How to Recognize Unacceptable Paraphrasing

Poor paraphrasing can lead to charges of plagiarism, as well as misinformation and rambling paragraphs. It's important to understand and recognize what constitutes unacceptable paraphrasing so that you can avoid it when you write a paper, give a speech or just tell another what someone said.

Instructions

1. Stop immediately if you find you are copying a passage word for word. Students who unintentionally plagiarize often have poor notes. They're unable to recognize that unacceptable paraphrasing uses the words that the author of the material used. This is stealing another's work, even if you attribute the ideas to the author.

2. Keep the meaning of the passage that you paraphrased. When you read something you want to use in a paper, make certain that you understand it enough to put it in your own words. If you don't understand it, you might change the meaning and have inaccurate data.

3. Write down each main idea of the passage to make sure you have an accurate paraphrase. You don't want to leave ideas out, but you should also choose passages for paraphrasing carefully.

4. Clarify what the passage really means. Pretend that you're explaining this to someone else. You need to be able to use your own words and sentence structure to convey the idea. Write down how you would explain it. Read it back and see if someone with no experience in the topic would understand it.

5. Paraphrase by simply changing a few words and you're guilty of poor paraphrasing, a form of unintentional plagiarism. While the offense is not as bad as intentional plagiarism, it is close, particularly if you didn't give the original writer credit for the work.

Tips & Warnings

• It's easier to learn to paraphrase properly and give credit to other writers than face the problems that come with the accusation of plagiarism.