MESA Teachers' Research Guide

Paraphrasing is restating a passage from a source in your own words.

Being able to recognize the differences between acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing will help you avoid unintentional plagiarism.

Be sure to:

• not just rearrange or replace a few words.
• read over what you want to paraphrase carefully. You could cover up the text with your hand or close the text so you can't see any of it. Then, write out the idea in your own words without peeking.
• compare your paraphrase to the original text to be sure you haven't accidentally used the same phrases or words and confirm that the information is accurate.

To learn more, see: Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It by the Writing Tutorial Services at Indiana University.

Attribution matters!

Watch this video from Florida State University that illustrates plagiarism (3:33)

It reviews summaries, paraphrasing, and quotations and when to use each one.

These disciplines require specific citation guides:

Biology

• CSE quick citation guide (Penn State)

Chemistry

• ACS style guide (Williams College)

Engineering

• IEEE style guide (University of Pittsburgh)
• IEEE guide (IEEE Standards Association)

Government Documents

• Citing government documents (Cornell University)

Medicine

• AMA citation guide (Oakland University)