How to paraphrase

To paraphrase, read the passage until you understand it, put it out of sight, and write the idea in your own words and your own sentence structure. Then check your version against the original, both for accuracy and for phrases you copied by accident, and cite the source. Swapping a few words for synonyms is not paraphrasing, and a paraphrase with no citation is still plagiarism.

Paraphrase, summary or quote

These are three different ways to use a source, and each has its place.

All three need a citation. Putting an idea in your own words changes who wrote the sentence. It does not change whose idea it is.

Five steps

1. Read it until you could explain it to a friend. If you cannot, you are not ready to paraphrase it. Read it again or look up what you do not know.
2. Note the key points in a few words of your own. Mark any technical terms and names. Those stay as they are.
3. Put the source away and write from your notes. This is the step that matters. With the original in front of you, its sentences pull yours into their shape.
4. Compare the two. Is the meaning the same, with nothing added and nothing lost? Have you kept the original's order or a run of its words? Any distinctive phrase you want to keep goes in quotation marks.
5. Cite it, in whatever style you have been asked to use.

An example

Take this passage, written for this page:

Urban foxes have adapted to city life by shifting their activity to the hours when streets are quietest. They feed mostly on discarded food, and their territories are far smaller than those of foxes in the countryside.

A bad paraphrase:

City foxes have adjusted to urban life by moving their activity to the times when roads are calmest. They eat mainly thrown-away food, and their ranges are much smaller than those of rural foxes.

Every sentence has the same shape as the original, in the same order, with the words swapped one for one. This is sometimes called patchwriting. It counts as plagiarism even with a citation, because the structure is still the first writer's.

A good paraphrase:

Foxes that live in towns keep to a much smaller patch than country foxes and get most of their food from what people throw away. They have also learnt to come out when few people are about (Author, year).

The order has changed, the sentences are built differently, and the words are ones the new writer would use. Nothing has been added: the original did not say why the territories are smaller, so the paraphrase does not either. And it is cited.

Techniques that help

• Change the structure before the words. Start from a different point in the passage. Split a long sentence or join two short ones.
• Change the grammar. Turn a verb into a noun or the other way round: "adapted" becomes "adaptation", or "has got used to".
• Say it aloud first. Explain the passage to an empty room, then write down what you said.
• Write for a different reader. Putting it so a twelve-year-old would follow forces new sentences.
• Keep what has no substitute. Names, numbers and technical terms stay as they are. Nobody expects a new word for "photosynthesis".

What counts as plagiarism

• Copying the words without quotation marks, even if you cite the source.
• Swapping synonyms while keeping the sentence structure.
• A good paraphrase with no citation.
• Stitching together phrases from several sources into one paragraph.
• Translating a source from another language and presenting it as your own.

Schools, universities and employers each set their own rules, including on whether and how you may use AI. Where it matters, read them. This page is general guidance, not a ruling on any one case.

Paraphrasing your own writing

Most rewording has nothing to do with sources. You have written a sentence and it is too long, too stiff or too much like the one before it. Here there is nothing to cite, and the only test is whether the new version says the same thing better.

Due to the fact that the meeting was postponed, we were unable to reach a decision on the budget.

The meeting was put off, so the budget is still undecided.

This is the job rewording tools are best at. The sentence rewriter handles a single line, and the AI summarizer is for when you want the main point and not the whole passage.

Using a paraphrasing tool honestly

The paraphrasing tool takes a passage you paste in and says the same thing in different words and a different sentence shape. You can tell it where the text is going and how it should sound. It is an honest help if you treat the result the way you would treat your own first attempt.

• Check the meaning against the original. An AI can drop a "usually", turn "may" into "will", or add a reason that was never there. Put the two side by side.
• Keep the citation. A reworded passage still carries someone else's idea. Running it through a tool does not make it yours.
• Understand it first. If you could not have paraphrased the passage yourself, you cannot tell whether the tool got it right.
• Follow the rules you are under. If the task was set to show your own understanding, do that part yourself.

Hemmingway rewrites in plain English and gives you one version. It is English-first, and it can get something wrong while sounding sure, which is why the side-by-side check matters. We make no promise about what a plagiarism checker or an AI detector will say about any text. There is a free trial with no card needed.

Try HemmingwayDownload the app

Common questions

What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is restating someone else's idea in your own words and your own sentence structure, at about the same length, with a citation. It shows that you understood the idea.

Is paraphrasing plagiarism?

Not when it is done properly. It becomes plagiarism if you keep the original's structure and only swap words, or if you leave out the citation. The idea still belongs to its author, however you word it.

Do I need to cite a paraphrase?

Yes. A citation is for the idea as well as the words. Only your own ideas and common knowledge go without one.

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarising?

A paraphrase restates the whole passage in about the same number of words. A summary gives only the main point and is much shorter. Both are in your own words, and both need a citation.

Is it okay to use a paraphrasing tool?

For rewording your own writing, yes. For a source, check your school's or employer's rules on AI first, compare the result with the original for meaning, and keep the citation.

How many words do I need to change to paraphrase?

There is no number. The test is whether the sentence structure and the word choices are your own and the meaning is unchanged. A version that keeps the original's shape is too close, however many words you changed.