Paraphrasing words

Example of summarized text
Summary:
An article published in April 2018 highlighted clear differences between generations of children in the Netherlands, stating that 70% of the grandparents of the current generation spent more time outside than at home, compared to 10% today. Since 2013, the percentage of children who play outside every day has decreased from 20% to just 14%. There are several negative outcomes for children that have resulted from lack of outdoor play, including increasing problems with short-sightedness due to a preference for time on computers, shortages of Vitamin D, problems with weight, and limited development of social skills (DutchNews.nl, 2018).
Why summarize?
While paraphrasing and quoting are ideal if you wish to focus on one section of a research article, summarizing is a useful tool if you find the entire source relevant and interesting.
Avoiding plagiarism
When paraphrasing, you have to be careful to avoid accidental plagiarism.
This can happen if the paraphrase is too similar to the original quote, with phrases or whole sentences that are identical (and should therefore be in quotation marks). It can also happen if you fail to properly cite the source of the paraphrase.
To make sure you’ve properly paraphrased and cited all your sources, you could elect to run a plagiarism check before submitting your paper. Scribbr’s plagiarism checker scans your paper and compares it to a vast database of sources. It highlights any passages that are too similar to another source, even when the structure has been changed or synonyms used.
Read more about the best plagiarism checkers for students in our in-depth comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is paraphrasing considered plagiarism?
What is the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing?
Can plagiarism be accidental?
How can I summarize a source without plagiarizing?
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Courtney Gahan
Courtney has a Bachelor in Communication and a Master in Editing and Publishing. She has worked as a freelance writer and editor since 2013, and joined the Scribbr team as an editor in June 2017. She loves helping students and academics all over the world improve their writing (and learning about their research while doing so!).