How to paraphrase in seven easy steps
A lot of people, most especially students, often mix up paraphrasing with use of synonyms to represent a word. Whereas it is a method of coining the ideas and works of a particular author based on your understanding. Hence, to carry out an effective paraphrasing, there is a need to equip yourself with proper skills and in-depth knowledge of a given work.
There are numerous techniques to paraphrase in an appropriate manner. In fact, thanks to technology, tools now exist to make this task easier. Have a look at the seven useful tips for paraphrasing the correct way below.
1. Read the whole content, Understand the idea
The first tip is to read the entire text. Avoid being like most people who just read the headlines of the stories and are already giving their opinion thinking they are already informed. The title is just flashy; the content is in the body of the text, so, avoid laziness. Read everything to the end. When you finish reading the text, ask yourself about the central idea of what was written. Try to separate the main ideas that were proposed by the author. If you have not understood the text, you will need to redo the exercise until you can grasp the central ideas. Ensure that your ideas become the predominant ones in the text.
2. Identify primary keywords, Write them down
The article you want to work on certainly has central themes, which you must identify and note down. These central themes you have identified with a particular keyword may be explained in such a way to pass across the main message the author of the article intended to pass across. The paraphrase can be a summary, where the reader will underline the main ideas, separate the keywords, and assemble the synopsis of the text. If you prefer the reader can also paraphrase through a review. Where you should take the central points and make positive or negative comments regarding that information and justifying each of the thoughts. It is also possible to paraphrase using diagrams. Once the central ideas of the text are found, the reader should separate the words into topics with arrows to facilitate interpretation.
3. Search the dictionary for new words
To make a good interpretation of text the reader must have a vast vocabulary. That is, a public tender can be a great differential between your work and the author’s work. If you find a word you don’t know while reading, don’t stop reading. Try to find its meaning in the general context of the sentence. At the end of the reading, search for the new word and discover its meaning. After all, the dictionaries are there to help us on these points.
4. Try to understand the text that is being proposed
Usually, when you take a text to read, the title will have the role of presenting the subject that is being treated. From the title, your pre-knowledge about the subject begins. When you start reading, the stage that we call knowledge begins. Where the reader will acquire new information and recognize knowledge that has already been presented to them.
At the end of the reading, we entered into the interpretation of the text, which is nothing more than your answer as to your understanding of the subject presented.
5. Read the text several times and slowly
Many people suffer from a lack of attention when reading. This makes it necessary to read the text several times and still fail to grasp the proposed idea.
6. Modify paragraphs, change sentence structure
We paraphrase in order to avoid our work from being flagged for plagiarism, hence, there is a need to restructure the sentence and this can be done by changing passive and active voices used in the article and also splitting and combining sentences when it is needed.
7. Make use of online paraphrasing tools, Perfect work with them
Like it was earlier mentioned, technology has led to the creation of software tools that help in rewriting and spinning articles in such a way that it appears new, passes plagiarism test and still upholds the central ideas of the original article.
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