Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Main Idea



Paraphrasing, Summarizing, and Main Idea

What is a Paraphrase?

When you paraphrase, you are putting another writer’s words and ideas into your own words. You change the writer’s words and sentence structure but not the writer’s meaning and ideas. Paraphrasing is usually used for shorter pieces of writing that you want to put into your own words. A paraphrase can be as long as the original writing or it can be slightly shorter. It does not condense or reduce the amount of information that the original writer wrote, but a paraphrase does include all the writer’s original ideas, thoughts, details, and examples in your own words.

How to Paraphrase

The following are a few steps to help you paraphrase:

1. Reread the original piece of writing until you understand it completely (vocabulary and meaning).

2. Look up any words or phrases you don’t understand and find synonyms for these.

3. If you need to, paraphrase sentence by sentence, answering the who, what, where, when, why, and how of each sentence.

4. When you are done writing, compare your work to the original and make sure that you have changed enough of the language so that the paraphrase doesn’t sound like the original, but also check to make sure you have not changed the meaning or theme of the original writing.

5. If you have a unique term or phraseology from the original that you must include in your paraphrase, make sure you have used quotation marks to indicate that you have borrowed material word for word from the original source.

Example Paraphrase

Original text: “A remarkable feature of Australian English is its comparative uniformity. Australia, a continent roughly the size of Europe, has almost no regional variation of accent. A citizen of Perth can sound much like a citizen of Adelaide or Sydney, or like a station hand in Alice Springs or Broken Hill. In Britain or the United States, by contrast, even the outsider can probably decide from the local accent whether he or she is in Scotland or Dorset, New England or Louisiana.” (McCrum, 1986)

Paraphrase: One amazing characteristic of the English spoken in Australia is that it is mostly the same everywhere in the country. Even though Australia is about the same size as Europe, there is almost no change in accent from region to region. Someone living in Perth sounds similar to someone living in Adelaide or Sydney, as well as a gas station attendant living in Alice Springs or Broken Hill. On the other hand, even someone who is just visiting England or the U.S. can tell from hearing the local accent whether or not they are in the north or south of England or the east or south of the U.S.

(over)

What is a Summary?

When you summarize, you are putting the writer’s words and ideas into your own words as well shortening the length of the original work. A summary is a shortened version of the original work that includes the writer’s main idea with some of the more important supporting points and general ideas in your own words. A summary is shorter than a paraphrase. Summarizing is generally used for longer original pieces of writing that you want to put into your own words. Summarizing captures the writer’s main ideas in a shorter version of the original and does not include all of the writer’s examples and supporting details .

How to Summarize

The following are a few steps to help you summarize:

1. Reread the material you want to summarize and make sure you understand the meaning and any unfamiliar vocabulary.

2. Underline topic sentences.

3. Write a sentence that expresses the writer’s main idea in your own words.

4. Write a few sentences that express the writer’s most important supporting ideas (refer to the topic sentences you underlined for step #2). Do not copy phrases or sentences. Put everything in your own words. If you cannot do this, reread the passage until you fully understand it.

5. Do not include examples, descriptive details, or quotations.

6. Reread your summary to determine whether it contains sufficient information. Use this test: Would your summary be understandable to someone who had not read the article/book? If not, revise your summary to include additional information.

Example Summary

Original text: “A remarkable feature of Australian English is its comparative uniformity. Australia, a continent roughly the size of Europe, has almost no regional variation of accent. A citizen of Perth can sound much like a citizen of Adelaide or Sydney, or like a station hand in Alice Springs or Broken Hill. In Britain or the United States, by contrast, even the outsider can probably decide from the local accent whether he or she is in Scotland or Dorset, New England or Louisiana.” (McCrum, 1986)

Summary: One of the amazing characteristics of English spoken in Australia is that it sounds so similar all over the country. In contrast, the English spoken in England and the United States has a distinct accent from region to region.

What is the Main Idea?

The main idea of a piece of writing is the writer’s general message. It is the thought that is present from the beginning to the end, and most of the sentences support, describe, or explain the main idea. The main idea can often be found in the first or last sentence of the paragraph or introduction, depending on how long the piece of writing is that you are reading.

How to Find the Main Idea

The following are a few questions to ask yourself to help you discover the main idea:

1. “What idea is common to most of the text?

2. What is the idea that relates the parts to the whole?

3. What opinion do all the parts support?

4. What idea do they all explain or describe?” (Reader’s Choice, p.18, 2002)

Example Main Idea

Original text: “A remarkable feature of Australian English is its comparative uniformity. Australia, a continent roughly the size of Europe, has almost no regional variation of accent. A citizen of Perth can sound much like a citizen of Adelaide or Sydney, or like a station hand in Alice Springs or Broken Hill. In Britain or the United States, by contrast, even the outsider can probably decide from the local accent whether he or she is in Scotland or Dorset, New England or Louisiana.” (McCrum, 1986)

Main Idea: The English spoken in Australia sounds almost the same in all parts of the country compared to the English spoken in England and the U.S. where the accent can change from region to region.

(All material adapted from OWL website and Reader’s Choice, 2002)

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