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Finally, paraphrasing is a very effective way to rewrite outdated content in a way that’s relevant to your current audience.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

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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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What Is the Difference Between Summarizing and Paraphrasing?

When writing papers or essays, you often need to use information from other sources. Two ways to do this are summarizing and paraphrasing. These methods might look alike at first, but they have different uses and features. Let's look at how paraphrasing is different from summarizing and when to use each one.

How is Paraphrasing Different from Summarizing?

The main difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is what they do and how much they cover. Paraphrasing means saying specific information in your own words but keeping its original meaning. Summarizing means taking a more significant work and making it shorter by focusing on the main points.

Think of it this way: you paraphrase when you want to present someone's idea with about the same amount of detail but in your own words. You summarize when you must give the main points of a longer text or argument in a shorter form.

What is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is writing someone else's ideas or information using your own words and sentence structure. When you paraphrase, you usually:

• Keep the text about the same length
• Include all the main points and details
• Change the wording and how sentences are put together
• Give credit to the original source

Paraphrasing is helpful when you want to include specific information or ideas from a source without using exact quotes. It shows that you understand the material well enough to say it in your own words.

What is Summarizing?

Summarizing means taking the main ideas of a longer text and making them short and clear. When you summarize, you usually:

• Make the original text much shorter
• Focus on the main ideas and key points
• Leave out small details and examples
• Use your own words to give the main message

Summarizing is useful when you need to give an overview of a larger text or when you want to include the main points of a source without going into details.

Comparing Paraphrasing and Summarizing Through Examples

To better understand the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing, let's look at some examples.

A Paraphrasing Example

Let's look at how paraphrasing works in practice:

Original text: "The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban."

Paraphrased version: From the 18th to 19th centuries, a big change called the Industrial Revolution happened in Europe and America. During this time, places where most people farmed and lived in the countryside changed into places with factories and big cities.

A Summarizing Example

Now, let's see how summarizing is different:

Original text (multiple paragraphs about climate change): "Climate change is a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns. Often climate change refers specifically to the rise in global temperatures from the mid-20th century to present.

The primary driver of current climate change is the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space. Certain gasses in the atmosphere block heat from escaping.

The impacts of climate change are far-reaching and include more frequent and severe weather events, rising sea levels, and biodiversity loss. These changes have significant implications for human societies and ecosystems worldwide."

Summarized version: Climate change means long-term changes in weather patterns around the world. It's mostly caused by human activities that make the Earth trap more heat. This leads to many problems like worse storms, higher sea levels, and harm to plants and animals. These changes affect people and nature all over the world.

When Should You Paraphrase or Summarize?

Choosing between paraphrasing and summarizing depends on what you're trying to do in your writing. Here are some tips:

Paraphrase when:

• You want to include specific details or ideas from a source
• The original wording is too hard to understand for your readers
• You need to keep the same amount of detail as the original

Summarize when:

• You need to present the main ideas of a longer work in a short way
• You want to give an overview of multiple sources
• You're introducing a topic before going into details

Remember, for both methods, you need to give credit to the source to avoid copying.

Final Remarks

Knowing the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is important for good writing in school and work. Paraphrasing lets you restate specific information in your own words, while summarizing helps you shorten larger chunks of text into their main points. Both skills are useful for including sources in your writing and showing that you understand the material.

Writing good summaries and paraphrases can be tricky, even for experienced writers. That's where Aithor can help. Aithor is like a digital wordsmith that can assist you in shortening complex ideas into clear summaries or rephrasing passages in new ways.

Aithor can give ideas for new ways to express your thoughts while keeping their main meaning.

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What Is the Difference Between Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Many people confuse paraphrasing and summarizing. There's a difference. Knowing the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing is an important writing skill. Another important writing skill is knowing what plagiarism is and how to make sure you aren’t plagiarizing.

In this article, I’ll answer the questions:

• What is a paraphrasing?
• What is summarizing?
• What is the difference between them?

Plus, I'll share some writing tools and resources that can help you improve your writing. Knowing how to use these writing tools can help you write an effective and efficient assignment or report.

I’ll also tell you how to paraphrase and summarize passages correctly. Then I’ll give you some tips on how to avoid plagiarism.

What Is Paraphrasing?

To know the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing, you must know the answer to the question what is paraphrasing. According to owl.purdue.edu,  

“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.”

What Is Summarizing?

Now that you know the definition of paraphrasing, let’s answer the question what does summarizing mean? According to owl.purdue.edu ,

“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.”

Paraphrasing is where you understand the passage and understand the meaning well enough to restate the important information in your own words. Summarizing is correctly mirroring the original writer’s message and main ideas.

There are some similarities in paraphrasing and summarizing:

• You use your own words to restates the original idea for both. 
• You cite your sources when both paraphrasing and summarizing.

Using writing tools is important because they allow you to check for plagiarism in your work. Sometimes they can help you identify passages you may need to rephrase. Here's a short list of tools you can use:

Some of these tools will also check your passage for correct grammar or help you to prepare a properly formatted source citation.  Be careful, though. Most tools are only able to detect word-for-word copies. 

Here's How to Paraphrase

The right skills are needed to paraphrase successfully. When you paraphrase, you need to match the original text's meaning without using the wording of the original text.

Paraphrasing shows that you understand the original content enough to say it in your own words. You can also use paraphrasing to shorten the original idea. Often paraphrasing is rewording the original text in a precise way. Paraphrasing is common when writing an essay or research paper.

Here are some examples of paraphrasing based on passages I wrote:

Original: Many different jobs use writing whether it's for emails, presentations or more. So, it's important to know how to write.

Paraphrase: Writing is a necessary skill no matter what field you’re in. You need to have good writing skills.

Original: Envato Elements is a subscription service where you pay a low monthly fee for unlimited digital assets.

Paraphrase: If you want unlimited downloads of digital assets, then subscribe to Envato Elements for a low monthly free.

Here's How to Summarize

When you're summarizing a quote, you're summing the main point of the source in your own words. When summarizing the original work, you're creating a shorter version.

The purpose of summarizing is to avoid unneeded details and just cover the main points of the original material. If the reader of your summary has read the original source, then your summary should remind the reader of the original work. If the reader hasn’t read the original material, then your summary should provide an introduction to the original material.

Here are examples of how to summarize based on passages I wrote:

Original:  Writing well can be a difficult skill to have. It’s constantly changing if you want to keep up with a causal style and use recently popular words. Writing also requires a lot of practice in order to become a professional at this skill. But there are several ways to improve this skill other than writing. Reading is one of the ways you can improve your writing. Through reading, you’ll be introduced to other writing styles and other perspectives.

Summary: Improving your writing takes a lot of practice. One of the activities you can do to improve your writing skill is reading.

Original:  Plagiarism is little more than theft and can have many different consequences. One of the consequences for students is that they can get suspended or expelled and barred from entering another school or university. Professionals have consequences too. When a professional writer commits plagiarism, it can follow the writer for their whole career. They may be fired or demoted, and this can cause them to have difficulty finding another job. There are also legal consequences for plagiarism. There have been cases where someone was found guilty of plagiarism and had to pay a fine.

Summary: Plagiarism is a serious crime. Someone who commits plagiarism can be expelled, barred from jobs or schools, or fined.

Notice how the summaries are much shorter than the original passages.

Ten Tips to Avoid Plagiarism When Writing

When you plagiarize another writer's work, you're basically stealing and trying to benefit from the other writers' work. Plagiarism could stop you from getting academic referrals or career advancement. Here are some tips on how to avoid plagiarism:

1. Understand What Plagiarism Is

There are different types of plagiarism. So, to prevent plagiarism, you need to find out and understand the different types of plagiarism. Once you know all the different types of plagiarism and understand it, you can avoid it. YourDictionary.com has a list of the different types of plagiarism. Study the list carefully.

2. Give Yourself Time to Write

Some people may plagiarize due to lack of time. It's always important to give yourself enough time to complete your writing assignments. Make sure that you've got plenty of time to complete any research you may need to do.

If you can, it’s best to give yourself a cushion and complete your writing early if you can. This gives you time to look over your work for mistakes.

3. Use Multiple Sources

Don’t use just one source for your work. When you use one source, it's easier to plagiarize. Instead, use a wide variety of sources. This also shows the reader that you did a lot of research and have a broad understanding of the topic.

4. Make a Note of Your Sources

When you're doing your research, it's best to keep track of your sources. If you’re going to use a quote, paraphrase, or summarize keep track of which source each of those came from. This makes it easier to cite your sources. Make sure that your sources are organized and marked in your notes.

5. Cite Your Sources

Whether you use a quote, paraphrase, or summarize, you need to mention the source. There are established ways to cite your sources. Which one you use depends on your teacher or boss and what method they want you to use.

MLA format is the most common format that you can consider using if you need to cite for personal writing. There are websites such as owl.purdue.edu that have a thorough explanation of how to cite sources in every format. You can also learn more about citing sources from presentations in this article:

6. Add Your Own Insights

Instead of only using source material in your writing, try adding your own insights about the topic. When you add your insights, it shows the reader that you really understand the topic. If you don’t know enough about the topic, then research the topic until you understand and know more about the topic.

7. Edit and Proofread

If you want to avoid mistakes, edit, and proofread your writing several times. Checking your material more than once is best. Often people miss some mistakes the first time editing and proofreading. When proofreading, makes sure that every quote, paraphrase, or summary is cited. You also want to ensure that every citation is done properly and in the right format.

8. Use the Right Tools

If you’re concerned about plagiarism, there are many plagiarism checkers online. This will catch many instances of plagiarism, and you can rewrite it if needed.

Using a plagiarism tool doesn't take a lot of time. So, don't skip this step. A plagiarism tool scans online text and will tell you what percentage of your writing is identical to online articles.

Most schools have a rule about what percentage of the same wording is allowed in assignments. Usually, this percentage is fairly low. Know the percentage your school uses and make sure your assignments are well under.

Some plagiarism checkers can also help you remove badly paraphrased writing that could still be considered theft. You can also print a copy of the plagiarism check and keep it if you're worried about being accused of plagiarism.

9. Reference Page

If you've got many sources, it's beneficial to have a reference page. Reference pages are typically found at the end of your paper. They list the sources you used in your assignment and your research.

It's best to work on this list from the start of your assignment. If you try to hurry up and add a reference page at the end, then you could accidentally forget a source.

10. Get Someone Else to Read Your Work

Ask a friend, teacher, or editor about your sources if you're working on an assignment or project. You can ask if you properly cited your sources. It’s best not to take chances about citing sources since plagiarism can have serious consequences. It’s essential to ensure that everything in your work is properly cited.

Learn More About Writing

Do you want to learn even more about good writing practices? Study these tutorials for more information:

The Best Source for Digital Elements (With Unlimited Use)

If you're in a creative field, then Envato elements is the best value. So, what's Envato Elements? It’s a subscription service where you pay a low monthly fee, and you get unlimited access to digital elements. These digital elements include stock images, fonts, premium PowerPoint templates, and much more.

Because you've got unlimited downloads, you can just download a different template if you download a template, and you don’t like it.

Use These Writing Tips for Your Next Assignment or Project Today!

You now know how to summarize and paraphrase, which are essential tools to use in your writing. You know what paraphrasing is and what summarizing is. I just gave you tips on how not to plagiarize.

Paraphrasing and summarizing will take your writing to the next level. Instead of having an assignment or project filled with quotes, you’ll have a well-written and thought-out piece. If you want to use a new font or need a template, use premium templates from Envato Elements .

Now that you know more about these writing tools, you can make a better writing assignment. Go use these writing tools today!

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in March 2022. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.

• Paraphrasing Tools
• How to Avoid Plagiarism
• Summarizing vs. Paraphrasing: Mastering the Art of Effective Writing

In the realm of effective communication and the pursuit of academic integrity, grasping the nuances of summarizing and paraphrasing is paramount. Both skills are essential tools in a writer’s arsenal, aiding in the clear and ethical presentation of information, whether for academic purposes, professional settings, or personal growth. Summarizing enables us to distill the essence of a text, capturing its most vital points in a concise format. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, involves rephrasing a piece of text with new expressions, while retaining the original meaning, thus demonstrating understanding and mastery over the subject matter. The question of what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? is not just a matter of academic curiosity but a practical concern that touches on the core of how we convey and transform ideas.

This article aims to delve deep into these two fundamental writing techniques, exploring their distinct characteristics, applications, and the contexts in which they are most effectively employed. By understanding what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing?, readers can enhance their writing and comprehension skills, ensuring their communication is both impactful and ethically sound. Through this exploration, we will uncover how mastering the art of both summarizing and paraphrasing can lead to improved clarity, efficiency, and integrity in all forms of written expression.

Definitions and Purposes

Understanding the core of what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing? is crucial for anyone looking to refine their writing and communication skills. Summarizing and paraphrasing, while similar in their aim to convey existing ideas, diverge significantly in their approach and utility.

Summarizing is the process of distilling the main ideas of a text into a more concise version. It involves sifting through details to focus solely on the pivotal points, effectively reducing the length of the original content without sacrificing its core message. The purpose of summarizing extends beyond mere brevity; it allows readers to grasp the essence of a text quickly, making it invaluable for review, study, and situations where understanding overarching themes is more critical than knowing every detail.

Paraphrasing , on the other hand, is defined as the art of rewording a text to achieve a new expression of the same ideas, often maintaining the original length. This technique is not about reduction but transformation, ensuring the original message is preserved in new language. Paraphrasing serves multiple purposes: it demonstrates a deep understanding of the source material, allows writers to integrate information into their work without resorting to direct quotations, and helps avoid plagiarism by expressing concepts in new words.

When pondering what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing brainly, it’s important to recognize the distinct roles each plays in communication and writing. Summarizing is key when the goal is to highlight the main points of lengthy texts, making complex information more accessible. Paraphrasing, however, is crucial for reinterpreting texts closely, ensuring the original meaning is intact while seamlessly blending into new contexts. Both are fundamental in achieving clarity, enhancing comprehension, and ensuring academic and professional integrity in written communication.

Key Differences

The distinction between summarizing and paraphrasing is pivotal in academic and professional writing, with each method serving specific purposes based on the context and intended outcome. Understanding these differences is essential for effective communication, whether one is crafting a scholarly article, engaging in business correspondence, or simply aiming to convey information more effectively. Here, we explore the main distinctions between these two techniques, focusing on aspects such as length, detail level, and their preferred use in various contexts.

Length : One of the most apparent differences between summarizing and paraphrasing is the length of the resulting text. Summaries are inherently shorter than the original texts, as they aim to distill the content down to its most essential points, omitting all but the most crucial information. This brevity is particularly useful when dealing with large volumes of information where space or attention span is limited. Paraphrasing, by contrast, often results in text that is similar in length to the original. The goal of paraphrasing is not to reduce the content but to restate it, providing a different expression while keeping the full detail and meaning intact.

Detail Level : Closely related to the difference in length is the level of detail each method retains from the original source. Summarizing, by its nature, involves stripping away details to focus on the core message or main points. This means that examples, illustrations, and subsidiary arguments typically found in the original text are usually omitted in a summary. Paraphrasing, however, retains these details, rearticulating them in a new form. This method ensures that the nuanced argument or complex information is preserved, making paraphrasing ideal for contexts where fidelity to the original ideas and their full complexity is necessary.

Preferred Use : The choice between summarizing and paraphrasing often depends on the specific needs of the academic or professional context. Summarizing is particularly valuable in research and study, where synthesizing information from multiple sources into a coherent overview is required. It allows readers to quickly grasp the essence of a text without delving into all the specifics, making it ideal for literature reviews, abstracts, and executive summaries. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, is widely used when writers need to incorporate ideas from other works into their own writing without resorting to direct quotes. This technique is crucial for avoiding plagiarism, demonstrating understanding, and ensuring the seamless integration of external information into new works.

In summary, while both summarizing and paraphrasing are indispensable tools for effective writing, their key differences in length, detail level, and preferred contexts highlight the importance of selecting the right technique for the task at hand. Whether aiming for conciseness or fidelity to detail, understanding these distinctions can enhance one’s ability to communicate clearly and effectively across a range of academic and professional settings.

Examples and Application

To practically demonstrate what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing, and to highlight their distinct applications in various contexts, let’s use a short paragraph from a hypothetical research paper on climate change as our base text:

Original Text: “Climate change poses a significant threat to global biodiversity, leading to adverse effects on ecosystems and species worldwide. The increasing temperatures and changing precipitation patterns disrupt the natural habitats of many species, forcing them to migrate or adapt to new conditions. This environmental shift not only affects wildlife but also has profound implications for human societies, as it impacts food security, water resources, and overall biodiversity which are crucial for sustaining life on Earth.”

Summarized Version: Climate change significantly threatens global biodiversity and human societies by disrupting ecosystems and affecting food security and water resources.

Paraphrased Version: Global warming represents a major risk to the world’s biodiversity, causing detrimental impacts on natural ecosystems and various species. Such changes in the environment lead to shifts in wildlife habitats, necessitating adaptation or relocation, and pose significant challenges to human populations by jeopardizing food supply and water availability.

In the summarized version, the essence of the original text is distilled into a concise statement, focusing only on the key points about the threat of climate change to biodiversity and human societies. This demonstrates what is the difference between summarizing and paraphrasing brainly, as summarizing condenses the information, making it ideal for quick reference or an overview of a topic in academic writing, research summaries, or note-taking.

The paraphrased version, while maintaining the original message and detail level, rewords the content to present the same ideas differently. This skill is crucial in academic writing and content creation, where integrating information from various sources without falling into plagiarism is essential. Paraphrasing allows authors to use existing research to support their arguments or findings while ensuring the originality of their work.

Both summarizing and paraphrasing are invaluable in academic writing, research, and content creation, serving different purposes. Summarizing enables writers to present a broad overview of a topic succinctly, making complex information accessible. Paraphrasing, meanwhile, is key for detailed discussion and analysis, allowing writers to engage deeply with source material without compromising academic integrity. Mastering these skills ensures effective communication of ideas and the ethical use of information, highlighting the importance of understanding the nuanced differences between summarizing and paraphrasing.

Tips for Effective Practice

Mastering the skills of summarizing and paraphrasing is essential for anyone engaged in writing, whether for academic purposes, professional communication, or personal development. These techniques not only enhance the clarity and effectiveness of your writing but also ensure adherence to ethical standards by avoiding plagiarism. Here are some practical tips to help you refine your ability to summarize and paraphrase effectively.

Summarizing Efficiently

• Read Thoroughly : Begin by reading the entire text carefully to understand its main ideas and overall message. This comprehensive understanding is crucial for identifying the core elements that should be included in your summary.
• Identify Key Points : Look for the main arguments, findings, or messages in the text. These are the elements that your summary should focus on, as they represent the essence of the original work.
• Eliminate Details : Once you’ve identified the key points, consciously remove any extraneous information, such as specific examples, detailed descriptions, or subsidiary arguments. Your goal is to distill the text to its most fundamental insights.
• Use Your Own Words : Write the summary using your own language, which helps to ensure that you’ve truly understood the material and are not simply copying the author’s words.
• Keep It Brief : Aim for your summary to be significantly shorter than the original text. A good rule of thumb is to try for about 10-15% of the original length, depending on the summarization context.

Paraphrasing Effectively

• Understand Before You Start : Just like summarizing, effective paraphrasing requires a thorough understanding of the original text. You should be able to explain the concept in your own words before attempting to paraphrase.
• Change the Sentence Structure : One of the simplest ways to paraphrase is to alter the structure of the sentence. If the original sentence is passive, consider changing it to active voice, or vice versa. Rearrange the parts of the sentence in a way that makes sense but differs from the original.
• Use Synonyms Wisely : Replace words with their synonyms where appropriate, but be cautious not to change the technical terms or specific concepts that could alter the original meaning.
• Combine Sentences or Break Them Down : Depending on the complexity and length of the sentences, you may need to combine several short sentences into one or break a long sentence into several shorter ones.
• Check for Accuracy : Once you’ve paraphrased a section, compare it to the original to ensure that you’ve preserved the original meaning. It’s crucial that the paraphrased version stands as a true representation of the original ideas but in your own words.

By adhering to these strategies, you can enhance your summarizing and paraphrasing skills, ensuring your writing is both effective and ethically sound. Practice is key to mastering these techniques, so consider applying them regularly in your writing endeavors to become more proficient.

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September 6

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Summarizing vs. Paraphrasing: What’s the Real Difference?

By   Joshua Turner

September 6, 2023

Summarizing and paraphrasing are two essential skills in writing. They are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct differences. Summarizing is the process of condensing a text into a shorter version, highlighting the main points, and leaving out the details.

On the other hand, paraphrasing is rewording a text in your own words, retaining the original meaning and message.

Understanding summarizing involves identifying the key ideas and concepts in a text and presenting them in a concise and clear manner. It requires a good understanding of the text and the ability to distinguish between essential and non-essential information.

Summarizing is useful when you want to provide a brief overview of a longer text or when you want to highlight the main ideas.

Understanding paraphrasing involves rewording a text in a way that retains the original meaning but uses different words and sentence structures.

It requires a good understanding of the text and the ability to express the ideas in your own words. Paraphrasing is useful when you want to avoid plagiarism or when you want to clarify the meaning of a text.

Key Takeaways

• Summarizing involves condensing a text into a shorter version, highlighting the main points and leaving out the details.
• Paraphrasing involves rewording a text in a way that retains the original meaning but uses different words and sentence structures.
• Summarizing is useful when you want to provide a brief overview of a longer text, while paraphrasing is useful when you want to avoid plagiarism or clarify the meaning of a text.

Definition of Summarizing

Summarizing  is the process of condensing a longer piece of text into a shorter, more concise version while retaining the main points and key concepts. It involves creating an overview of the text that captures the gist of the original content.

Purpose of Summaries

The purpose of summaries is to provide readers with a condensed version of a longer text that highlights the main points and key concepts. Summaries are useful for quickly understanding the content of a longer piece of writing, such as an article or book, without having to read the entire text.

Main Points in Summarizing

The main points in summarizing include identifying the key concepts and ideas in the original text, condensing the information into a shorter version, and ensuring that the summary accurately represents the main points of the original text.

Steps in Summarizing

The steps in summarizing include reading the original text carefully, identifying the main points and key concepts, condensing the information into a shorter version, and reviewing the summary to ensure that it accurately represents the main points of the original text. It is important to use your own words when creating a summary and to avoid copying phrases or sentences directly from the original text.

In summary, summarizing is the process of condensing a longer piece of text into a shorter, more concise version while retaining the main points and key concepts. It involves creating an overview of the text that captures the gist of the original content. The purpose of summaries is to provide readers with a condensed version of a longer text that highlights the main points and key concepts.

The steps in summarizing include reading the original text carefully, identifying the main points and key concepts, condensing the information into a shorter version, and reviewing the summary to ensure that it accurately represents the main points of the original text.

Understanding Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing  is the act of rephrasing a text in your own words while maintaining the original meaning. It is an essential skill in academic writing , as it allows you to incorporate information from other sources while avoiding plagiarism. Paraphrasing involves interpreting the main ideas in the original text and presenting them in your own voice.

Purpose of Paraphrases

The purpose of paraphrasing is to present information from other sources in a way that is more accessible or relevant to your intended audience. It also allows you to integrate information from multiple sources into a cohesive argument. Paraphrasing can also help you to clarify complex ideas and concepts.

Main Ideas in Paraphrasing

The main ideas in paraphrasing are to understand the original text, interpret the main ideas, and rephrase them in your own words. It is important to maintain the original meaning and avoid changing the author’s intended message. Paraphrasing should also be done in your own voice to avoid plagiarism.

Steps in Paraphrasing

The steps in paraphrasing include reading and understanding the original text, identifying the main ideas, and rephrasing them in your own words. You should also check your paraphrase against the original text to ensure that you have maintained the original meaning. It is also important to cite the original source to avoid plagiarism.

Comparison of Summarizing and Paraphrasing

Summarizing and paraphrasing  are two different techniques used to convey information from one source to another.

Length and Detail

Summarizing involves condensing a large amount of information into a concise version while maintaining the main points. On the other hand, paraphrasing involves rephrasing the text in your own words while retaining the original meaning. Summaries are shorter than the original text and omit details, while paraphrases are usually the same length as the original text and include more details.

Quoting and Citation

When summarizing, you don’t need to use direct quotes or citations because you are putting the information into your own words. However, when paraphrasing, you still need to give credit to the original source by using citations and quotation marks when necessary.

Structure and Concepts

Summarizing involves restructuring the original text to make it more concise, while paraphrasing involves rewording the original text. Summarizing focuses on the main points while paraphrasing focuses on the details.

When summarizing, you may need to rearrange the concepts to make them more understandable, while paraphrasing may require you to explain the concepts more clearly.

The audience and purpose of the text can influence whether summarizing or paraphrasing is appropriate. Summarizing is useful when the audience needs a quick overview of the main points, while paraphrasing is useful when the audience needs a more detailed understanding of the text. The purpose of the text can also determine whether summarizing or paraphrasing is appropriate. Summarizing is useful when the purpose is to provide a brief overview, while paraphrasing is useful when the purpose is to explain the details.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Using someone else’s work without proper credit is not only unethical, but it can also have serious consequences. By understanding plagiarism, citing your source material, and using a plagiarism checker, you can ensure that your work is original and free of plagiarism.

Understanding Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s work without giving them proper credit. It can be intentional or unintentional, and it can have serious consequences. To avoid plagiarism, understand what it is and how to avoid it.

Citing Source Material

Citing your source material is an essential part of avoiding plagiarism. When you use someone else’s work, you must give them credit by citing the original source. There are different citation styles, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago, so make sure to use the appropriate one for your work.

Using a Plagiarism Checker

Using a plagiarism checker is a great way to ensure that your work is original and free of plagiarism. There are many free and paid tools available online that can help you check your work for plagiarism. These tools compare your work to other sources on the internet and highlight any similarities.

In summary, while summarizing and paraphrasing are similar in that they both involve condensing or rewording information, there are some key differences between them. Summarizing involves reducing a text to its essential points, while paraphrasing involves restating the central idea in your own words.

Accuracy is crucial in both cases, but it is especially important when paraphrasing since it involves conveying information in a new way. Paraphrasing is useful when you want to highlight specific insights or takeaways from a text while summarizing is better suited for providing an overview of the essential information.

When deciding whether to summarize or paraphrase, it’s important to consider the function of the text and the audience you are writing for. Summarizing is useful when you want to provide a quick overview of a text’s most relevant information, while paraphrasing is better suited for conveying the central idea in a new way.

Overall, whether you choose to summarize or paraphrase, the goal is to convey relevant information in a clear and concise manner that helps the reader gain insights and takeaways from the text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common questions about this topic.

What are some examples of paraphrasing and summarizing, and how do they differ?

Paraphrasing involves restating a passage in your own words while summarizing involves condensing a larger text into a shorter version. For example, paraphrasing a quote in an essay would involve rephrasing it in a way that still conveys the original meaning, while summarizing a news article would involve highlighting the main points in a few sentences.

What are the similarities and differences between summarizing and paraphrasing?

Both summarizing and paraphrasing involve rephrasing information in your own words. However, summarizing involves condensing a larger text into a shorter version, while paraphrasing involves restating a passage in your own words. Both techniques are useful for avoiding plagiarism and presenting information in a clear and concise way.

How do you paraphrase a quote in an essay?

To paraphrase a quote in an essay, you should rephrase the quote in your own words while still maintaining its original meaning. This involves understanding the main idea of the quote and expressing it in a way that fits with the rest of your essay. It is important to properly cite the original source of the quote to avoid plagiarism.

When using a source, should you quote, paraphrase, or summarize it?

The choice between quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing a source depends on the purpose of your writing. If you want to include a specific passage word-for-word, you should quote it. If you want to restate a passage in your own words, you should paraphrase it. If you want to condense a larger text into a shorter version, you should summarize it.

What is the definition of summarizing?

Summarizing is the act of condensing a larger text into a shorter version that highlights the main points of the original. This technique is useful for presenting information in a clear and concise way and can be applied to a variety of texts, such as news articles, research papers, and books.

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Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing: What’s the Difference?

Before we move to more differences, let’s first understand Paraphrasing and Summarizing:

Major differences between Paraphrasing and Summarizing

If you have a related query, kindly feel free to let me know in the comments below.

• Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Summary and Paraphrase

On the other hand, paraphrase means the restatement of the passage, in explicit language, so as to clarify its hidden meaning, without condensing it. In paraphrasing, the written material, idea or statement of some other person is presented in your own words, which is easy to understand.

These two are used in an excerpt to include the ideas of other author’s but without the use of quotations. Let us talk about the difference between summary and paraphrase.

Content: Summary Vs Paraphrase

Comparison chart.

Definition of Summary

A summary is an abridged form of a passage, which incorporates all the main or say relevant points of the original text while keeping the meaning and essence intact. It is used to give an overview of the excerpt in brief, to the reader. In summary, the author’s ideas are presented in your own words and sentences, in a succinct manner.

A summary encapsulates the gist and the entire concept of the author’s material in a shorter fashion. It also indicates the source of the information, using citation. Basically the length of the summary depends on the material being condensed.

It encompasses the main idea of every paragraph and the facts supporting that idea. It does not end with a conclusion, however, if there is a message in the conclusion, it is included in the summary. It also uses the keywords from the original material, but it does not use the same phrases or sentences.

Summaries save a lot of time of the reader, as the reader need not go through the entire work to filter the most important information contained in it, rather the reader gets the most relevant information in hand.

Definition of Paraphrase

Paraphrasing is not a reproduction of a similar copy of another author’s work, rather it means to rewrite the excerpt in your own language, using comprehensible words and restructuring the sentences, but without changing the context. Hence, in paraphrasing, the original idea and meaning of the text are maintained, but the sentence structure and the words used to deliver the message would be different.

The paraphrased version of the text is simple and easily understandable. The length is almost similar to the original text, as it only translates the original text into simplest form. It is not about the conversion of the text in a detailed manner, rather it is presented in such a way that goes well with your expression.

In paraphrasing, someone else’s written material is restated or rephrased in your own language, containing the same degree of detail. It is the retelling of the concept, using a different tone to address a different audience.

Key Differences Between Summary and Paraphrase

The points discussed below, explains the difference between summary and paraphrase

• To summarize means to put down the main ideas of the essential points of the excerpt, in your own words, while keeping its essence intact. On the contrary, to paraphrase means to decode the original text in your own words without distorting its meaning or essence.
• A summary is all about emphasizing the central idea (essence) and the main points of the text. In contrast, paraphrasing is done to simplify and clarify the meaning of the given excerpt, so as to enhance its comprehension.
• If we talk about the length of the summary in comparison to the original text, it is shorter, because summary tends to highlight the main points only and excludes the irrelevant material of the text. As against, in case of paraphrasing, the length is almost equal to the original text, because its aim is to decipher, i.e. to convert the complex text in a language which is easily understandable without excluding any material from the text.
• The main objective of summarizing is to compile and present the gist of the author’s idea or concept in a few sentences or points. Conversely, the primary objective of paraphrasing is to clarify the meaning of author’s work in a clear and effective manner when the words used by him/her are not important or the words are too complex to understand.
• A summary is used when you want to give a quick overview of the main ideas to the reader about the topic. On the contrary, Paraphrase is used when the idea or main point is more significant than the actual words used in the material and also when you want to use your own voice to explain the concept or idea.
• A summary does not include lengthy explanations, examples and what the reader has understood. In contrast, a paraphrase does not include the exact same wordings or paragraphs used in the original source, so as to avoid plagiarism.

Steps for Summarizing

• First of all, you need to read the entire passage twice or thrice to grasp the meaning and essence of the material.
• Identify and underline all the important points, ideas and supporting facts which you have read.
• Now, explain the material to yourself, for better understanding.
• Rewrite in your own words, the salient points and central idea from the original text, in a few sentences.
• Omit unnecessary detailing and examples.
• Make a comparison of the original text and the summary which you’ve created.

Steps for Paraphrasing

• Read the entire text carefully, twice or thrice, to absorb the meaning and essence.
• Rewrite the author’s ideas in a unique language, i.e. in your own voice. Make sure that the sentences and words used are your own and it should not be a mere substitution or swapping of words and phrases.
• Further, the sequence in which idea is presented, need not be different from the original source.
• Compare the paraphrased version with the main text, and ensure that the essence clearly presented, as well as make sure that it is free from plagiarism.
• Check that the words and phrases which are directly taken from the text are within quotation marks.
• Provide references.

In a nutshell, a summary is nothing but a shorter version of an excerpt or passage. On the contrary, a paraphrase is the restatement of the original text or excerpt. One can use any of the two sources, as per the requirement, when the idea of any of the sources is relevant to your material, but the wording is not that important.

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