paraphrasing examples middle school

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Teaching Students to Paraphrase

Ideas for scaffolding paraphrasing so that students correctly learn this valuable but difficult-to-master skill.

A teacher helping her middle school student with her writing

When discussing text in the classroom, it’s tough for students to shift from utilizing an author’s words (copying) to accepting the challenge to express that author’s idea in their own words (paraphrasing).

But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills : It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text. The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the appropriate words to reshape a sentence, but that is time well spent.

We also need to teach paraphrasing, of course, so that students develop the skill set required to avoid committing plagiarism unintentionally .

Student Tools

One way to support students is to make them aware of tools that may help when they’re paraphrasing. Think of these as training wheels—students won’t use them forever.

Academic Phrasebank : Ready-made phrases help students organize their sentences when they paraphrase. The site provides sentence starters for defining ideas, comparing and contrasting ideas, describing cause and effect, and explaining evidence to support statements.

For instance, if a student were paraphrasing vocabulary word X, they would be able to find sentence starters such as “The word X encompasses...,” “The word X is challenging to define because...,” and “The word X is intended to....”

Ashford University Writing Center : This website has a five-item quiz to review the paraphrasing process. It allows students to identify examples and non-examples of paraphrasing for a given text.

When examining non-examples, students are shown how replacing or rearranging words is akin to copying and pasting on a computer. Students see examples of effective paraphrasing, including a change of sentence structure or personal elaboration combined with limited quoted information.

Tone Analyzer : This tool allows students to enter a brief sample from a text and receive an analysis of the tone. When using this tool, students can request an assessment of whether the text illustrates anger, joy, sadness, etc. In addition to these emotions, the website includes language descriptors such as confident (used to describe texts that use active voice and/or words such as will , must , etc.) or tentative (texts with words such as seems , appears , might , etc.). This tool is useful in helping students successfully align the tone of their paraphrased material with the tone of the original text.

Student Self-Check Prompts

Students should outgrow the tools above, and teachers can encourage that growth by showing them how to monitor their own progress with paraphrasing. Students can self-check to determine how on track with paraphrasing they are by asking themselves these questions:

Can I identify elements of the text that are most significant (and thus appropriate to preserve) when I put it in my own words?
Can I recite elements of the text from memory in order to prepare to put it into my own words?
How can I adjust the sentence structure to preserve the meaning of the text?

Student Cautions

Because the journey to paraphrasing may involve a few hiccups, it’s a good idea to identify potential student challenges. When paraphrasing, remind students that they should:

Attempt to describe the text in their own words gradually, one component at a time (thanks to Doug Lemov and Maggie Johnson for this close reading strategy). For instance, they might first use their own words to describe significant phrases in the reading, and then make an effort to explain one or two key sentences, and finally attempt to paraphrase an entire paragraph.
Monitor the similarities between the text and the paraphrase. For instance, after describing specific sentences or paragraphs, they should note how many words are shared. Instead of using the same words as the author, focus on mirroring the same main idea. The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale offers easy-to-follow models for how to achieve this.
Ensure that there is a sufficient number of word substitutions in the paraphrased material. (Substituting only a couple of words could constitute plagiarism.) Students should focus on changing the structure of the sentence . This may involve converting a simple sentence to a compound sentence or adding a prepositional phrase.
Avoid adjusting special language (acronyms, figurative language, jargon, etc.). These kinds of terms are considered common knowledge, so using them in a paraphrase doesn’t constitute plagiarism. Resources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab can help students figure out whether a particular term is common knowledge.

Teachers can push students to move beyond copying by encouraging them to see paraphrasing as the go-to reading response. When we equip students with needed resources, we make student voice the rule instead of the exception.

I Used My Own Words! Paraphrasing Informational Texts

Resources & Preparation
Instructional Plan
Related Resources

Paraphrasing helps students make connections with prior knowledge, demonstrate comprehension, and remember what they have read. Through careful explanation and thorough modeling by the teacher in this lesson, students learn to use paraphrasing to monitor their comprehension and acquire new information. They also realize that if they cannot paraphrase after reading, they need to go back and reread to clarify information. In pairs, students engage in guided practice so that they can learn to use the strategy independently. Students will need prompting and encouragement to use this strategy after the initial instruction is completed. The lesson can be extended to help students prepare to write reports about particular topics.

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From Theory to Practice

Paraphrasing helps readers monitor their comprehension.
Paraphrasing encourages readers to make connections with prior knowledge.
Paraphrasing helps readers remember what they have read.
In effective strategy instruction, the teacher explains the purpose of the strategy, how to use it, and when and where to use it
In effective strategy instruction, the teacher models strategy use for students and provides guided practice before expecting students to use the strategy independently.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

Materials and Technology

Computers with Internet access
Whiteboard (or overhead) for projection of text and shared writing
Print or digital texts on instructional levels of students in the class
Individual copies of texts (if computers are not available)

Preparation

1.	Visit the listed websites so that you are familiar with their organization and content. Bookmark these on your classroom computers.
2.	If all students do not have access to computers, print the texts that you will be using from the websites.
3.	For students to be able to paraphrase effectively, material should be on instructional (or independent) level. This will mean that you may have to have various texts, either print or digital, available to match the instructional levels of your students.

Student Objectives

Students will

Demonstrate comprehension by paraphrasing facts from informational texts
Gain knowledge and apply what they have learned about paraphrasing by reading information about three unusual animals

Session 1: Introduction of Paraphrasing

Use the following explanations when introducing paraphrasing to students:

a.	Paraphrasing means putting what you have read into your own words.
b.	You paraphrase by reading something, thinking about what it means, and then restating it in your own words.
c.	Paraphrasing is a useful strategy to check to be sure that you have understood when reading something difficult or something that is important to remember.
d.	If you cannot paraphrase after reading, it is important to go back and reread to clarify information.

Session 2: Review and Guided Practice With Paraphrasing

1.	Review what paraphrasing is, how to do it, when to do it, and why it is important. This can be a brief review reminding students of what they have already learned.
2.	Ask students what they know about the anaconda. Record their responses on the whiteboard. Direct them to look at the information about the anaconda from the website on the first screen. After everyone has had an opportunity to read the text with the first photograph, think aloud as you paraphrase it. You might say, "Okay, I'm going to paraphrase this first paragraph by putting it in my own words. Remember that I do that to make sure that I have understood it and to help me remember the information. Let's see, the green anaconda is bigger than all other snakes in the world if you think about how long it is and how much it weighs. That must mean that some snakes are longer but don't weigh as much, and some snakes may weigh that much but aren't as long." Again, if you believe the length and weight are important, you could add: "It's 30 feet long and weighs 550 pounds."
3.	Go to the second screen about the anaconda, and invite students to paraphrase it with you. You may want to write the paraphrase on the whiteboard. A possible paraphrase would be "The anaconda would be as long as 5 kids lying head to foot and would weigh as much as 11 kids all together. If you tried to reach around it, it would be like reaching around a man. There are other snakes like it that are big, too."
4.	If students seem to get the idea of paraphrasing, ask them to get into pairs, go to the subsequent screens about the anaconda, read each of them, and paraphrase together. Walk around the classroom, checking the paraphrasing of each pair and providing support if needed.
5.	If students are having difficulty, provide more guided practice as an entire group or group students who need more help into a small group and give more guided practice through the additional 10 screens about the anaconda.
6.	At the end of the session, ask students to write what they have learned about the anaconda without referring to the computer screens. Ask if they remember more because they took time to paraphrase. Take the writing from them to check for content and whether they have used their own words.

Session 3: Review and Guided Practice With Paraphrasing

1.	Remind students what paraphrasing is, how to do it, when to do it, and why it is useful. This explanation should be brief.
2.	Tell students that you are going to use paraphrasing to find out more about another animal that may not be well-known to them. Show a picture of the echidna from the website, and ask students if they know what the animal is. Discuss what they already know about the echidna or what they could guess from looking at its picture. List the information on the whiteboard.
3.	Read the first paragraph about the echidna together. This text is more difficult than the texts about the okapi and the anaconda, so you can use it to model your thought process as if you did not understand on the first read. Think aloud, modeling what you would do if you did not remember or understand what was in the paragraph and then reread. For example, you might say, "Okay, I'm going to put this into my own words so I can be sure I have understood it and can remember it. The echidna has a long tongue and it has spines. Uh-oh, that's all I remember; there was something about curling inside, but I don't remember what. I'd better read it again!" Reread and then start again, "The echidna has a narrow nose and long tongue to catch insects. Its spines protect it from enemies, and it curls up when it's scared."
4.	Have students read in pairs and paraphrase subsequent paragraphs about the echidna. For each paragraph, have both students read the paragraph. As one student paraphrases, the other student checks for "using your own words" and remembering the points in the paragraph. As pairs of students are practicing, listen to them to be certain that they have the idea. If there are some students who are having trouble, gather them into a small group and provide more guidance for their practice.
5.	At the end of the session, ask students to write what they now know about the echidna without referring to the computer screens. Collect their writing to check to be sure that they have used their own words and that they have understood the information correctly.

Session 4: Review and Independent Practice With Paraphrasing

1.	Ask students what paraphrasing is, how to do it, when to do it, and why it is useful. If one student responds, repeat the explanation so that all students understand.
2.	Explain to students that they have practiced paraphrasing as a way to monitor whether they have understood what they are reading and as a way to help them remember what they read. In this session, students will read and paraphrase independently. At the end of the session, they will share what they have learned with the other students.
3.	At the website, each student will choose an animal to read about. If all students do not have access to a computer at the same time, you can print the information ahead of time and have students read the hard copy. Or, if students have access to computers but not all at the same time in the classroom, you can ask them to complete this assignment when their turn at the computer comes. You could also have students work in pairs if there isn't enough time for each of them to have a turn at the computer.
4.	Students will read the text about an animal of their choice, paraphrase as they read, and write down what they have learned. Remind students not to write until they have orally (or silently) paraphrased the information. At the end of the session, students can share their information either in small groups or with the entire class. Take the written information from students to check both accuracy and that they have used their own words.

Paraphrasing is a good way to prepare students to write written reports. When students put information into their own words, they are not copying directly from a text. After the previous four sessions, a possible extension would be to identify another topic (such as countries, planets, plants), have students brainstorm what kind of questions would be interesting to answer about these, assign print materials or websites for students to read and paraphrase, take notes to answer the questions, and prepare written reports. These would be more formal than the quick writes that were done in the paraphrasing sessions.

Student Assessment / Reflections

Throughout the sessions, when students are working in pairs or independently, make note of whether or not they are using their own words in paraphrasing. Be ready to intervene with additional modeling and practice if students are having difficulty paraphrasing.
The quick writes at the end of the sessions should be collected to see whether students are using their own words, whether they have understood the text they read, and what information they have learned about the animals. Compare the prior knowledge that you assessed at the beginning of each session with the information included in the quick writes to see what new information has been learned.

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Paraphrasing involves rephrasing the words of others to convey the same meaning in a new and original way. It’s an important skill to develop for writing essays, research papers, and for understanding complex texts. We work on a wide variety of skills including:

Passages to Paraphrase – These include short passages that students are asked to paraphrase. This helps students practice putting ideas into their own words.

Comparing Paraphrases – Students might be given an original passage and several paraphrased versions, and asked to identify the best paraphrase. This can help students understand what makes a good paraphrase.

Paraphrase and Original Side by Side – These include an original text and a paraphrase side by side, asking students to identify the similarities and differences. This can help students understand how to maintain the original meaning while changing the wording.

Originality Awareness – The focus here is on distinguishing between paraphrasing and plagiarism, teaching students the importance of changing the structure and words of the original text significantly, and of giving credit to the original source.

What Are the 3 Ways of Paraphrasing?

Here are three common techniques for paraphrasing:

1. Change the Word Order

Changing the sentence structure can be an effective way to paraphrase. Be careful to ensure that the new sentence still accurately represents the original meaning.

2. Use Synonyms

Replace words with their synonyms, but be careful about the words that have no exact synonym or whose meanings vary based on context. Always double-check to make sure that the synonyms fit the context and preserve the original meaning.

3. Change the Voice

If the sentence is in active voice, you can change it to passive voice, and vice versa. However, you should use this method judiciously as overuse of the passive voice can make your writing seem weak or awkward.

Let’s take an example sentence to illustrate these techniques:

Original sentence: “The cat chased the mouse.”

Change the Word Order: “The mouse was chased by the cat.”

Use Synonyms: “The feline pursued the rodent.”

Change the Voice: “The mouse was being chased by the cat.”

Remember, even when you paraphrase, you must provide appropriate citation. Paraphrasing is not just about changing words but about fully understanding and conveying the original idea in your own style. Even if you’ve put the idea into your own words, it’s still someone else’s idea, so it’s important to give credit where it’s due.

What Are the 5 Steps of Paraphrasing?

Step 1: Read and Understand the Original Text

First, thoroughly read the original text to ensure you fully understand the meaning. You might need to read difficult or complex texts several times before you grasp the core idea.

Step 2: Identify the Main Ideas

Once you understand the text, identify the main ideas that you want to include in your paraphrase. This step might involve taking notes or highlighting key points in the text.

Step 3: Write Without Looking at the Original

Put the original text aside and write the paraphrase in your own words. This helps to ensure that you’re not just substituting words with synonyms but truly expressing the idea in a new way.

Step 4: Compare With the Original

After writing, compare your paraphrase with the original text. Make sure you have accurately represented the main ideas and details, and that your paraphrase is significantly different from the original. Check that you haven’t inadvertently used the same phrases or sentence structures.

Step 5: Cite the Source

Even though you are paraphrasing, the ideas are still someone else’s, so it’s important to appropriately cite the source of the information. The citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) you use will depend on the academic discipline or the preference of your instructor or institution.

Musing From The Middle School

Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

September 21, 2014 by jwyks 12 Comments

This year, I decided to teach this skill over a few days at the beginning of the year. I’ve never taught it like this before. I usually wait until I move into nonfiction and argument writing and then I mention the difference in the three, but I never teach it as its own lesson. However, this year I thought maybe knowing how to do each of these early on would help as we start working on answering open-ended questions.

Next, I had the kids read some short articles (I used some old Time for Kids magazines) and answer some simple, “right there” questions using either a quote, summary, or paraphrase to support their thinking. I am hoping that teaching this strategy early on will pay off. Often, I have students (usually my struggling learners) who will copy an entire paragraph from a text because they think they are supporting their answer. Typically, they don’t use transitions and their answers come out disjointed and confusing and LONG!

Do you teach this skill as its own lesson? How’s it work for you?

Happy Teaching!!

Reader Interactions

July 21, 2015 at 8:57 am

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November 13, 2015 at 5:54 am

July 5, 2016 at 7:26 am

September 5, 2016 at 8:27 am

Thanks! I will definitly try it with my little students! They like colorful and bright things, so I think it is a great way to teach them about summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting. Also, I have a question for you! How do I teach my students that services like this one aren't good for them?

January 23, 2017 at 12:07 pm

Well thought content impressed me! I am glad to check out sharing information and accordingly meet with the demands paraphrase mla format

July 25, 2017 at 4:57 am

Microsoft Office and IE integration. You can integrate Summarizer into your favorite applications and summarize texts with one click without switching the windows. more

July 25, 2017 at 11:37 am

Key study skills for summarizing are skimming and scanning. Honing these skills will take practice but with the right strategies and orientation you will be summarizing quickly and effectively in no time. homepage

August 18, 2017 at 4:31 am

I have helped graduate students edit essays, analysis papers, dissertations, and alternative graduate-level papers. the foremost common drawback I actually have found once writing graduate papers is that the lack of transitions. homepage

January 3, 2018 at 3:43 pm

Thanks for sharing.

October 14, 2018 at 12:55 am

October 14, 2018 at 12:56 am

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In Your Own Words: 5 Ideas for Teaching Paraphrasing

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by Jessica Madsen 96,150 views

will often find themselves reminding students to put things “in their own words”, but for many students, this is not a simple task, and they will need thorough practice before it becomes an accessible skill. Before students can begin to paraphrase with ease, they need to understand the purpose for doing so, and develop strategies for making it happen.

It’s crucial that students understand why source attribution is so important in Western culture: we want to give others credit for their ideas when we share them. Some English as a Second Language students may come from cultural backgrounds that value shared information in a different way; in fact, often times, the use of others’ ideas can actually be seen as a sign of respect in some collectivist cultures. In some instances, there are no conventions for including citations in place.

and quoting sources. is used similarly to paraphrasing, and teaching these two writing techniques together can highlight the similarities and differences for students, hopefully, resulting in a greater understanding of how to properly use each technique to incorporate information from outside sources.

While paraphrasing is typically taught as a , students may benefit from exposure to it in a less formal way first. Paraphrasing comes naturally in speaking; we do it almost every day without realizing it. By engaging students in a casual and fun game of telephone, you can help them to connect paraphrasing to real life. Have students sit in a circle; the teacher can start the game by whispering a short, silly message to the student next to him. That student passes the message along to the next and so on. By the time the message has made its way around the circle, it will likely have changed into something completely different than the original. This is fun way to show students how easily information can get “lost” if we aren’t extremely careful with how we “pass it along”.

The second group can give it to a third group, and so on. The activity can get time-consuming, and three rounds of paraphrasing should be sufficient. At the end of the activity, the class can compare the final paraphrase with the original and check to see if the meaning of the original has remained intact. If the meaning varies greatly, it’s important to direct students to review the progression as the paraphrase was forwarded to each group. This will help to illustrate errors, which can be used as a valuable opportunity for learning.

Arming student with different strategies is essential, and helping students to think of paraphrasing as a task similar to the way they would simply is essential. An instructor needs to provide ample opportunity for students to engage in structured practice that allows them to develop a variety of strategies and then put them together.

Teachers can aid the process by making sure that the purpose and technique of paraphrasing is clearly understood, and providing well-structured activities for guided practice.

If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.

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20 Summarization Activities For Middle School: Videos, Worksheets, Games, And Tips

February 28, 2024 // by Michelle Mandel

We can all remember when the teacher gave us a text, and we were asked to read it and summarize it in our own words. At first, we thought that was a piece of cake, but as we sat down to do it, our minds wandered and we found ourselves distracted by anything that moved.

Here are some activities, tips, and tricks to help your middle school student understand reading for gist and basic writing skills.

1. Summary Structure Cheer

“RBIWC, RBIWC” Don’t worry, the chanting will all make sense. Teach your middle school students this Chant / Cheer to help them remember the basic rules of summarization.

Give me an R for Reading

Give me a B for Break it down

Give me an I for Identify KP( Key Points )

Give me a W for writing the summary

Give me a C for check your work against the article

Learn More: Teach Heath

2. Somebody Wanted Something But So Then What?

This method of summarising is an amazingly simple way for your kiddos to remember what this skill is all about! They’ll cover; “somebody” = who / Describe the character(s),

“wanted”= what did they want or need, “but” = what was the obstacle or problem they faced, “so” = then what happened as a consequence, and finally “then” = the ending.

Learn More: YouTube

3. The 4 Ws

The 4 Ws strategy is a summarization technique that’ll simplify the process of note-taking for your students. With this technique, you’ll encourage them to use the words “Who?”, “Where?”, “What?”, and “When?” to simplify and prompt their method of summarizing vast amounts of information. This exercise works best when they’re working with sources such as books, news articles, or historical events.

Learn More: Sign Now

4. Who wants to be a MILLIONAIRE in Summarizing

This is such a fun game students can do on and offline. Use different texts and four simple answers to help summarize the text. Can your students choose the right answer and move up towards the million-dollar question? Have students come up with their own questions to play.

Learn More: Quia

5. Reading is the rule.

If you want to be good at summarizing, you will need to pick up a book or a magazine and start reading. 5-8 minutes a day will get your brain power moving, and if you want, you can even try to summarize a picture book if you are up for the challenge. How about reading 1,000 words and doing a PowerPoint slideshow teaching students how to summarize 1,000 words?

Learn More: WikiHow

6. Who doesn’t love to doodle?

Get out your paper and pens and it is time to read and doodle or draw. That’s right, I did not say read and write! Your middle schoolers will fall in love with this activity and it is a great laugh. They will come up with silly details to share. Give them a text to summarize but 50% must be drawn in pictures or symbols. They can only use 50 % in the text. It is a great activity and laughter is the best way to enjoy language. Use Doodle note templates in class and have a blast!

Learn More: Redesign

7. Shake it up with Shakespeare’s Comic Summaries

Creative strategies are always necessary to have on hand and your students can have fun in the English classroom with what you would think would be a difficult task, but with these fiction passages transformed into a comic, it makes it fun and teens can accomplish the task with ease.

Learn More: Teaching In Room 6 & Plasq

8. Eight is great when it comes to summarizing

Many think they are not capable of writing but without the know-how of how to write a good summary. It’s like diving into the deep end if you’re not a good swimmer. Learn how to stay afloat with 8 steps in Summarizing. This background knowledge will help you improve your sentence structures and ideas.

This is a fantastic opportunity for students to watch, write and learn. Eighth-grade students will love the autonomy of this project: Just watch, write and learn. This link has additional resources to guide you in the learning process too!

Learn More: Issuu

9. Time to get organized

Graphic organizers are a charm when learning how to write or summarize with these printable worksheets your middle school and teens will write away. If you print the different worksheets on colored paper they will take home a rainbow of homework and do creative writing on their own .

Get them used to Fiction Summary / Story Summary / Plot Summary / Sequence Summary all of the lingo that goes with writing. They can practice passages easily with these resources. Can be used as a simple review activity or more a long-term project.

Learn More: Lit in Focus

10. “What if” I learned how to Summarize this poem by Shel Silverstein.

This is a classic poem to use for middle school students. This poem can be used in a Theme unit and you can get the printable version of the poem. Students read the poem, discuss it and then work in pairs or individually to summarize it. Share with others in a class blog post.

Learn More: YA Class & Shel Silverstein

11. Arts and Crafts in language – how is that possible?

We all know that arts and crafts teach specific skills, one being reflection, which is crucial to summarizing texts. If a student is able to create a piece of art and write about it. Then explain their ideas to the reader. What is behind the art and what does he or she want to transmit, as well as what is the actual picture about.

This project really explores the possibilities of mixing both mediums.

Learn More: Learn English British Council

12. Be Foxy with Boardgames to help you write.

Table games are so cool! We all love to play them. These games can be educational and can inspire young minds to write and summarize better. Check out these games and have a great time inside and outside of the classroom. When we have fun, we learn!

Learn More: The John Fox

13. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Apples to apples is a great game to play and you can even make it yourself with your students. All ages love this board game and it is a great learning tool for sentence writing and summarizing. This is a gem to help with writing lessons.

Learn More: Teaching With TLC

14. Paraphrasing Pupils

Paraphrasing is the key to learning how to summarize. If we teach our children how to paraphrase correctly, they will be strong in writing once they get to high school. Let’s use some prep lessons to be proficient in paraphrasing with some fun activities. Teach them how to reword, rearrange, realize and recheck. The 4R’s to write.

Learn More: Minds In Bloom

15. Quiz Time

With these fun quizzes, you can revise the basics of summarizing and language points that are necessary. There is a video followed by multiple-choice questions that can be done in groups or individually.

Learn More: TES

16. Watch and Write

Watch a clip, think about it, and now get down to summarizing it. Prepare the clip, and tell them what is their mission. Pause often – get them to contemplate, watch it again, and now summarize it in pair work.

Learn More: KQ ED

17. #Hashtag help with summaries

In class you see their heads all nodding yes, that they understand but 50% of the time it is not true. They need lots of help and activities for summarizing to sink in.

Learn More: Too Cool For Middle School

18. Go back in time

Reading is fun and especially if you read some simple stories for middle school students.

Have your students choose a simple book that is 2 grades lower than their reading level and write a summary about it and present it to the class.

Learn More: Scattered Books

19. The middle school students are teachers for the week.

Have your middle school students learn how to teach 1st-4th grades how to summarize with simple words. They get to take the place of the teacher and prepare a presentation with activities.

Learn More: This Reading Mama

20. Do you speak TAMKO?

This is a fantastic strategy to help students summarize nonfiction.

T= What type of text is it

A= Author and Action

M=Main Topic

K= Key Details

O= Organization

This is a great website filled with loads of resources to help your students learn how to summarize nonfiction well.

Learn More: Stellar Teacher

Welcome to the new OASIS website! We have academic skills, library skills, math and statistics support, and writing resources all together in one new home.

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Using Evidence: Examples of Paraphrasing

Examples of paraphrasing.

Here is the original source an author might use in a paper:

Differentiation as an instructional approach promotes a balance between a student's style and a student's ability. Differentiated instruction provides the student with options for processing and internalizing the content, and for constructing new learning in order to progress academically.

Here is an example of bad paraphrasing of the source. Even though the student is citing correctly, underlined words are simply synonyms of words used in the original source. You can also see how the sentence structure is the same for both the original source and this paraphrase.

Differentiation is a way to encourage equality between the approach and talent of the student (Thompson, 2009). This type of instruction gives students different ways to deal with and grasp information , and for establishing new learning to move on in education (Thompson, 2009).

Here is an example of a better way to paraphrase the source. In this example, the author has taken the essential ideas and information from the original source, but has worded it in her own way, using unique word choice and sentence structure. The author has condensed Thompson's (2009) information, including what is relevant to her paper, but leaving out extra details that she does not needed.

Teachers use differentiated instruction to help students learn, allowing the teacher to cater lessons to the way each student learns and each student's skill (Thompson, 2009).

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How to Paraphrase in 5 Simple Steps (Without Plagiarizing)

By Krystal N. Craiker

Paraphrasing is a tricky balance between using your own words and still getting the original message across.

Understanding what paraphrasing is, and how to do it well, takes the challenge out of paraphrasing and makes it a more user-friendly skill.

What Is Paraphrasing?

How to paraphrase in 5 easy steps, paraphrasing different types of content, paraphrasing examples, want to improve your essay writing skills.

The word paraphrase can be used as a noun or a verb .

A paraphrase (noun) is a restatement of someone else’s words into other words . If you’re reading a paraphrase, you’re reading someone else’s rephrasing of the original.

To paraphrase (verb) is the act of rephrasing a statement into your own words . When you paraphrase, you are essentially borrowing someone else’s ideas and putting them into your own words. Since you’re borrowing and not creating those ideas, be certain to give credit to the original source.

Paraphrasing vs. Plagiarism

Plagiarism is when you steal someone’s words or ideas. Some people think that it’s only plagiarizing when you use the exact words.

Paraphrasing isn’t a way to steal someone’s ideas by putting it in your own words. If you’re paraphrasing someone else’s ideas, you must give them credit.

If you don’t acknowledge that source, you’ve plagiarized, which has serious ethical, and even legal, implications.

ProWritingAid can help you keep your work plagiarism-free with its plagiarism checker , and will never store or resell your work as some other plagiarism checking services sometimes do.

How to Paraphrase Properly

Why paraphrase when you could just use direct quotations? Direct quotes in academic writing and research papers do not demonstrate that you understand the original material.

Proper paraphrasing doesn’t mean rewriting the original passage word for word. It’s more than just pulling out a thesaurus. You are rewriting the ideas in your own words.

Just as you would provide the source of a direct quote, provide the source of paraphrased information according to whatever style guide you’re following (e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) or by including the source within the paraphrase itself.

Typically, you’ll use an in-text citation alongside your paraphrased text, but sometimes you may use footnotes or endnotes.

When you use a direct quotation, it’s important to put the original passage or statement in quotation marks. But paraphrased text does not require quotation marks.

Paraphrasing is translating someone else’s words into your words. If you were to translate a sentence from one language into another going word-by-word, you’d end up with nonsense.

The same thing happens when you paraphrase. You’re performing a translation of sorts.

If you try to translate each word, you’ll end up with a paraphrase that reads more like a “word salad” than an intelligent rephrasing.

Why? When you isolate words, you take them out of their context.

The meaning of a word can change based on its context, so respect that context. Keep ideas whole to keep the original meanings intact.

Here’s what it looks like when you translate word for word.

Original Text: “Life expectancy isn’t set in stone: Both public policy and personal responsibility can tip the scales, experts said.” (Craig Schneider, Newsday)

If I paraphrase that text word-by-word, I could end up with something like this:

Word-by-Word Paraphrase: Human existences are not put in rocks. The pair of non-private systems and individual duty can point the measures, professionals uttered.

That makes no sense. Here’s a more effective paraphrase:

Proper Paraphrase: According to experts, public policy and individual choices can affect life expectancy.

This makes much more sense. Keep the entire context in mind when you paraphrase.

There are some practical steps you can follow to ensure skillful paraphrasing. It might take some practice at first.

As you become more experienced with paraphrasing, you’ll notice that you follow these steps naturally.

Step 1: Read, Reread, Then Read It Again

You can’t properly paraphrase if you don’t fully understand the original passage. For effective paraphrasing, reread the original text multiple times.

Pay attention to word choice and tone, as those contribute to the overarching message. Be sure that you know exactly what the original author was trying to get across before you move on.

Step 2: Determine the Big Idea

There’s a difference between paraphrasing and summarizing, but a quick summary is a great starting point for a paraphrase.

A summary is the main idea. What is the big idea of the original passage?

Try to sum up the big idea in one sentence using your own words.

If you’re only paraphrasing a short chunk of text, this might be the extent of your work and you can skip to step five. For longer quotes, start with the gist.

Step 3: Break It Down

Once you have the big idea, you can start looking at the individual ideas. A good paraphrase includes all the essential information. This is the step where you determine which pieces are essential.

You can start breaking it down sentence by sentence, but keep in mind that you’re really trying to understand it idea by idea.

There might be one idea in two or three sentences or two ideas in one long sentence!

Step 4: Rewrite, Idea by Idea

Once you know all the essential information, it’s time to rewrite. Use your own words and phrasing as much as possible.

Of course, sometimes you will have to use some of the same words. For example, if you’re paraphrasing a quote about the economy, you don’t need to find a new word for “economy.”

Plagiarism isn’t just the words you use, but also the order those words are in.

If you do use more than two of the same words as the original in a row, place them in quotation marks . Avoid this as much as possible for a good paraphrase.

Once you’ve rewritten each idea with the important information, it’s time to make sure your paraphrased version accurately expresses the intent of the original passage.

That leads us to the final step.

Step 5: Check and Cite

Have you ever heard the phrase “lost in translation?” It’s true for paraphrasing, too. Sometimes, when we rewrite something in our own words, we lose the intent and meaning of the original.

Reread what you’ve written and ask yourself the following questions:

Does this portray the same big idea?
Have I included all relevant information and ideas?
Does my paraphrase maintain the integrity of the original’s intent?
Are all sentences written in my own voice and my own words?

If you can answer yes to all four questions, you’ve successfully paraphrased! If not, return to the quoted material and go through each step again.

Finally, add your citation. Always credit the original source so you don’t plagiarize.

While the same basic steps apply no matter what you’re paraphrasing, it will look a little different depending on the type of text and why you’re paraphrasing.

Let’s take a look at three common situations that require paraphrasing.

How to Paraphrase in an Essay

Essays require paraphrases of many different quotes and sources.

While the occasional quote is fine, frequent direct quotes suggest that you don’t fully understand the material.

Your professor wants to know that you comprehend the subject and have thoughts of your own about it.

To paraphrase in an essay, start with a reasonable sized quote.

If the entire quotation is too long, your essay will become one giant paraphrase. You can always paraphrase another piece of the original text later in your paper.

Make sure the quote you are paraphrasing fits your thesis statement and is in the correct section of your essay.

Then, follow the five steps above to write a paraphrase. Don’t forget to cite your source material!

After you’ve paraphrased and cited the original text, offer your own commentary or thoughts.

How does that paraphrase answer the prompt of your research paper or support your argument? Original thoughts are crucial so your whole essay isn’t a paraphrase. That would be a form of plagiarism!

How to Paraphrase a Quote

Paraphrasing a quote requires you to pay special attention to the tone. Quoted material for academic writing often has a dry, informative tone. Spoken quotes usually don’t.

When you’re determining the big idea (step two), also determine the tone. You can note the tone in your paraphrase by saying the speaker was impassioned, angry, nostalgic, optimistic, etc.

When you move to step three and break down the ideas, pay attention to where the speaker placed emphasis. That’s a clue that you’ve found essential information to include in your paraphrase.

How to Paraphrase Complex Text

Complex and highly technical text can be difficult to paraphrase. All the same steps apply, but pay special attention to your words and sentence structure when you rewrite.

Whenever possible, simplify the complex text in your paraphrase.

Paraphrases are useful because they can make something easier to understand. Imagine that you are explaining the complex text to a middle school student.

Use simplified terms and explain any jargon in layman’s terms. Avoid clichés or idioms and focus only on the most essential pieces of information.

You can also use ProWritingAid’s editing tool to run a Jargon Report and a Cliché Report, as well as readability.

We use the Flesch-Kincaid Scale for readability , which is based on U.S. grade levels. You can see how old someone needs to be to understand your paraphrasing.

Your level of readability might change depending on the purpose of the paraphrase.

If you are paraphrasing complex text for a college-level essay, your readability score can be higher. If you are paraphrasing for a technical audience, some jargon is appropriate.

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of properly paraphrased material.

Original Text : “Life expectancy isn’t set in stone: Both public policy and personal responsibility can tip the scales, experts said. Everyone can make choices that increase the odds of a longer life, said Cantor, of the Center for Socio-Economic Policy. Eating well, exercising, not smoking, getting enough sleep and staying in school are decisions made by each and every one of us, he said.” (Craig Schneider, Newsday )

Paraphrase: People do have some control over their life expectancy. While public policies matter, experts say personal choices can also affect how long you live and that making healthy lifestyle choices about food, sleep, education, and smoking is up to each individual.

Here’s another example from a speech.

Original Text: “We’ve got to accelerate the transition away from dirty energy. Rather than subsidize the past, we should invest in the future—especially in communities that rely on fossil fuels. That’s why I’m going to push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.” (President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, January 12, 2016)

Paraphrase: President Obama emphasized the importance of investing in clean energy. He supports a shift in the way the country manages non-renewable resources to match the impact they have on both American citizens and the planet.

Remember, when you paraphrase, focus on the ideas, not rewriting word for word. Always cite your original source material even though you are using your own words.

(This article is an update to a previous version by Allison Bressmer.)

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Krystal N. Craiker

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound.

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Language arts categories, free weekly worksheets, worksheets by email, what is paraphrasing.

People love to discuss something new every day. They gossip television shows, heard stories, news with the other persons. This talk further proceeds in the curiosity of what, how, and why the incident occurred? It happened between friends, family, and colleagues to refresh their minds. Whatever theme the discussion has included storyline, events, main characters, crucial points, considerations, etc. The author uses his or her own words or informal writing (under rules and regulations). All of such a structure of writing something or explaining something will be in your own words. During all of this process, you convey someone's message or express someone's ideas. Don't forget to maintain your ideas and source meaning while paraphrasing. You will use the main idea at the time of specific needs in your own words. How can you paraphrase a source? Give two or three times to read the original paragraph until and unless you understand it. After a thorough understanding, start writing the main idea by using your own words. Avoid generating the order of emphasis and ideas. Go through all unknown words. Observe each word that makes a clear sense of your writing. Check the tone of each paragraph, and it must be intuitive with a correct flow of understanding. Change as per the requirement, such as appropriate tone, meaning variation, and words or phrases related to the original words.

When you paraphrase, you restate an author’s words in your own words without changing the meaning of the passage or including any of your own thoughts or ideas about it. When you paraphrase something, you only relay the main idea, not the entire passage.

Paraphrasing from Sources

Read each passage. On a separate page, paraphrase each passage. Try not to look back at the original while you are paraphrasing.

: The passage below is from The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed. Read the passage. Then paraphrase what you have read.

Where Is It?

Highlight the portion of the text that you would like to focus on. Then paraphrase the ideas on the notecard below.

In Your Own Words

Paraphrase each passage.

Paraphrasing Practice

Read the passage. Highlight what you think is most important. Then paraphrase the highlighted information below.

Paraphrasing and Synonyms

One strategy for paraphrasing is to use synonyms. Rewrite each sentence below, replacing each underlined word or phrase with a synonymous word or phrase.

What are the author’s main supporting points?

Use Synonyms

Rewrite each sentence below, replacing each underlined word with a synonym.

The Manifesto

The passage below is taken from The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Paraphrase the passage.

50 million people in the U.S. eat fast food daily, which equates to about one in every seven people. It’s not surprising, then, the fast food restaurants have a combined revenue in the U.S. of $110 billion dollars every year.

What does the main character(s) decide to do about their problem?

Paraphrasing for Research

When You Do It!

When you paraphrase, you convey the main ideas of a passage in your own words. A paraphrase should contain all the most important information in a brief format. Use the organizer below to identify what you want to make sure that you include when you paraphrase the passage. Write your paraphrase below.

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3: Independent Practice (15 minutes) Pair Work: Have students work in pairs to paraphrase another paragraph provided on the board. Allow a few pairs to share their paraphrases with the class. Independent Practice: Distribute Paraphrasing Task Cards. (print or digital) Students paraphrase short paragraphs individually.
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But teaching effective paraphrasing is necessary because the use of paraphrasing facilitates important literacy skills: It encourages repeated reading, develops note-taking habits as students track quotes and outline text details, and expands vocabulary as they consider appropriate ways to describe the original text.The skill may seem daunting to students because it takes time to find the ...
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Differentiation as an instructional approach promotes a balance between a student's style and a student's ability. Differentiated instruction provides the student with options for processing and internalizing the content, and for constructing new learning in order to progress academically. Here is an example of bad paraphrasing of the source.
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Step 1: Read, Reread, Then Read It Again. You can't properly paraphrase if you don't fully understand the original passage. For effective paraphrasing, reread the original text multiple times. Pay attention to word choice and tone, as those contribute to the overarching message.
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20 Summarization Activities For Middle School: Videos, Worksheets, Games, And Tips

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Using Evidence: Examples of Paraphrasing

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How to Paraphrase in 5 Simple Steps (Without Plagiarizing)

What Is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing vs. Plagiarism

How to Paraphrase Properly

Step 1: Read, Reread, Then Read It Again

Step 2: Determine the Big Idea

Step 3: Break It Down

Step 4: Rewrite, Idea by Idea

Step 5: Check and Cite

How to Paraphrase in an Essay

How to Paraphrase a Quote

How to Paraphrase Complex Text