Rules for Paraphrasing

Do:
Make sure you understand the meaning and intent of the original.
Use your own words and sentence structures.
Use roughly the same number of words as the original.
Identify the source (i.e., author and page number in MLA style) within the text.
Borrow exceptional words or phrasing from the original by quoting exactly.
Enclose quoted words and phrases in quotation marks.
Retain the original tone (i.e., humorous, somber, angry).

Do not:
♦ Interject your own views.
♦ Change or distort the meaning or intent of the original.
♦ Leave out significant information.
♦ Quote large sections that could be rephrased.
♦ Guess at the meaning of the original.
♦ Present paraphrased material as your own.

DEFINITION:
paraphrase is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. The
term itself is derived via Latin paraphrasis from Greek παράφρασις, meaning "additional
manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis".
A paraphrase typically explains or clarifies the text that is being paraphrased

SUMMARY:
1. Complete
A summary should include all the ideas that are essential to the author’s thesis.
2. Concise
A summary should be considerably shorter than the passage. Do not include unessential
information
(length depends upon the purpose and your use of the summary. It could be one-half,
one-third or
one-eighth the length of the original.)
3. Accurate
A summary should represent the author’s ideas. Do not distort the author’s views.
4. Objective
A summary should recapitulate the author’s points. Do not include your objections or
criticisms in the
summary.
5. Coherent
A summary should make sense to someone who has not read the original. It should not
sound like a
list of loosely-related sentences that have been strung together in paragraph format.
6. Independent
A summary should be written in your own words. Do not take strings of words from the
source; do not
*paraphrase.

Difference between paraphrase and summary

*Paraphrase: contains all the information in the source. No part of the original is left out. Writer
rephrases original in his words.
**Summary: contains only the most important information of the original. It does not have to
follow
the organization or order of the original. You do not change the meaning of the original, and you
must give clear references as to the origin of the ideas.