Composing a piece of text for an assignment or a blog can require you to perform thorough research, compose content, and ensure its uniqueness. That brings the need for paraphrasing the content and summarizing. However, the terms paraphrasing and summarizing are mistaken as synonyms. They are both related, but they are not the same. To clarify the concepts in this blog, we will focus on paraphrasing vs summarizing and their differences.
What is paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing refers to writing a piece of content again without changing its actual meaning. It would require you to read the text and present that in your own words. A paraphrased text can take the major part of the original text and can be generally shorter.
The need to paraphrase
From blogs to assignments, paraphrasing can be the call for creating content in different situations. For a broader picture, here is the set of reasons why you need to paraphrase:
- To refine the specific text from a short passage.
- To save from the overuse of quotations.
- To explain the word without focusing on wordings.
- To report statistics and numerical data.
- To share the crucial part of a passage.
- To avoid plagiarism.
How to paraphrase without the occurrence of any plagiarism issue?
Plagiarism refers to presenting the work of some other author as one’s. With many benefits and usage of paraphrasing, using content without plagiarism is another. Either through adding synonyms or changing the speech, there are different ways to paraphrase without plagiarizing. To facilitate it for you, here are the steps you can proceed with:
- Understand the meaning
Before you begin to compose the content in your own words, it is necessary for you to understand it properly. For this, you can read the resource several times, and you can even look for multiple references. It can allow you to have several sources and a lot of information.
- Note down the major points
Whether you consider single or multiple references, you should note down the important points. With this, you can take the information and still not copy the same notion of the writer. You can use the material and phrase it in your words.
- Write your content
Once you understand the meaning and take the major points, you can compose fresh content. While doing so, you must make sure that you do not have to look at the original passage and prepare for what you have understood.
- Compare the content
After writing your content, the next step should be comparing it with the original passage. It can allow you to evaluate the authenticity of the facts and check if you have missed any crucial information.
- Cite the Source
Even if you write the content in your own words, citation helps track the original idea. It also gives the credit to the original source.
What does paraphrased content look like?
To get a clearer idea of paraphrased content, you can take a look at these examples of paraphrasing:
Original Content
Digital marketing has been a growing field in the past decades. It includes using different platforms to promote businesses. Its purpose is to connect to its target audience present in digital mediums.
Paraphrased Content
Over the past decades, digital marketing has become a booming field. It consists of promoting a brand while availing of the different digital platforms. It paves the way for businesses to reach their potential customers on various platforms.
Both of these passages have the same meaning but are written differently. The choices of the words are not the same, and in the first sentence only, there is a change in the sentence structure. That is how you can paraphrase the content.
What Is Summarizing?
Summary refers to a short review, a restatement of the major points, which is a conclusion of the work in most cases. With this, summarizing refers to composing a summary of the content or other resources. It has to communicate the most crucial part for the writer. You have to prepare it in your own words, and it has to state the information you want to emphasize.
When to Summarize?
Several benefits come with the need to summarize. First of all, it allows you to understand the structure in which the content has been organized and then combine them into the major parts. With this, you can focus on putting lights in the most crucial part of the text. Here are the conditions that require summarizing:
- To reduce the source material and bring out the major and relatable points.
- To remove extra information from the crucial source material.
- To make the material simple and easy to understand.
How to Summarize?
Summarizing involves taking the ideas from a text, which can be some other author. You must also add the citation information for sharing the source of the concept. You can use Smodin Summarizer to summarize all the texts you want. Like we did for paraphrasing, here is the step-by-step explanation of summarizing:
Find and Read
The first step you need to do is select the text. It can be four to five lines and can support the idea. After that, you have to thoroughly read it to get a detailed idea and understanding of the topic. You must prepare notes, and add the keywords, terms, and keywords you can use to understand it better.
Filter the Content
Once done with this, you have to filter the content you will compose into the summary. For this, you have to select the text you want to keep and eliminate the unnecessary. After sorting the material you have to include, you can write the summary in your own words.
Revise and Edit
After completing your summary, you have to read it and correct any mistakes. You also have to verify the facts presented over there. To attain that, you can compare it with the text and make sure that there are no aspects left for you to make changes.
Before submitting your summary, you must check if it can identify the writer of the actual text. It has to consist and combine the ideas initially written and present unbiased information.
What does summarizing look like?
To get a clear picture of what summarization can look like, let us present an example of the summary.
Here are a few paragraphs on the importance of language:
Language plays a crucial role in communication among people. After becoming a master in it, you can become well-versed with its grammar, the system of words, and structure to facilitate the exchange of thoughts and emotions. It is also essential to express the ideas and customs in societies and cultures. When you choose to learn the concepts of a new language, you can connect with new thoughts and ideas. You can also make yourself familiar with customs and the manner in which people greet each other.
The role of learning a language also encompasses professional growth as a person with a command of the global language can find more career possibilities. Several sectors and industries need professionals well-versed in common languages.
(Anonymous)
This is an anonymous paragraph, but it is necessary to identify the writer. So, let us assume that Dr. A has written it for a paper presented at University Y in 2020. The title is The influence of language on an individual. In that case, here is how you will present the summary of the paragraph:
Summary:
In the paper on The influence of language on an Individual at Y University, Z, Dr. A presented his thoughts on language. It allows people to exchange their thoughts and ideas. Learning a new language can allow people to connect to new thoughts and ideas and learn about new customs. It can also pave the way for your growth at a professional level. This is because industries often look for professionals who master a commonly-spoken language.
About the Summary
This summary has the source, time, and writer while expressing the essential points. It also states the perception presented by the author but in a different and neutral manner.
Final Thoughts
Paraphrasing and summarizing are somehow different from each other. This blog has focused on putting some light on paraphrasing vs summarizing. Where paraphrasing is about conveying the same messages without shortening the length, summarizing explains the crucial points more succinctly. However, the need is to create plagiarism-free content through both the methods you prefer to go ahead with. Talking of composing unique content, Smodin.io can provide you with the tools to prepare an assignment/blog for you. All you need to do is copy your content, use it, and wait for fresh and distinct content.