Language is one of the most necessities of Communications. Without the presence of language, the human population can’t exist because being a social animal requires you to know at least one language. People can communicate through oral as well as written means. The written means of any language is governed with the help of its grammar as well as the diction.
In today’s world English is one of the most common languages that has been spread all over the globe. Whenever we are writing something, whether it be a research paper or an article for the daily magazine we usually gather thoughts from multiple places and put them together in our own words. This jotting down of content from all over the internet and things you see in real life all at once in your own words is known as paraphrasing.
We all have been implementing techniques of paraphrasing and all our lives while being unaware of the basics of it. Once you are familiar with the concept of paraphrasing, you can quickly get better at it and make engaging content on your own.
DEFINITION OF PARAPHRASING
The Cambridge Oxford Dictionary defines paraphrasing as – “A paraphrase of something is the same thing written or spoken using different words, often in a simpler and shorter form that makes the original meaning clearer.”
For Instance –
Original: He has a lot of stuff to throw away.
Paraphrase: He needs to clear out a lot of junk.
In simpler words essentially one is trying to make things easier to understand for other people with the help of paraphrasing.
Related Article: Paraphrasing Examples for a Better Writing
Some Misconceptions Regarding Paraphrasing
The definition of paraphrasing is something that does not clear all the thoughts that you might have in your head. Many people still think that paraphrasing is just changing a few words. Well, in hindsight it might look like that, but paraphrasing is much more. A well thought out paraphrase would include the concept explained in your own words.
What does paraphrase mean AND when should you use it?
Paraphrasing is something that is going to be useful and your daily life. As a student or someone who has to write content regularly, you need to to be clear with the ideas that you have in your head. We all consume a lot of content daily and it is through these content that we find out our inspiration.
Writing anything requires you to browse through your lots of similar genre of content if you want to be clear about your ideas. Even some top musicians who are known for their lyrical genius have said out loud in many interviews that they get their inspiration from previous creations. This is when you realize that paraphrasing is something that has become a regular part of our lives.
There are many movies created in the same genre, but it is essentially the way, the story is told that matters. Almost all action and superhero movies have the same plot that is – a bad guy or the Villain trying to take over the world and a superhero who would do anything to save it. The idea revolves around this very concept, and the stories can be changed slightly over different movies. What matters is how the writer tells the story in a different way than the previous ones.
We can take the example of movies and implement them in our own lives to create better content for our jobs or studies.
PARAPHRASING AND PLAGIARISM
There is a very fine line between paraphrasing and plagiarism. If paraphrasing is not done correctly and just a few changes and words are made here, and there then it would be considered as plagiarism. Paraphrasing is excellent as it is your thoughts, but plagiarism is 100% unethical and illegal. Our rewrite tool will help you create 100% unique content.
Thus it is always recommended to write what you have in your head instead of trying to make changes to someone else’s content.
