphrase: In this classic piece of children’s literature, a young boy wizard named Harry must go to battle against an enemy, Voldemort, who has been trying to kill him since birth.
• Original: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• Paraphrase: Two star-crossed lovers from opposing families try to find a life together, only to end in tragic death because of their warring families.

When paraphrasing in this way, you can cite by stating the name of the work and the author at the beginning of the passage, then including the work on your bibliography page.

To learn more about paraphrasing, check out our guide on plagiarism vs. paraphrasing .