Learning How to Paraphrase

1. When reading a passage, try first to understand it as a whole, rather than pausing to write down specific ideas or phrases.
2. Be selective. Unless your assignment is to do a formal or “literal” paraphrase, you usually don’t need to paraphrase an entire passage. Instead, choose and summarize the material that supports the point you are trying to make in your paper.
3. Think of what “your own words” would be if you were telling someone who’s unfamiliar with your subject (a family member or friend) what the original source said.
4. Remember that you can use direct quotations of phrases from the original within your paraphrase, and that you don’t need to change or put quotation marks around shared language. (See previous page.)

See the video below for more information and techniques for paraphrasing: