When coming to write a research paper or a report, most EFL students tend to paraphrase through using synonyms and antonyms. Thinking that it is enough. How can we deal with such a thing?
No this is not paraphrasing. It would be patchwork plagiarism. https://www.umsl.edu/~comm/files/pdfs/plagiarism.pdf
I always recommend to students that they take notes while reading articles being sure to synthesize the work into their own words. Then when writing their paper they should use these notes to write their final product. It keeps you two steps away from the original material.
If the goal is to avoid plagiarism in academic writing, I would recommencement significant changes in the sentence structure when paraphrasing.
Agnieszka Will geb. Gronek good technique I must say. But don't you think that explaining the meaning is the same as using synonyms?
David Carl Ison good advice thanks. But I think Patchwriting is A kind of Stitching, a kind of Collage.
Dear Agnieszka Will geb. Gronek thank you a lot. What you have mentioned is a very good way for teaching students the first steps of Paraphrasing. I agree 100%.
A paraphrase is a restatement of a piece of writing in your own words, syntax, and style, but preserving the tone of the original having almost the same length. A common method is to take down notes in an abbreviated form using devices such as abbreviations, symbols, shorter words, and numbers. Later, you can prepare the draft in full sentences using the abbreviated notes, which will be appreciable different from the original.
Another technique is to use ingeniously a mix of other paraphrasing techniques, for example, using synonyms, simpler words, changing the class or order of words, and changing the structure of sentences. You can also change the form of words, for example, from an adjective to a noun or from a noun to a verb. You can also change sentences in active voice to passive voice or vice versa depending on the situation. Splitting long sentences into simple sentences or combining small sentences into complex sentences also help. A well-written paraphrase is appreciably different from the original source in both wording and structure without substantially altering the intended meaning. Hope it is now clear that using synonyms or antonyms is not enough for paraphrasing a text.
May Ali Abdul-Ameer Hi May, yes, for sure, but I see you're actually referring to people whose level would be, in an academic context, higher. As we know, the process of speaking and writing are different; writing is not subject to all the same 'on the fly' fluency process as speaking so you would think that, having the time to think about text before producing it, they would make better lexical choices.
Use synonyms or antonyms in some cases and simple words on condition that the original text does not change.
Hi May,
It depends on the nature of paraphrasing. If you are paraphrasing text from your own article to reuse in a different article, then simple rewording using synonyms is enough. However, if you are using text from other’s articles, then you have rewrite the text in your own words, if not then it amounts to plagiarism.
Following blog provides information on the best paraphrasing and referencing practices.
https://www.ref-n-write.com/trial/paraphrasing-techniques-for-rephrasing-rewording-and-rewriting/
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