Paraphrasing is quite an underrated technique for writing enhancement, especially since it has a somewhat murky reputation and connotation in the world of content creation. People usually equate paraphrasing to something unethical or sneaky – a blemish that is largely attributed to the improper use to which it is often put.
When people paraphrase someone’s else content and then pass it off as their own, this counts as an unethical act. Why? Because it involves using someone’s work for one’s own benefit without giving them the due credit.
But, while this is one possible use of paraphrasing, it’s not the only thing that you can do. You can use it positively and constructively to enhance your writing while steering clear of everything…negative, so to speak.
In this post, we are going to look at some tips that you can adhere to for this type of use. These tips will also generally cover some pointers on how to paraphrase content for better quality.
1. Understand and retain the original meaning
If we talk about the process of paraphrasing, it is generally defined by online sources to be the process of restating some content without altering its original meaning.
The retention of meaning in a paraphrased piece of content is actually necessary for the latter to be defined as such. If you add to the meaning or keep something missing, it won’t actually be paraphrasing. It would be just changing.
For example, if you take this sentence:
He walked in the meadow, wondering where his pet mosquito went.
And change it into this:
He walked in the meadow.
It won’t be called paraphrasing since a vital detail in the text will get excised.
So, to avoid this sort of anomaly, you should carefully read the content that you want to read. If it is your own content, you won’t have to try too hard since you will already be familiar with it.
The purpose of reading the content is to ensure that you understand its main idea. That way, you won’t deviate from the meaning, and you won’t have to worry about the same ruining the quality of the content.
2. Use Accurate Synonyms for Swapping the Original Words
Using synonyms in place of the original words is a good paraphrasing technique. It’s more or less necessary for the whole process to take place in the first instance.
But this is something a lot of people can go wrong with. When changing words with their synonyms, some people can pick inaccurate words, i.e., words that don’t match the original ones in meaning. This can cause the meaning of the content to get disturbed, and its overall quality can decrease.
To avoid this, you should take care to filter out exact and accurate synonyms that convey the exact same meaning as the words they’re going to replace.
You can try using:
- Dictionaries
- Thesauri
- Online word banks
And so on.
When contemplating using any word, you should first find out its meaning and its connotation. For example, “supportive” is a synonym of “helpful,” but you won’t actually call a signboard “supportive.” While they are both synonyms of each other, they have different contextual applications.
3. Shuffle Sentence Fragments
This is something that some people can be unaware of while others can be careless about.
Shuffling and changing the sentence structure can be a good way to make the paraphrasing process more intensive and thorough.
While replacing the original words with their synonyms can be a good start, you shouldn’t conclude the paraphrasing process at that. You should also alter the sentence arrangement so that the changes made to the text look more drastic.
If you are looking to paraphrase some content taken from an existing source without making it apparent, doing this can be a good idea.
Here is an example to demonstrate what we mean by this:
There are several rabbits on the hill, devouring what looks like the remains of a cabbage crop.
The remnants of a cabbage crop are being devoured by many rabbits atop the hillock.
In a lot of cases, altering the sentence structure can simply entail changing active voice to passive and vice versa.
4. Utilize Online Tools
While paraphrasing can be tricky, it doesn’t have to be time-taking. If you don’t have the time to manually study the sentences in a piece of content and then make changes to it, you can take some “online” help.
You can use an online paraphrasing tool to rephrase your text without spending a lot of time on it. A good tool can do the job in a matter of seconds and provide you with fairly coherent results.
Other than the obvious benefit of helping you save time, another perk of using online paraphrasing tools is that they can help you improve your own writing skills. When you will see a tool in action using different words and phrases to rephrase the text, you will be able to grow your own vocabulary.
But you have to remember that to get the full benefits of paraphrasing tools, i.e., coherent, quick, and educative results, you need to make sure that you use them properly. Here are some tips that you can follow in this regard.
- Pick a high-quality tool to begin with. There are loads of paraphrasers available on the Internet, and hardly a handful of them are worth using. See what online users have to say about the tool that you’re contemplating using.
- If there are multiple modes offered by the tool, pick a mode according to your needs and requirements. There can be some modes that focus on synonymizing the text, whereas there can be some modes that aim to make the text more formal.
- Give the tool single-context content. Don’t mix different content with different settings/meanings all in one single input. This can confuse the tool and lead it to give inaccurate outputs.
5. Always Check and Revise Your Paraphrased Outputs
Whether you’re paraphrasing manually or using a tool, you can’t miss this step. Whenever you paraphrase some text, you should always read the outputs to make sure that there are no errors or mistakes in it.
We’re not particularly talking about basic errors like grammar and spelling mistakes here. Rather, when you proofread paraphrased content, your eyes should be peeled for contextual errors. You should look out for any changes that you may have accidentally made contrary to the meaning and context of the text.
Conclusion
While paraphrasing can be helpful for different situations and for different purposes, it is important to do it properly. If you don’t know where to start and how to paraphrase your content expertly, following the tips mentioned above can be a good way to start.