Paraphrasing Guide & Tips

Learn effective paraphrasing techniques to rewrite content in your own words while keeping the meaning.

Paraphrasing Techniques

1. Change Sentence Structure

Convert active to passive voice, or restructure clauses. "The dog bit the man" → "The man was bitten by the dog."

2. Use Synonyms

Replace key words with synonyms. "Rapid" → "fast", "demonstrate" → "show", "utilize" → "use".

3. Change Word Form

Convert verbs to nouns or adjectives. "They decided" → "The decision was made" → "Their decisive action".

4. Break Down Complex Sentences

Split long sentences into shorter ones, or combine short sentences into one compound sentence.

Practice Tool

Your Paraphrase:

About Paraphrasing

Practice paraphrasing with our comparison tool. Enter the original text and your paraphrase to see how similar they are.

About this calculator

Learn effective techniques for paraphrasing and compare your rewrite with the original to make sure you changed structure, not just words.

Paste the original and your version, then press Compare.

How to use it

Paste the original and your paraphrase.
Press Compare.
Revise if the overlap is high.

Paraphrasing techniques

1) Read, close the source, and write from memory. 2) Change sentence structure (active to passive, combine or split sentences). 3) Use your own vocabulary but keep technical terms. 4) Compare with the original. 5) Cite the source. Replacing words with synonyms while keeping the structure is called patchwriting and still counts as plagiarism.

Worked example

Example

Original	The economy grew rapidly after reforms.
Patchwriting (weak)	The economy expanded quickly after reforms.
Paraphrase (better)	Economic growth accelerated once the reforms took effect (Author, 2026).

Tips and common mistakes

Understand before you rewrite.
Cite even when fully paraphrased.
Keep key terms unchanged.
Read it aloud to check flow.
Use quotes when wording is essential.

Frequently asked questions

What is paraphrasing?

Restating an idea in your own words.

What is patchwriting?

Swapping words but keeping structure; it's still plagiarism.

Do I still need a citation?

Yes.

Should I change technical terms?

No.

How different must it be?

Different in structure and wording.

Is it free?