In the sciences, the default method of presenting source material is by paraphrasing it. While there are instances when you might quote, they are very specific. Science isn’t focused on analyzing how someone says something or what they say; rather science focused on the ideas behind the words. Scientists are building theories and models about how the natural world operates. Analysis is focused on the data we collect and the explanations we create to interpret that data—we prioritize the idea, not the words someone used when explaining that idea. Quoting isn’t forbidden, but it’s not used very often and when you use it, you need a very good reason to do so. If you are analyzing the language a person is using to represent a natural phenomenon, then you would likely quote the author’s original language, but that’s not usually the kind of analysis you’ll be doing in your science classes.

However, paraphrase poses a challenge because science also uses a lot of technical language. To speak intelligently about your topic, you have to know what language must be maintained. Paraphrasing is a learned skill that you will become better at as you develop expertise in your concentration. As you do so, you will develop better judgment in terms of what words you can keep and what words are transposable.

The challenge with paraphrase is that any given sentence or paragraph can be paraphrased in many different ways. Whether you keep more or less detail, highlight some elements and not others, depends on the purpose you are using that evidence for. For example, if you are establishing the key findings in a particular area, you may paraphrase findings from an article with very little detail. You may be interested in the more concise of paraphrases. However, if you are evaluating how previous research has portrayed a particular phenomenon, you may want to provide more detail about the article’s experiments or the interpretations.

Here are some guidelines for paraphrasing

What is NOT sufficient paraphrasing?

  • Changing one or even a few words

  • Rearranging words

  • Replacing the words with synonyms

  • Omitting a few words

  • Changing punctuation

  • Reordering the phrases in a sentence

  • Reordering the sentences in a paragraph.

What are characteristics of a GOOD paraphrase?

  • Accurately re-presenting the author’s meaning

  • Using correct citation information

  • Using your own words to re-present an author’s meaning

  • Using your own sentence structure when re-presenting that meaning

  • If you’re paraphrasing a longer passage, you may consider reconfiguring the order of the ideas if necessary

(adapted from Principles of Paraphrase, Harvard Graduate School of Education)

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