Resource of the Week #42: A Resource on Paraphrasing Properly

Hello again. This week I learned of another resource on avoiding plagiarism. It includes guidance on paraphrasing (that is, on using one’s own words to present what others said).

This resource is titled “Avoiding Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism, and Other Questionable Writing Practices: A Guide to Ethical Writing”. It’s available in HTML and PDF.

Paraphrasing is an important skill in research writing. Such writing often must present content from others’ writing. One way to include such content without plagiarizing is to quote the material exactly (and indicate that one did so).

Usually, however, research writing doesn’t extensively quote others’ work. Rather, to present others’ information and ideas, one mainly paraphrases what was said (and, of course, cites the source).

But what constitutes adequate paraphrasing? How much must be changed? What kinds of changes are needed?

This resource helps answer such questions, largely by discussing examples of adequate and inadequate paraphrasing. Also, the PDF version contains an exercise in this regard.

This resource is by Miguel Roig, PhD, professor of psychology at St. John’s University. Funding came from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI), which also has posted other resources.

Thank you, Dr. Roig and ORI!

Until the next post— Barbara