Lesson: Scientific Writing

Lecturer: Jonri Kasdi, S.Pd

PAPER
GUIDANCE OF PARAPHRASING

BY:
Ditya Permadi ( 11214100259)
Fitriah (11214202667)
Gita Riscky Aulia (11214201312)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

EDUCATION AND TRAINING TEACHER FACULTY
UNIVERSITY OF ISLAMIC STATE SULTAN SYARIF KASIM RIAU
RIAU
2013/2014

Guidelines Paraphrasing | 1

Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE

ii

iii

CHAPTER I:INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND 4
CHAPTER II: CONTENT

2.1 Paraphrasing..............................................................................................................5
2.2 Suggestions for Successful and Effective Paraphrasing ...............................................7
CHAPTER III: CLOSING.................................................................................................................
3.1 CONSLUSION
REFERENCES

10

Guidelines Paraphrasing | 2

PREFACE

Give thanks to Allah SWT., the Greatest Lord, who had given His grace and guidance for us. So
that, writers can did this paper entitled Guidance of Paraphrasing on time. Without His
helping, it was so impossible to do this paper rightly. Sholawat and greetings may always be
conveyed to our beloved prophet, Muhammad SAW.
This paper was arranged by writers for making readers know more about what the
paraphrase is and how to be success in paraphrasing. Writers arranged this paper from some
books. This paper had some content about explanation of paraphrasing.
Writers also say thank to our writings lecturer, Mr. Jonri Kasdi, our beloved parent and
all persons that had been helping us to make this paper.
Writers realized that this paper is not a perfect one, so writers need readers raising
suggestion and critic for perfecting this paper. Writers expected that this paper could give the
largest knowledge for readers. Thank you.

Pekanbaru, October 2014

Writers

Guidelines Paraphrasing | 3

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background

When you are writing a scientific writing, it is important to consult and refer to the
outside sources of information. Outside sources of information can include any of the following:
magazines, books, journals, previously-published papers, newspapers, internet documents,
conversations, public lectures, recordings or interviews. Sometimes you may want to consult
outside sources of information in order to gain background knowledge and/or to quote,
paraphrase or summarize from it. Whether you consult a source for background knowledge or
whether you decide to quote, paraphrase or summarize, you must document, that is, acknowledge
the source. This documentation is important for two reasons. Firstly, it gives credit to the original
source of the words or ideas. If it is not done, you have plagiarized. Secondly, it gives the reader
information about where to find additional sources of information if he/she wants to investigate
the subject further.
Nowadays, many violent are seen on the field of scientific writing, such as
plagiarism. This is the biggest violent of scientific writing because it takes somebodys ideas
without mention whose ideas it is. It can be happened because the plagiarist doest not realize that
he/she do that serious problem. Besides, the plagiarist sometimes does not know how to quote or
paraphrase somebodys ideas.
To avoid that problem, the solutions that we should have are ability to quote or
paraphrase another idea/s. However, in this paper, writer only emphasizes about how to
paraphrase ideas, so that the practical of plagiarism in scientific writing will be decreased. That is
why the ability to paraphrase becomes an important skill that every writer should possess.
Paraphrasing helps in fulfilling the ethical responsibility of a writer as well. It is the
responsibility of students not to cheat in any sense.

Guidelines Paraphrasing | 4

CHAPTER II
CONTENT

2.1

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing and summarizing is one of the essential research skills that should be owned
by all research paper writers. One of the most difficult tasks of a writing research paper is that to
put an authors idea/s in your own words. When you paraphrase the authors ideas either from an
article, book, or even online resources, you are required to paraphrase a sentence or paragraph
using your own sentence structure and your own words. A summary involves exactly the same
skills capturing ideas in your own words, but with a longer piece of material that you use.
Normally, paraphrasing refers to capturing ideas from a sentence, or a paragraph written by
another author. However, on the other hand, summarizing refers to capturing ideas from a longer
paragraph, a section of an article, or a chapter of a book. A paraphrase can usually capture and
idea a bit more closely. If you have only a sentence or a short paragraph to paraphrase, you can
directly express the authors ideas in your own words. A summary of a chapter or of a long
section of an article will more general and will leave out the details. In conclusion, both a
paraphrase and a summary should be properly referenced as someone elses work.
A paraphrase can be defined as capturing or extracting ideas expressed by the author in a
short piece of writing, such as a sentence or a paragraph. Thus, the short sentence or paragraph
should be expressed in your own words word choice and sentence structure, in order to
equalize the intended meaning. In reference to this idea, Reid (1998) also gives the notion on the
paraphrase as the act of extracting or capturing the authors ideas or statement a sentence or a
paragraph to the writers own words, but it is still in the corridor of the authors idea/s.
The same idea is also stated by Meredith on the book Mosaic Writing I, Meredith said that
a second way to support your ideas is to paraphrase other peoples ideas. A paraphrase is a
restatement of a phrase or a sentence that is approximately as long as the original statement. (Its
still important to say whose idea it is).
Paraphrasing does not need quotation marks; however, it requires the identification of the
source cited the name of the author, and the page number/s of the cited source. Remember,
paraphrasing does not contain the writers ideas; therefore, the author should be credited or
appreciated for his brilliant ideas quoted or extracted. In other words, if a writer quotes or uses
ones idea/s, thus, the ideas should be credited to the author. Therefore, an acknowledgeable
footnote or a trusted reference is very crucial in every type of writing for academic purposes. The
purpose of a paraphrase is to simplify and depict the prominent light, which is in a text
referenced. All academicians are required to possess much skill for working with paraphrases,
besides they should be honest.
Guidelines Paraphrasing | 5

Furthermore, pertaining to the term of paraphrase above, McWhorther (1992) also sates her
notion on it. She views paraphrase as an act of restating passages ideas in your own words. The
authors meaning is retained but your own wording, instead of the authors, is used. In speech,
for example, we can paraphrase frequently. Say for example when you relay a message from one
person to another. In this case, you can convey the meaning only but not using the exact words of
the person. A paraphrase can often make a passages meaning clearer and even often more
concise.
For all research paper writers, paraphrasing is very useful in many situations. When
reading reference sources for information for a research paper, for example, of course,
paraphrasing is as a means of recording information from each source in note forms for later use
of writing in your research paper. Paraphrasing is also useful when dealing with material for
which exact, detailed comprehension is required. For instance, you may paraphrase the steps in
solving a math problem or the procedures for a lab set-up in chemistry. Besides, paraphrasing is
also helpful for understanding extremely difficult or complicated passages that must be worked
out verbatim- word by word. Finally, paraphrasing is useful when reading a material that is
stylistically complex or with an obvious slant, bias, strong tone, or a detailed description.
A paraphrase should be mostly your own words, but you can occasionally use the authors
exact words if she or he has used a specialized or technical term, especially if theres no
synonym.
Look at these examples:
Quotation: Genetic engineering of plants will produce supercrops in the near
future, such as short corn stalks loaded with ears, which will help end
world hunger.
Source:

A study done by The Branson Research Group

Paraphrase:A study conducted by the Branson Research Group predicts that genetic
engineering will produce superior food crops that will someday abolish
world hunger.
Notice that:

Some of the language from the original quotation was repeated. There is only one
term for genetic engineering. There is no adequate synonym for produce in
this context, and there is no other way to say world hunger.
The corn example was not included. In developing an idea, if you need a concrete
detail and your original source contains one, use it. If you want to save space or
time by using a paraphrase, you can do so by omitting some of the details the
source contains.
Guidelines Paraphrasing | 6

The paraphrase includes the source of the information; if it is reliable source, it

helps support your argument.

Study the following example of a paraphrase of a stylistically complex preamble of the

United States Constitution. Notice how it restates in different words on the intent of the
preamble.
Preamble:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution of the United States of America.
Paraphrase:
The citizens of the United States establish the Constitution to create a better country, to
provide rightful treatment, peace, protection, and well being for themselves and future citizens.
Notice first how synonyms are substituted for words in the original text citizens for
people, country for union, protection for defense, and so forth.
In addition, you can also write the number of page or of paragraph from the original text
that you are paraphrased. It is stated on the book entitled Publication Manual (2010) when
paraphrasing or referring to an idea contained in another work, you are encouraged to provide a
page or paragraph number, especially when it would help an interested reader locate the relevant
passage in a long or complex text.

2.2

Suggestions for Successful and Effective Paraphrasing

As a research paper writer, of course, you need to know very much the skill that should be
employed when working with the term of paraphrasing. Thus, below is presented the suggestions
for a successful and effective paraphrasing:
1. Read the text slowly and carefully. You have to understand exactly what is said before you
paraphrase the text.
2. Read the text through entirely before writing anything.
3. As you read, focus on both exact meanings and relationships among ideas.
4. Begin paraphrasing sentence by sentence.
5. Read each sentence and identify its core meaning. Use synonyms, replacing the authors
words with your own words. Look away from the original sentence and write in your own
words what it means. Then, reread the original sentence and add any additional or
qualifying information.
Guidelines Paraphrasing | 7

6. Do not try to paraphrase word by word. Instead, working with clauses and phrases of group
ideas.
7. For words or phrases about which you are unsure of the meaning, check a dictionary to
locate a more familiar meaning.
8. You may combine several original sentences into a more concise paraphrase. It is also
acceptable to use a different order of presentation of ideas than in the original.
9. Compare your paraphrase with the original for a completeness and accuracy.
The ideas on the suggestions for a successful and effective paraphrase above, is also
supported by Arlov, (2004) in her brilliant notion on the paraphrasing the original text into the
writers own words:
You are permissible to repeat the key terms used by the author of the text. If the author uses
the term geriatric medicine, there is no need to rephrase it as medical care of old people.
Because the term used is standardized used already for the wanted meaning. Besides it is as
a proper word or term choice for medical care of old people.
Unusual phrasing should be rephrased. If the author refers to a spider web as a spiders
gossamer trap, a paraphrase should simply call it as a spider web only.
The sentence structure of a paraphrase should vary from that of the original material
paraphrased.
A paraphrase is usually a bit shorter than the source material, but of course, it captures or
covers the entire ideas.
Meredith also provides some tips in paraphrasing. Here are some tips for using paraphrase:
Paraphrase when it is more effective or efficient to restate the authors words in
your words.
Do not forget to cite the source in a paraphrase
If you want to save time or space by using a paraphrase, omit some of the details.
Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find words with similar meanings.

CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
Guidelines Paraphrasing | 8

3.1

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is a capturing or a extracting ideas expressed by the author in a short piece

of a writing such as sentences or paragraphs, or an article. When you paraphrase an authors
ideas, you are required to use your own words, and you should be properly reference as someone
elses work. Paraphrasing does not need quotation mark, but it does require the identification of
the source cited-the name of the authors, and the page number/s sources.
3.2

Suggestions for successful and effective paraphrasing

These are the suggestion for a successful and effective paraphrasing:

Read the text slowly and carefully.

Read the text through entirely before write.

Focus on meaning and relationship among ideas.

Begin paraphrasing sentence by sentence.

Do not try to paraphrase word by word.

Compare your paraphrase with the original text for completeness and accuracy.

REFERENCES
Guidelines Paraphrasing | 9

1. Meredith Pike-Baky.Mosaic 1 Writing.2002.New York: McGraw-Hill.Pp. 105-106

2. M. Syafii.From Paragraphs to a Research Report. 2014.Pekanbaru: Suska Press
3. _______.Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association.2010.Washington: American Psychological Association

Guidelines Paraphrasing | 10