What Is Paraphrasing? | Definition, Steps & Examples
Paraphrasing involves rewording information from an outside source that you’re using as evidence in your own writing. Most academic writing includes paraphrases from multiple sources to show your readers that you researched your topic thoroughly.
Paraphrasing also helps you avoid overusing quotations so that the majority of your sentences reflect your own writing voice.
However, paraphrasing incorrectly can lead to plagiarism. To paraphrase correctly, you must state the information in your own words and give credit to the source with an in-text citation.
| APA style quotation | APA style paraphrase |
|---|---|
| Haidt (2024) explained, “Experience, not information, is the key to emotional development. It is in unsupervised, child-led play where children best learn to tolerate bruises, handle their emotions, read other children’s emotions, take turns, resolve conflicts, and play fair” (p. 53). | Haidt (2024) argued that unsupervised free play is crucial for emotional development because it helps children learn how to bear minor discomforts, regulate their emotions, empathize with others, and resolve conflicts. |
What is paraphrasing?
When you paraphrase, you use your own words to describe the information in a short excerpt (e.g., one paragraph) from another source. By definition, paraphrasing includes a few essential features.
- A paraphrase has the same meaning as the sentences in the original source.
- The syntax differs from the original author’s syntax. For example, you might use fewer sentences and different sentence structures. Paraphrases are often shorter than the original passage.
- Most but not all of the word choices are different. Paraphrases include synonyms (words with the same meaning) for most of the words in the original source.
- Some words can be the same if there are no other words that have the same meaning (e.g., numbers, percentages, or technical terms).
- A paraphrase gives credit to the original source with an in-text citation. The format for in-text citations varies according to the style you’re using to cite sources (e.g., APA, MLA, or Chicago style).
| Original passage | MLA-style paraphrase |
|---|---|
| In early August, Janis departed on what became her last tour, which kicked off with a triumphant return to New York, performing to fifteen thousand at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. | Janis Joplin’s final tour began in August, 1970 with a concert for 15,000 attendees at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York (George-Warren 303). |
Summarizing vs paraphrasing
A paraphrase focuses on rewording a small excerpt of an outside source. A summary is a synopsis of the main idea and key points of the entire source.
Summarizing and paraphrasing also have different purposes:
- A paraphrase provides evidence (usually in a body paragraph) that supports your main argument or main idea. Paraphrasing shows readers that your main idea is substantiated by experts.
- A summary provides context about why the source is relevant and what it’s mostly about. Summarizing is useful in introductions for literary analysis or rhetorical analysis essays. It’s also an essential aspect of annotated bibliographies and literature reviews.
| APA style summary | APA style paraphrase |
|---|---|
| In The Anxious Generation, Haidt (2024) described several of the ways in which a phone-based childhood resulted in a mental health epidemic and provided several strategies that caregivers, policymakers, and schools can implement to promote a play-based childhood. | Haidt (2024) urged cities and towns to implement more playgrounds and other infrastructure to improve children’s ability to interact and mingle face-to-face rather than online. |
How to paraphrase correctly
Paraphrasing correctly to avoid plagiarism involves a few important steps:
- Review the sentences you want to paraphrase in the original source to make sure you understand what they mean.
- Write a draft of your paraphrase without looking at the original source.
- Compare your paraphrase with the original source to ensure that your syntax and word choices are different from the original source. Use sentence structures that are different from the original source. For example, if the author uses a complex sentence, consider using a compound sentence instead. Replace identical words with synonyms (different words that have the same meaning).
- Review the original source again to confirm that your paraphrase is accurate. It should have the same meaning as the original source even though your wording is different.
- Add an in-text citation. Minimally, this should include an author’s last name (or the name of an organization for sources with organizational authors). Depending on the citation style you’re using, your in-text citations may need a year of publication, a page number, or other elements.
| Original passage | Incorrect paraphrase | Correct paraphrase |
|---|---|---|
| People tend to think of paleontology as a field-based discipline, focusing on the romantic allure of summers spent in remote desert locales with pickaxe in hand, collecting fossils of long-extinct animals new to science. But these days paleontologists are just as likely to make their most significant discoveries in the laboratory using cutting-edge technologies from biomedicine and neuroscience. | People might consider paleontology as a hands-in discipline, focusing on a romanticized vision of warm, dry locations with pickaxe in hand, gathering fossils of animals that have been extinct for a long time. However, nowadays, paleontologists are just as probable to make their most important discoveries in the laboratory using the latest and greatest technologies from neuroscience and biomedicine. | Balanoff and Kspeka (2024) explained that despite popular belief that paleontology always involves gathering fossils on location, many of the most important discoveries take place in the laboratory, where paleontologists use neuroscience and biomedicine to learn about dinosaurs’ abilities and behaviors. |
In the above correct example, the writer cited the source and used sentence structures and word choices that differed from the original passage.
The QuillBot Paraphrasing Tool will reword an excerpt from the original source, which you can then adjust to your own writing style. Our Citation Generator can instantly generate accurate citations for your paraphrases in APA, MLA, Chicago, or other citation styles.
How to cite a paraphrase
Anytime you paraphrase information from another source, you must include an in-text citation to show where the information came from. The information in each in-text citation varies according to the citation style you’re using.
The three most common citation formats are APA, MLA, and Chicago Author-Date.
For each style, there are two types of in-text citations: narrative and parenthetical.
- Narrative in-text citations use the author’s last name in the narrative of the sentence, usually with a signal phrase (e.g., “According to Jones”).
- Parenthetical in-text citations go at the end of the sentence in parentheses, like this APA example: (Vandolet, 2022). The period that ends the sentence always goes after the parenthetical citation.
How to paraphrase APA
APA in-text citations should include the author’s last name and year of publication. If a source has two authors, use both authors’ last names. If a source has three or more authors, use the first author’s last name and “et al.” before the year.
A page number is optional for paraphrases but only required for quotations.
For APA narrative citations, the author does not go in parenthesis because it’s part of the narrative of the sentence. The year goes in parentheses right after the author’s last name. Use past-tense for signal phrase verbs in APA writing (e.g., “explained” or “found”). If you cite the page number, place it in parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period.
In APA parenthetical citations, the author, year, and if applicable, the page should go at the end of the sentence in parentheses before the period. Place a comma between the author, year, and if applicable, the page number: (Murphy & Watkins, 2017, p. 43).
How to paraphrase MLA
As a general rule, MLA in-text citations for paraphrases need an author and a page number or other locator information. If the source has two authors, use both of their names. For sources with three or more authors, use the first author’s name with “et al.”
If a source doesn’t have numbered pages or paragraphs (or other locator information), you only need to cite the author. For example, MLA citations for websites often only cite the author.
In MLA narrative citations, include the author’s name in the narrative of the sentence with a present-tense verb (e.g., “explains” or “writes”). The first time you cite the source, use the author’s full name. At the end of the sentence, place the page number in parentheses before the period. Do not include “p” before the page number.
Source without locator information: Risa Gelles-Watnick explains that 90% of adults in the U.S. have a smartphone, and 80% have high-speed internet at home.
In MLA parenthetical citations, include the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence without any punctuation or other information, like this example: (Kramer 58).
Source without locator information: Adolescents 15 years and older spend almost twice as much time online as younger teens (Vogels et al.)
How to paraphrase Chicago style
The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) includes guidelines for two types of citation formats: Notes-bibliography and author-date.
The Chicago notes-bibliography format involves placing a superscripted number at the end of the paraphrase.
This number corresponds to a footnote at the bottom of the page with bibliographic details about the source. The footnote includes the author’s name and title along with other details depending on the type of source (e.g., book or journal article).
The Chicago author-date format uses narrative and parenthetical in-text citations that are more similar to APA and MLA. Author-date citations for paraphrases require the author, year, and page number. For sources with two authors, use both names. For sources with three or more authors, use the first author’s name with “et al.”
For web pages and other sources without numbered pages, you can usually cite the author and year only.
In Chicago author-date narrative citations, the year goes in parentheses right after the author’s last name. Use present tense for signal phrase verbs (e.g., “explains”). Place the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period. Do not use “p” before the page number, like so: (22).
Source without locator information: Dockterman (2024) explains that Megalopolis actors were given the opportunity to workshop their characters and modify the script before they began filming.
In Chicago author-date parenthetical citations, include the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number together in one parentheses, like this example: (Benes 2016, 91). Only place a comma between the year and page number.
Source without locator information: The Marvel studio started making fewer films each year to focus on quality over quantity (Dockterman 2024).
Frequently asked questions about paraphrasing
- What is paraphrasing plagiarism?
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Paraphrasing plagiarism happens when someone paraphrases an outside source in a piece of writing without giving credit to the original source.
When you paraphrase ideas from outside sources in your own words, you must show where that information came from in order to avoid plagiarism. Sentences that have paraphrased information should include in-text citations.
An in-text citation includes the author’s name at a minimum, and depending on the citation style you’re using, it might include other elements such as a year of publication or a page number.
For example, APA in-text citations for paraphrases should include the author and year of publication.
Paraphrasing plagiarism example - According to a recent survey, nearly half of dog owners in the U.S. said that they are unlikely to purchase pet insurance in the near future.
- According to Megna (2024), nearly half of dog owners in the U.S. said that they are unlikely to purchase pet insurance in the near future.
You can avoid paraphrasing plagiarism by using QuillBot’s free Plagiarism Checker to look for paraphrases in your writing that need citations.
- How can I paraphrase a source without plagiarizing?
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You can paraphrase a source without plagiarizing by following both of these steps.
- Write the information in your own words without using the same phrases and sentences from the original source.
- Give credit to the source you paraphrased with an in-text citation. For example, APA citations for paraphrases should include the author and year of publication.
Paraphrase a source without plagiarizing example Sentences from the original source: Approximately 63 percent of survey participants from Generation Z (born in 2000 or later) stated that they do not drink coffee at all.APA style paraphrase: According to Ridder (2023), almost two-thirds of adults born after 2000 reported that they never drink coffee.
If you need help paraphrasing a source without plagiarizing, QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can reword excerpts from outside sources. QuillBot’s free Plagiarism Checker will help you find paraphrases in your writing that need in-text citations.
- When should you paraphrase information instead of using a direct quote?
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You should paraphrase information instead of using a direct quote when the information that you’re sharing with your readers is more important than the original source’s style of writing.
Use paraphrases to share facts and statistics from outside sources. In this situation, the original author’s wording is less important than the information. Paraphrasing helps you maintain your own writing voice.
Use direct quotes from outside sources in these situations:
- When the information is worded so creatively that you can’t express the author’s full intended meaning by paraphrasing
- When your purpose is to analyze another piece of writing (e.g., a poem or novel), in which case, direct quotes are evidence of the writer’s style, word choices, or use of literary devices
Whether you paraphrase or quote another writer’s ideas, use in-text citations to avoid plagiarism.
QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you create in-text citations for direct quotes and paraphrases.
- Do you have to cite a paraphrase?
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You always have to cite a paraphrase in order to avoid plagiarism.
An in-text citation helps your readers differentiate between your original ideas and other writers’ ideas.
The format for in-text citations varies by each citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, or Chicago). In MLA writing, in-text citations should include the author’s last name and the page number where the information is located in the original source.
Citing a paraphrase MLA example In the summer of 1970, Janis Joplin participated in a train tour across Canada that was called the Transcontinental Pop Festival and included over a dozen musical acts (George-Warren 298).QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you cite a paraphrase in your writing.
- What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?
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The main difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is that paraphrasing involves rewording part of an outside source, but summarizing involves describing what an entire source is mainly about.
A paraphrase rephrases a specific fact, statistic, or idea from an outside source that you’re using as evidence in academic writing.
A summary is a synopsis that describes the main topic and key points of a complete text (e.g., an article) in order to give your readers context about why the source is significant. Summaries are common in literature reviews and annotated bibliographies.
To avoid plagiarism, use your own words anytime you paraphrase or summarize another person’s work in your writing, and give credit to the original source with a signal phrase or an in-text citation.
If you need help with paraphrasing and summarizing, QuillBot’s free Paraphrasing Tool can reword ideas from another source. QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can also help you create in-text citations.
