paraphrasing and summarizing mastery test answers

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Paraphrasing and Summarizing Exercises with Answers

Paraphrasing and Summarizing are two skills that are highly useful for writers. With these two techniques, writers can get help creating their content and providing it to their readers in an easy-to-peruse way.

However, if you happen to be new to the field of writing, you could be a little unaware and untrained in both these skills. But don’t worry. Everyone starts out as a beginner.

In this post, we’re going to be looking at some  paraphrasing and summarizing  exercises along with their answers and explanations. By following along, you’ll get a good idea about how you can use these techniques in your own capacity.

Let’s begin!

What is Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Before we get to the exercises, let’s digress a little and understand what paraphrasing and summarization actually are.

Let’s start with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing  is the process in which a particular piece of content is reworded and rephrased in such a way that it looks different from its original version but it has the same meaning and context.

A simple example of paraphrasing would be to change “John likes his cat” to “John adores his feline pet”. Paraphrasing can be as slight as merely changing some words in the text, or it can be as drastic as fully changing the tone, structure, order, and words of the content.

On the other hand,  Summarizing  is the process in which a piece of content is shrunk and shortened to about one-tenth of its original size. In this shortened version, the main idea and concept of the content is provided.

Summarization is usually used by authors and writers when they want to give a brief outline of a book or article to their readers.

Now that we’ve looked at the definitions of both, let’s move ahead to look at some exercises.

Paraphrasing Exercises (with Answers)

The main purpose of providing these exercises along with their answers is to help you understand what these techniques look like when they are implemented. Since we have explained their core definition above, you can try and work along the exercises to improve your skills a little as well.

Related:  Difference Between Paraphrasing And Rephrasing

Paraphrasing Exercise # 1:

Here is a sample paragraph that we will be paraphrasing as an exercise. We’ll write the paragraph alone first, and then provide the answer after a brief explanation.

Sample Paragraph:

"John could not find the butter in his fridge. He went to buy some from the store. On coming back, he saw his cat sitting on the floor, smacking its lips. There was some yellow stuff smeared all around its face. Thus, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

So, as we mentioned earlier, paraphrasing can be done simply and sparingly, or it can be done drastically.

One of the primary and basic ways of paraphrasing is to simply change some words in the provided content with their synonyms. This is, we reiterate, a very basic level of paraphrasing, and it is often very easy to see through it.

So, for this first exercise, we are going to be doing only that level of paraphrasing as a way to illustrate how it looks like.

Here is what the above paragraph looks like when paraphrased:

Paraphrased Paragraph:

"John could not locate the butter in the refrigerator. He went to purchase some from the shop. On coming back, he observed his cat sitting on the ground, licking its lips. There was some yellow material smeared all around its face. Hence, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

While we are on this discussion, it will also be salubrious to understand that when changing words with their synonyms for the purpose of paraphrasing, you have to be careful that you pick those that don’t mess up the context and intent of the lines.

Paraphrasing Exercise # 2:

Moving on, let’s look at another paraphrasing exercise. Here is the paragraph that we will be using for this one:

"John’s cat got lost in the forest. He went looking for it in the night time. He heard some movement in one of the bushes. He put his hand in and felt the fur. He pulled the thing out, thinking it to be his cat. After coming home, he realized it was an angry raccoon."

We mentioned in the last exercise that the basic level of paraphrasing is to change some of the words in the given text with their synonyms. And we also mentioned how that sort of paraphrasing can be easily detected.

So, for writers who want to paraphrase something in such a way that it does not resemble its original form a lot, there’s a step further that they can go, and that is to change the sentence structures + phrases.

Essentially, by changing the phrases used in the content as well as the arrangement of the sentences, the overall look of the paraphrased piece looks very different. If someone wants to go even ahead of that, they can shuffle the sentence  order  as well.

Considering this type of ‘extensive’ paraphrasing, here is the answer to the paragraph given above:

"John’s cat went missing in the forest. He went to search for it when it was dark. He discerned some movement in the hedge. After putting his hand inside it, he felt some fur. Thinking that it was his cat, he pulled the animal out. It was only after coming home that he realized that it was a frustrated raccoon."

Read more: How And Why to Paraphrase Your Content?

Summarizing Exercises (with Answers)

Now that we have looked at the paraphrasing exercises, let’s move on to look at some for summarizing.

Just as we’ve looked at two types of paraphrasing above, we’ll also look at two different types of summarizing.

Actually, it’ll be better if we explain those two types before getting to the exercises.

Basically, there are  two types of summaries . One of them is called  extractive  and the other is called  abstractive .

In extractive summarization, the summary of a piece of content is generated merely by taking out some sentences from it and joining them together. This is usually the type of summaries that you get from automated tools.

When extractive summaries are created, there is no effort to understand the actual meaning and context of the text. Rather, the purpose is only to take some lines from it and join them together in such a way that they make sense.

On the other hand, abstractive summaries are those that are written using a completely new and different set of words, phrases and sentences than the content (that is being summarized). As opposed to extractive summarization, abstractive summarization involves understanding the meaning and context of the text, and then creating a completely new summary that features all those concepts and ideas.

Summarizing Exercise # 1 (Extractive)

In order to demonstrate and explain extractive summarization, we’re going to first write a paragraph here and then provide its summary afterwards:

Sample paragraph:

"John’s car broke down. He stopped by the road side and screamed at people to stop and help him. But no one stopped for him. He continued howling and howling for hours. People kept driving by. After getting tired, he picked up a sheet and wrapped it around himself. Then, he started spinning on his spot. He grew dizzy. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Now, since we have to use the “extractive” summarization technique here, we’ll create the summary using the lines and sentences used in the content itself.

"John’s car broke down. But no one stopped for him. Then, he started spinning on the spot. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Summarizing Exercise # 2 (Abstractive)

For this exercise, we will use the same para that we did above. However, the technique used for the summarization will be different.

Since we will be using the abstractive technique here, the summary will be created using different words and phrases as the original.

"John’s vehicle went phut. But, no one stopped their car to help him. After he was tired, he made himself dizzy by spinning and then went to sleep."

So, that’s about it.

If you were a little confused about paraphrasing and summarization techniques, hopefully you’re a little more confident about them now.

These skills can come in handy for writers in a lot of different situations. If you don’t have the hang of them already, you should try and get it as quick as you can.

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• How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Published on April 8, 2022 by Courtney Gahan and Jack Caulfield. Revised on June 1, 2023.

Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas into your own words. Paraphrasing a source involves changing the wording while preserving the original meaning.

Paraphrasing is an alternative to  quoting (copying someone’s exact words and putting them in quotation marks ). In academic writing, it’s usually better to integrate sources by paraphrasing instead of quoting. It shows that you have understood the source, reads more smoothly, and keeps your own voice front and center.

Every time you paraphrase, it’s important to cite the source . Also take care not to use wording that is too similar to the original. Otherwise, you could be at risk of committing plagiarism .

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Table of contents

How to paraphrase in five easy steps, how to paraphrase correctly, examples of paraphrasing, how to cite a paraphrase, paraphrasing vs. quoting, paraphrasing vs. summarizing, avoiding plagiarism when you paraphrase, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about paraphrasing.

If you’re struggling to get to grips with the process of paraphrasing, check out our easy step-by-step guide in the video below.

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Putting an idea into your own words can be easier said than done. Let’s say you want to paraphrase the text below, about population decline in a particular species of sea snails.

Incorrect paraphrasing

You might make a first attempt to paraphrase it by swapping out a few words for  synonyms .

Like other sea creatures inhabiting the vicinity of highly populated coasts, horse conchs have lost substantial territory to advancement and contamination , including preferred breeding grounds along mud flats and seagrass beds. Their Gulf home is also heating up due to global warming , which scientists think further puts pressure on the creatures , predicated upon the harmful effects extra warmth has on other large mollusks (Barnett, 2022).

This attempt at paraphrasing doesn’t change the sentence structure or order of information, only some of the word choices. And the synonyms chosen are poor:

• “Advancement and contamination” doesn’t really convey the same meaning as “development and pollution.”
• Sometimes the changes make the tone less academic: “home” for “habitat” and “sea creatures” for “marine animals.”
• Adding phrases like “inhabiting the vicinity of” and “puts pressure on” makes the text needlessly long-winded.
• Global warming is related to climate change, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.

Because of this, the text reads awkwardly, is longer than it needs to be, and remains too close to the original phrasing. This means you risk being accused of plagiarism .

Correct paraphrasing

Let’s look at a more effective way of paraphrasing the same text.

Here, we’ve:

• Only included the information that’s relevant to our argument (note that the paraphrase is shorter than the original)
• Introduced the information with the signal phrase “Scientists believe that …”
• Retained key terms like “development and pollution,” since changing them could alter the meaning
• Structured sentences in our own way instead of copying the structure of the original
• Started from a different point, presenting information in a different order

Because of this, we’re able to clearly convey the relevant information from the source without sticking too close to the original phrasing.

Explore the tabs below to see examples of paraphrasing in action.

• Journal article
• Newspaper article
• Magazine article

Once you have your perfectly paraphrased text, you need to ensure you credit the original author. You’ll always paraphrase sources in the same way, but you’ll have to use a different type of in-text citation depending on what citation style you follow.

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It’s a good idea to paraphrase instead of quoting in most cases because:

• Paraphrasing shows that you fully understand the meaning of a text
• Your own voice remains dominant throughout your paper
• Quotes reduce the readability of your text

But that doesn’t mean you should never quote. Quotes are appropriate when:

• Giving a precise definition
• Saying something about the author’s language or style (e.g., in a literary analysis paper)
• Providing evidence in support of an argument
• Critiquing or analyzing a specific claim

A paraphrase puts a specific passage into your own words. It’s typically a similar length to the original text, or slightly shorter.

When you boil a longer piece of writing down to the key points, so that the result is a lot shorter than the original, this is called summarizing .

Paraphrasing and quoting are important tools for presenting specific information from sources. But if the information you want to include is more general (e.g., the overarching argument of a whole article), summarizing is more appropriate.

When paraphrasing, you have to be careful to avoid accidental plagiarism .

This can happen if the paraphrase is too similar to the original quote, with phrases or whole sentences that are identical (and should therefore be in quotation marks). It can also happen if you fail to properly cite the source.

Paraphrasing tools are widely used by students, and can be especially useful for non-native speakers who may find academic writing particularly challenging. While these can be helpful for a bit of extra inspiration, use these tools sparingly, keeping academic integrity in mind.

To make sure you’ve properly paraphrased and cited all your sources, you could elect to run a plagiarism check before submitting your paper. And of course, always be sure to read your source material yourself and take the first stab at paraphrasing on your own.

If you want to know more about ChatGPT, AI tools , citation , and plagiarism , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• ChatGPT vs human editor
• ChatGPT citations
• Is ChatGPT trustworthy?
• Using ChatGPT for your studies
• What is ChatGPT?
• Chicago style
• Critical thinking

 Plagiarism

• Types of plagiarism
• Self-plagiarism
• Avoiding plagiarism
• Academic integrity
• Consequences of plagiarism
• Common knowledge

To paraphrase effectively, don’t just take the original sentence and swap out some of the words for synonyms. Instead, try:

• Reformulating the sentence (e.g., change active to passive , or start from a different point)
• Combining information from multiple sentences into one
• Leaving out information from the original that isn’t relevant to your point
• Using synonyms where they don’t distort the meaning

The main point is to ensure you don’t just copy the structure of the original text, but instead reformulate the idea in your own words.

Paraphrasing without crediting the original author is a form of plagiarism , because you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

However, paraphrasing is not plagiarism if you correctly cite the source . This means including an in-text citation and a full reference, formatted according to your required citation style .

As well as citing, make sure that any paraphrased text is completely rewritten in your own words.

Plagiarism means using someone else’s words or ideas and passing them off as your own. Paraphrasing means putting someone else’s ideas in your own words.

So when does paraphrasing count as plagiarism?

• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if you don’t properly credit the original author.
• Paraphrasing is plagiarism if your text is too close to the original wording (even if you cite the source). If you directly copy a sentence or phrase, you should quote it instead.
• Paraphrasing  is not plagiarism if you put the author’s ideas completely in your own words and properly cite the source .

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To present information from other sources in academic writing , it’s best to paraphrase in most cases. This shows that you’ve understood the ideas you’re discussing and incorporates them into your text smoothly.

It’s appropriate to quote when:

• Changing the phrasing would distort the meaning of the original text
• You want to discuss the author’s language choices (e.g., in literary analysis )
• You’re presenting a precise definition
• You’re looking in depth at a specific claim

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Gahan, C. & Caulfield, J. (2023, June 01). How to Paraphrase | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/working-with-sources/how-to-paraphrase/

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Paraphrasing and summarizing

Part 3: Chapter 9

Questions to consider

A. What are the qualities of a strong summary?

B. What, when, and why do scholars summarize?

A summary is a condensed version of a longer text. Summaries of different lengths are useful in research writing because they provide readers with an explanation of supporting material. The first step in writing a good summary is to do a thorough reading of the text. Even the strongest readers sometimes find very new, very complex, or very dense work difficult to process.

Read for comprehension by remaining engaged. Continuously ask and answer a few basic questions.

A. What is the unique point here?

B. Which ideas come from the author; which material is support cited from other sources?

C. How are the ideas connected (e.g. cause and effect? chronologically?)?

D. What is the likely conclusion?

Three steps to producing a strong summary

• Read for main ideas;
• articulate the primary message without relying too heavily on the original language (including vocabulary and sentence structure); then,
• draft a paraphrase that includes a citation giving credit to the source in the appropriate format.

Other summarizing guidelines

A quote is a direct restatement of the exact words from the original source. Using three or more words exactly as they appear in the original source is a quote. In contrast, a paraphrase is a restatement of the information or point of the original source. Paraphrases and quotes must always accompanied by a proper citation of the source.

Long and direct quotations are discouraged in research writing, especially in the STEM fields. Material incorporated from an outside source should be paraphrased in almost all situations. The use of direct quotes should be limited to when

• the exact words of the source are important, particularly with technical language, terms, or very specific word choices; or
• the author or speaker of the original language is uniquely powerful.

In higher level summaries, source information is generally restricted to the citation; it is not necessary to mention the author or their credentials, the article title, or the publication name in the summary. This is contrary to what many students learn in earlier writing instruction.

Following the order of the original source information is often tempting, as it seems well organized and effective (indeed, it has been published). However, summary writers may omit what they do not need and reorganize material to suit their purposes. These efforts can contribute to the freshness of the paraphrase when they are implemented well.

Finally, research writers must only summarize from an original source (the primary source ) and NOT the reference material (the secondary sources ) included for support.

Exercise #1 – Practice Summary

Read this discussion section from Does international work experience pay off? The relationship between international work experience, employability and career success: A 30-country, multi-industry study and then respond to the questions below.

1 Adopting a HCT perspective (Becker, 1993, 2008; Tan, 2014), we proposed and found that IWE, as an investment in human capital, is associated with higher perceived external employability, which in turn is positively related to promotions and subjective financial success. 2 Although this mediated relationship was not moderated by economic freedom as hypothesised, supplementary analyses that differentiated between short-term and long-term IWE however showed that, in countries with low economic freedom, the indirect relationships between short-term IWE and career success indicators through perceived external employability were more pronounced. 3 The present study thus highlights the role of perceived external employability as a core mediator underlying the IWE–career success link. 4 Including promotions and subjective financial success as indicators of both OCS and SCS provides a more nuanced picture of how IWE relates to career success. 5 Although the study focuses on specific indicators of OCS and SCS, the empirical findings have greater generalisability compared to much of research that precedes our study given that our results hold across a large-scale sample of employees in four broad occupational groups from 30 countries and more than 20 industries. 6 While empirical evidence overrepresents countries from the Anglo, Latin European and/or Germanic European clusters, our study incorporates a sample that includes countries from all GLOBE clusters (House et al., 2004) and thus many countries that have never been researched with respect to international assignments and career outcomes. [1]

HCT: human capital theory suggests education and training contribute to a person’s earning power IWE: international work experience OCS: objective career success SCS: subjective career success

• What is the main idea here? Is there only one?
• What language (words or phrases) cannot be paraphrased without compromising meaning?
• What material should not be included in the summary? Why?
• Draft two versions of a complete summary of this material including a citation in an appropriate format. Strive to make them grammatically distinct from each other and from the original.

The opinions or interpretation of the summary writer do not belong in a summary. When the assignment is an evaluative review, the author may inject information beyond the main idea of the summarized material.

Writers quote and paraphrase from research in order to support their points and to persuade their readers. A quote or a paraphrase from a piece of evidence in support of a point answers the reader’s question, “Says who?” This is especially true in academic writing since scholarly readers are most persuaded by effective research and documented evidence. For example, readers of an article about a new cancer medication published in a medical journal will be most interested in the research and statistics that demonstrate the effectiveness of the treatment. Conversely, they will not be as persuaded by emotional stories from individual patients about how a new cancer medication improved the quality of their lives. The real art to research writing is using evidence effectively to support the point. Certain rules of style are applied as prescribed by academic departments and publication editors, including which citation system to use.

Language in Action

A. How common are direct quotations in scholarly publications found in academic journals? Are they more or less common in publications meant for general consumption, like newspapers or internet blogs?

B. What is the strongest incentive for including and citing material from other sources?

Plagiarism awareness

Plagiarism is the unauthorized or uncredited use of the writings or ideas of another. While it might not be as tangible as stealing a car or robbing a bank, plagiarism is still a form of theft. The use of artificial intelligence programs (like Chat GPT ) does not produce original writing a researcher can call their own. As these resources become increasingly available, it is important for writers to focus on producing their own sentences, paragraphs, theses and ideas that they can explain and defend.

In the academic world, plagiarism is a serious matter because ideas in the forms of research, creative work, and original thought are highly valued. As it is a form of academic dishonesty, most schools have strict rules about what happens when someone is caught plagiarizing.

Like theft, plagiarism can take several different forms. The most well-known, purposeful plagiarism is submitting work written by someone else or material copied word for word from a source.

Both purposeful and accidental plagiarism are wrong, violate established rules, and often result in harsh punishments. Ignoring or not knowing the rules of how to properly cite evidence might be explanations, but they are not acceptable excuses.

Here are examples that use quotations and paraphrases from this original text from Cyberculture as translated by Robert Bononno:

1 Those who denounce cyberculture today strangely resemble those who criticized rock music during the fifties and sixties. 2 Rock started out as an Anglo-American phenomenon and has become an industry. 3 Nonetheless, it was able to capture the hopes of young people around the world and provided enjoyment to those of us who listened to or played rock. 4 Sixties pop was the conscience of one or two generations that helped bring the war in Vietnam to a close. 5 Obviously, neither rock nor pop has solved global poverty or hunger. 6 But is this a reason to be “against” them? (ix).

Source: Lévy, P. (2001). Cyberculture. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press.

Examples of plagiarized work

First, an obvious example of plagiarism from that article.

1 Those who denounce cyberculture today strangely resemble those who criticized rock music during the fifties and sixties.

The writer has literally taken one of Lévy’s sentences and represented it as her own.

Another example:

1 The people who criticize cyberculture are the same kind of people who criticized rock and roll music back in the fifties and sixties. But both cyberculture and rock music inspire and entertain young people.

While these aren’t Lévy’s exact words, they are certainly close enough to constitute a form of plagiarism.

Examples of acceptable paraphrasing

These are stronger paraphrases, although the use of a direct quotation is not ideal.

1 Pierre Lévy suggests that people who criticize cyberculture are the same kind of people who criticized rock and roll music back in the fifties and sixties. But both cyberculture and rock music inspire and entertain young people (ix).

1 In the introduction of his book Cyberculture, Pierre Lévy observes that “Those who denounce cyberculture today strangely resemble those who criticized rock music during the fifties and sixties” (ix).

Note that changing these passages from examples of plagiarism to acceptable examples of a quotation and a paraphrase is only achieved by properly citing the source.

Often, students are unclear as to whether they need to cite a piece of evidence because they believe it to be common knowledge or because they are not sure about the source of information. What is common knowledge in a field is typically seen without a citation in a range of publications (from journal articles to dissertations and textbooks). [2]

Review and Reinforce

A. How does the research of others influence readers?

B. How much material from outside sources is required to support a message or thesis statement?

Exercise #2

1 In Taiwan, the delayed graduation of graduate students has become an important educational issue of social concern (Ho et al., 2020). 2  Gardner (2009) found that the reasons for the low graduation rate of doctoral students include being unable to complete their degree theses, among others. 3 The completion of the degree thesis is an important milestone and the biggest obstacle for graduate students (Blum, 2010).  4 Muszynski (1990) found that graduate students who fail to graduate in time may be uninterested in the research topic, have low academic confidence, or have too many research papers to complete.  5 Spaulding and Rockinson-Szapkiw (2012) interviewed 76 doctoral graduates and found that motivation, persistence factors, and completion strategies were necessary to complete their dissertations. [3]

1. Consider the above opening paragraph from A Study of Graduate Students’ Achievement Motivation, Active Learning, and Active Confidence Based on Relevant Research .

2. Then look at a paragraph from one of its primary sources (sentence #4 above), Hearing their Voices: Factors Doctoral Candidates Attribute to their Persistence .

1 When participants were interviewed, they worked in different states and professional settings across the United States and earned their degrees from varying institutions across the span of five decades (Participant 3 – 1976; Participant 36 – 2011); however, each participant shared one common experience—doctoral persistence, evidenced by the completion of an educational doctorate. 2 Though the contexts differed and motivations for pursuing the degree varied, participants all cited various personal sacrifices along the way, often found their completion expectations to be unrealistic due to a myriad of intervening factors, and largely found the dissertation to be the most challenging aspect of the degree completion process. 3 However, because they were both personally and professionally motivated to begin the degree, had compelling reasons to persist, developed an array of resilience mechanisms, and generated strategies for dissertation completion, these participants evaded becoming an attrition statistic, unlike presumably half of their peers (Ivankova & Stick, 2007; Nettles & Millet, 2006), and currently hold a terminal degree in their discipline. [4]

3. Evaluate how and why the supporting material was incorporated.

Media Attributions

• masks © Edmonton Economic Development Corporation is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike) license
• Andresen, M., Lazarova, M., Apospori, E., Cotton, R., Bosak, J., Dickmann, M., Kaše, R., & Smale, A. (2022). Does international work experience pay off? The relationship between international work experience, employability and career success: A 30-country, multi-industry study. Human Resource Management Journal , 32(3), 698–721. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12423 ↵
• Adapted from Krause, S. (2021, March 23). The Process of Research Writing Retrieved June 2, 2021, from https://human.libretexts.org/@go/page/6460 ↵
• Chang, J.-C., Wu, Y.-T., & Ye, J.-N. (2022). A Study of Graduate Students’ Achievement Motivation, Active Learning, and Active Confidence Based on Relevant Research . Frontiers in Psychology,  13, 915770–915770. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915770 ↵
• Spaulding, L. S., & Rockinson-Szapkiw, A. (2012). Hearing their Voices: Factors Doctoral Candidates Attribute to their Persistence.  International Journal of Doctoral Studies , 7, 199-219. https://doi.org/10.28945/1589 ↵

a condensed version of a longer text

a direct restatement of the exact words from the original source

a restatement of the information or point of the original source in entirely new wording

a reference presenting their own data and information

reference material used and cited by a primary source

to act of presenting another source of information or ideas as one's own work; literary theft

Sourcing, summarizing, and synthesizing:  Skills for effective research writing  Copyright © 2023 by Wendy L. McBride is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Summarizing & Paraphrasing

9th - 10th grade.

21 questions

Introducing new   Paper mode

No student devices needed.   Know more

What is paraphrasing?

rephrasing and original statement

summarizing and shortening

taking someone else's words

a type of summarization

Why may a paraphrase be used?

to give a broad overview of an article or text

to better fit the author's original ideas into an essay

to significantly shorten a quote

to summarize

When can paraphrasing be used?

in adocumentary

on a news report

in a formal essay

all of the above

Which of the following statements best describes how to paraphrase information?

Copy the sentence and then put it in quotations.

Copy the sentence, put it in quotations, and cite the source.

Determine key words in the sentence and replace one or two of them with words that have similar meanings.

Determine key words in the sentence and replace most of them with words that have similar meanings. Rewrite the sentence in your own words, and add a citation at the end.

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?

summarizing shortens, whereas paraphrasing only rephrases

summarizing rephrases, whereas paraphrasing shortens

paraphrasing always lengthens whereas summarizing only sometimes lengthens

paraphrasing and summarizing are the same thing

Which of the following is the best paraphrase of this statement?: We were able to save the day thanks to teamwork and innovative thinking.

We saved the day with teamwork and creative thinking.

Because we worked together and used innovation, we made it work.

Thanks to innovative thinking and teamwork, we were able to make it work.

We were able to save the day together.

Which of the following is NOT something you have to change when paraphrasing?

sentence structure

order of ideas

How are paraphrasing and summarizing different from one another?

A paraphrase does not have to change sentence structure and order of ideas while a summary does.

A paraphrase does not need to be cited while a summary does.

Both are reworded; however, a paraphrase is a condensed version of the original, while summarizing maintains the source's length

Both are reworded; however, a summary is a condensed version of the original, while paraphrasing maintains the source's ideas

Do not quote more than ___% of your paper.

Choose the best paraphrased version of this sentence:

A high school student usually has summer reading assignments.

A high school student always has homework assignments in the summer.

It is common for students in high school to have summer reading assignments.

Usually school aged students have summer reading assignments.

Most summer school students have high school reading to do.

Dragonflies have six legs, but they can't walk.

Dragonflies have six legs but cannot walk, and I think that this is odd.

Dragonflies have six legs.

Even though they have six legs, dragonflies can’t walk.

Although dragonflies have six legs, they fly.

Choose the best paraphrased version of this question:

Are schools going to frisk a kindergartner or search the backpack of a second grader to see if they’re hiding candy with peanuts inside?

Schools will get X-Ray machines to check for peanuts.

Schools are only going to check backpacks for peanuts.

Schools are only going to check kindergarten students.

It is unlikely that schools will make all students get searched for peanuts.

Banning peanut products would be unenforceable.

Police would check people for peanuts.

It would not be possible to completely stop people from bringing peanuts.

Police and people would not be able to eat peanuts.

It would be instantly possible to check for peanuts.

Which of the following statements best describes how to summarize information?

Determine the main ideas of the source and then put them into your own words.

Which of the following statements about summarizing is true?

A summary is a thought that is true but is not in the passage.

A summary is specific, detailed information contained in the passage.

A summary is always found in the last sentence of the passage.

A summary is an overview of what the passage is about.

When some people think about Texas, they think of cowboys on the open range-herding cattle up a dusty trail. However, Texas has much more than open prairie with large herds of cows. There are the mountains of West Texas, the piney hills of east Texas, and the emerald waters off the coast of Padre Island. Texas also has large coastal harbors with numerous sailboats, powerboats, inland lakes, rivers, swamps of southeast Texas with alligators and other exotic wildlife.

Which of the following summarizes the passage above?

There are a lot of cows in Texas.

There are many different, varied parts of Texas.

There are alligators in the swampland of southeast Texas.

Texas is one of the biggest states in the United States.

Is the passage below an accurate paraphrase that helps clarify the meaning of the original text? Select Yes or No.

Original Text: Toward the end of the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution caused a change in many people's employment. When agricultural work in rural areas became harder to find, many left to seek industrial work in urban areas.

Paraphrase: The Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s changed what jobs were available. People left farms in the country to work in factories in the cities.

Is this passage an accurate paraphrase that helps clarify the meaning of the original text?

Original Text: During the Industrial Revolution, working-class families took for granted that their children would need to be employed to help support the family.

Paraphrase: At the time of the Industrial Revolution, some children wanted to work in factories.

Article title: “Plumber Caught Dancing On The Job Has All The Fly Moves”

Original : “The video of Topen’s dancing has racked up more than 400,000 views since it was posted on YouTube last week, and the plumber says he’s already been approached in public for his autograph.”

Which is the best paraphrase to use in a paper?

The video has racked up more than 400,000 views since posted on YouTube last week, and the plumber has even been approached for his autograph.

Even though the YouTube video of the dancing plumber was only posted last week, it has already had more than 400,000 views. Topen has become an almost instant celebrity as strangers have even asked him for autographs (“Plumber Caught Dancing On The Job Has All The Fly Moves”).

The dancing plumber whose video went viral after it was posted on YouTube has already been asked for autographs.

A plumber has been asked for this autograph after the video was posted online ("Plumber Caught Dancing On The Job Has All The Fly Moves").

Article: "Cellphones and Tablets Keep Kids Awake"

Original: According to the study, 72% of all children and 89% of adolescents have at least one device in their sleep environment.

Which is the best example of a summary for this passage?

One study found that the majority of children have one or more devices with them at all times ("Cellphones and Tablets Keep Kids Awake").

More than half of children sleep with devices in their room.

The study concluded that a minimum of one device is present in most young people’s sleeping environments.

The study claims that 72 percent of children have at least one device in their sleep environment, and so do 89 percent of adolescents.

Which is the best example of a paraphrase for this passage?

The study concluded that a minimum of one device is present in most young people’s sleeping environments ("Cellphones and Tablets Keep Kids Awake").

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Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing (Differences, Examples, How To)

It can be confusing to know when to paraphrase and when to summarize. Many people use the terms interchangeably even though the two have different meanings and uses.

Today, let’s understand the basic differences between paraphrasing vs. summarizing and when to use which . We’ll also look at types and examples of paraphrasing and summarizing, as well as how to do both effectively.

Let’s look at paraphrasing first.

What is paraphrasing?

It refers to rewriting someone else’s ideas in your own words. 

It’s important to rewrite the whole idea in your words rather than just replacing a few words with their synonyms. That way, you present an idea in a way that your audience will understand easily and also avoid plagiarism. 

It’s also important to cite your sources when paraphrasing so that the original author of the work gets due credit.

When should you paraphrase?

The main purpose of paraphrasing is often to clarify an existing passage. You should use paraphrasing when you want to show that you understand the concept, like while writing an essay about a specific topic. 

You may also use it when you’re quoting someone but can’t remember their exact words. 

Finally, paraphrasing is a very effective way to rewrite outdated content in a way that’s relevant to your current audience.

How to paraphrase effectively

Follow these steps to paraphrase any piece of text effectively:

• Read the full text and ensure that you understand it completely. It helps to look up words you don’t fully understand in an online or offline dictionary.
• Once you understand the text, rewrite it in your own words. Remember to rewrite it instead of just substituting words with their synonyms.
• Edit the text to ensure it’s easy to understand for your audience.
• Mix in your own insights while rewriting the text to make it more relevant.
• Run the text through a plagiarism checker to ensure that it does not have any of the original content.

Example of paraphrasing

Here’s an example of paraphrasing:

• Original:  The national park is full of trees, water bodies, and various species of flora and fauna.
• Paraphrased:  Many animal species thrive in the verdant national park that is served by lakes and rivers flowing through it.

What is summarizing?

Summarizing is also based on someone else’s text but rather than presenting their ideas in your words, you only sum up their main ideas in a smaller piece of text.

It’s important to not use their exact words or phrases when summarizing to avoid plagiarism. It’s best to make your own notes while reading through the text and writing a summary based on your notes.

You must only summarize the most important ideas from a piece of text as summaries are essentially very short compared to the original work. And just like paraphrasing, you should cite the original text as a reference.

When should you summarize?

The main purpose of summarizing is to reduce a passage or other text to fewer words while ensuring that everything important is covered.

Summaries are useful when you want to cut to the chase and lay down the most important points from a piece of text or convey the entire message in fewer words. You should summarize when you have to write a short essay about a larger piece of text, such as writing a book review.

You can also summarize when you want to provide background information about something without taking up too much space.

How to summarize effectively

Follow these steps to summarize any prose effectively:

• Read the text to fully understand it. It helps to read it a few times instead of just going through it once.
• Pay attention to the larger theme of the text rather than trying to rewrite it sentence for sentence.
• Understand how all the main ideas are linked and piece them together to form an overview.
• Remove all the information that’s not crucial to the main ideas or theme. Remember, summaries must only include the most essential points and information.
• Edit your overview to ensure that the information is organized logically and follows the correct chronology where applicable.
• Review and edit the summary again to make it clearer, ensure that it’s accurate, and make it even more concise where you can.
• Ensure that you cite the original text.

Example of summarization

You can summarize any text into a shorter version. For example, this entire article can be summarized in just a few sentences as follows:

• Summary:  The article discusses paraphrasing vs. summarizing by explaining the two concepts. It specifies when you should use paraphrasing and when you should summarize a piece of text and describes the process of each. It ends with examples of both paraphrasing and summarizing to provide a better understanding to the reader.

Paraphrasing vs. summarizing has been a long-standing point of confusion for writers of all levels, whether you’re writing a college essay or reviewing a research paper or book. The above tips and examples can help you identify when to use paraphrasing or summarizing and how to go about them effectively.

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

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This handout is intended to help you become more comfortable with the uses of and distinctions among quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. This handout compares and contrasts the three terms, gives some pointers, and includes a short excerpt that you can use to practice these skills.

What are the differences among quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing?

These three ways of incorporating other writers' work into your own writing differ according to the closeness of your writing to the source writing.

Quotations must be identical to the original, using a narrow segment of the source. They must match the source document word for word and must be attributed to the original author.

Paraphrasing involves putting a passage from source material into your own words. A paraphrase must also be attributed to the original source. Paraphrased material is usually shorter than the original passage, taking a somewhat broader segment of the source and condensing it slightly.

Summarizing involves putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s). Once again, it is necessary to attribute summarized ideas to the original source. Summaries are significantly shorter than the original and take a broad overview of the source material.

Why use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries?

Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries serve many purposes. You might use them to:

• Provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing
• Refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing
• Give examples of several points of view on a subject
• Call attention to a position that you wish to agree or disagree with
• Highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage by quoting the original
• Distance yourself from the original by quoting it in order to cue readers that the words are not your own
• Expand the breadth or depth of your writing

Writers frequently intertwine summaries, paraphrases, and quotations. As part of a summary of an article, a chapter, or a book, a writer might include paraphrases of various key points blended with quotations of striking or suggestive phrases as in the following example:

In his famous and influential work The Interpretation of Dreams , Sigmund Freud argues that dreams are the "royal road to the unconscious" (page #), expressing in coded imagery the dreamer's unfulfilled wishes through a process known as the "dream-work" (page #). According to Freud, actual but unacceptable desires are censored internally and subjected to coding through layers of condensation and displacement before emerging in a kind of rebus puzzle in the dream itself (page #).

How to use quotations, paraphrases, and summaries

Practice summarizing the essay found here , using paraphrases and quotations as you go. It might be helpful to follow these steps:

• Read the entire text, noting the key points and main ideas.
• Summarize in your own words what the single main idea of the essay is.
• Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in the essay.
• Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you believe should be quoted directly.

There are several ways to integrate quotations into your text. Often, a short quotation works well when integrated into a sentence. Longer quotations can stand alone. Remember that quoting should be done only sparingly; be sure that you have a good reason to include a direct quotation when you decide to do so. You'll find guidelines for citing sources and punctuating citations at our documentation guide pages.

• Literary Terms

Paraphrase Quiz

• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Use paraphrase

1. What is paraphrasing?

a. rephrasing an original statement

b. summarizing and shortening

c. stealing someone else’s words

d. a type of summarization

2. When can paraphrasing be used?

a. in a documentary

b. on a news report

c. in a formal essay

d. all of the above

3. What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing?

a. summarizing shortens, whereas paraphrasing only rephrases

b. summarizing rephrases, whereas paraphrasing shortens

c. paraphrasing always lengthens whereas summarizing only sometimes lengthens

d. paraphrasing and summarizing are the same thing

4. Which of the following is the best possible paraphrasing of this statement? We were able to save the day thanks to teamwork and innovative thinking.

a. We saved the day with teamwork and creative thinking.

b. Because we worked together and used innovation, we made it work.

c. Thanks to innovative thinking and teamwork, we were able to save the day.

d. We were able to save the day together.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
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• Doppelganger
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• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
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• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
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RESEARCH: Scientific Writing- Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summary

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