A Guide to Paraphrasing in Research Papers
Paraphrasing is all about framing someone else’s ideas in your own words. In paraphrasing, you need to alter the words and sentence structure while the core essence and the meaning of the original text stay intact. Paraphrasing is often put forward as an alternative to quoting. In quoting, you need to put someone else’s words in quotation marks. Whereas, there is no need to put quotation marks when it comes to paraphrasing because the entire sentence structure is changed. In research papers, paraphrasing works best in the interest of the researchers and the students. However, you need to bear in mind that there are sources where you need to cite the source, even if you are paraphrasing the original text.
You also need to be careful that the words you are using must not be similar to the original text. Otherwise, there’s room for plagiarism in your text. You can use an effectual paraphrasing tool, for that matter, which will eliminate the plagiarism from the text, and your own pitch and voice will be dominant in the research papers.
Avoidance of Plagiarism
Many people often erroneously comprehend paraphrasing. They cut different parts from a passage and strings with each other make it sound natural. However, this isn’t paraphrasing; it’s a bit more complex and needs your mind’s attention. Cutting text from someone else’s work would ultimately lead you to plagiarism. If you are doing so, you would have to cite the original source and put the text in quotation marks. It is regarded as an intrusive and clumsy method of research.
Give Appropriate Credits
The original author must be given credit for the work you are replicating or paraphrasing. However, make sure that the credits must not exceed the limit; otherwise, it will look obvious that you have only relied on the work of the author. You can use a paraphrasing tool for this purpose to make your content original. There are plenty of tools that help researchers and students in writing research papers. However, even if you have completely rewritten the original text, you will still need to give appropriate credits to the source. You also need to be careful while giving out the credits, especially if you’re dealing with some science research papers. It is due to the fact that scientific experiments are more hypothetical, and there could be more strong arguments on the other end. You will need to adopt a more neutral tone while doing so.
Research Papers and Paraphrasing Tools
Paraphrasing tools can assist in writing down the research papers. If you lack time and the submission date is about to come, you will need to go for the paraphrasing tool. All you would need is to come up with the content related to the topic or subject you will write on. Afterward, you will need to paste the content in the given field of the tool. The online utility will do all the heavy lifting by altering the words and changing sentence structure. The paraphrasing tool is used by millions of students and researchers across the globe.
Quoting Vs. Paraphrasing
As discussed earlier, researchers and students often get confused about quoting and paraphrasing. There is a clear distinction between both of them. The quoting is about using an identical but narrow segment of a passage. It must match the original text word by word, and appropriate credits should be given to the source or author. In contrast, paraphrasing is about rewriting the original text in your words. However, a paraphrased content must also be attributed to the original source, but it should not contain any instances of plagiarism. The paraphrased content is a generally short form of the original text, and it is believed to be a more condensed form of the source material.
The Confinement of Paraphrasing
The issue of fair use is a lot of concern for the authors. If you are writing research papers, you can only quote a certain amount of work. However, if you add too much previously written content, then it would lead to copyright infringement. Though, no one could determine how much copyrighted material could be added. There are only some haziest guidelines about it. The situation is also quite similar to paraphrasing. The rewritten work should be only of a small proportion. If the major portion of the work is paraphrased, then there are chances that it would be called more of a derivative of the original work. It will be regarded as weak paper riding on stronger one. The original work stands on its own, and the paraphrased material shouldn’t exceed a certain amount.
Use Your Own Vocabulary
In the research papers, you will need to refer to the work of the author and, after that, add the paraphrased passages. You can use a paraphrasing tool for this purpose. The online utility will replace all the words with their relevant and contextual synonyms. If the submission date is around the corner, there won’t be enough time for you to conduct research and write the paper independently. The utility will become of great assistance in such situations.
Change Sentence Formation
There’s also a need to change the sentence formation of the original text. Otherwise, it will be considered to be a plagiarized text. Many people often limit paraphrasing by changing active sentences to passive and vice versa. However, the concerning authorities will right away detect instances of duplication in your work. Therefore, you will need to change the entire sentence formation to give a fresh look to the content. In this regard, you can also use a paraphrasing tool to generate fresh and unique content. It will save you time from writing the research papers from scratch. You will also be able to submit the work in time, even before the deadline ends.
Difference Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing
The paraphrasing of content and summarizing is more or less the same, but still, there’s the slightest difference that the researchers and students need to know about. In paraphrasing the content, you change the words and sentence formation of a text. While, when it comes to summarizing, you keep the main points of the original text and summarize them in a shorter way to give a brief idea. However, you will need to cite the source to avoid penalties from the concerning authorities in both cases.
Why do You need to Paraphrase?
There’s a need to paraphrase the content when the wording is less important than its meaning. The paraphrasing helps you build continuity in your content. It also helps you to be more specific and detail-oriented to the given topic. It also lets you simplify complex arguments, statements, and sentence formations as well. In other words, it clarifies the meaning of the original text, and the technical aspect will turn out to be easy for everyone. However, when you paraphrase a passage, make sure to avoid keeping the same structure of sentences, ideas, and words in the new work. For that reason, you can use a rewriting tool. It will generate fresh and unique content that will be free from plagiarism.
How to Cite a Paraphrase Text?
After ensuring that you have perfectly paraphrased the text, you will need to give credits to the original source. You need to paraphrase the text in the same style, no matter what citation style you are going for. Before you go for the citation process, there’s a need to check plagiarism in the content through a reliable plagiarism checker. You need to bear in mind that there is no room for plagiarism in the research papers; otherwise, the concerned authority will drop your research papers.
Bottom Line
Paraphrasing of the textual content has become an integral part of research papers these days. However, you need to be well-versed in all the dimensions of rewriting text. There’s also no room for a slightest of a mistake while writing research papers. You can afford instances of plagiarism, and that need to be tackled strategically and tactically. Paraphrasing content isn’t easy; you will have to rewrite the passages entirely but need to keep the material source’s actual meaning intact.
Moreover, if you are facing a deadline issue and need to submit the research papers on time, then an online paraphrasing utility could become your companion.
Paraphrasing is about showing that you clearly understand the meaning of a text. It will help to stay dominant in the research papers with your own voice. Whereas quotes reduce the overall readability of the text. In the last analysis, paraphrasing has become essential for the research papers, but you need to carry out the task efficiently. It is due to the fact that there is zero tolerance for duplication from the educational institute’s end. It was a detailed guide to paraphrasing in research papers. Stay tuned to the plagiarismchecker.co because we regularly post blog posts, guides, and other informational stuff for our users.
