The art of paraphrasing articles effectively

Normally, when a speaker says something that can’t fully be understood by the listener, the speaker will notice and rephrase the sentence to make it more understandable. If you have done this before as well, then congratulations. You have paraphrased before!

What is paraphrasing?

To clarify, paraphrasing involves saying/writing something using different words, specifically to help achieve greater clarity. Though face-to-face paraphrasing is typically more immediate, online paraphrasing usually gives writers much more time to consider their words.

Though it is always a wise option to paraphrase any confusing sentences while you are grammar-checking your final draft, online paraphrasing comes with the much-appreciated benefit of allowing writers to hyperlink certain terms/sentences to other pages/sites. That way, you won’t have to paraphrase as much, and your readers won’t have to go through a wall of text just to get to the main point.

Why you should paraphrase

Aside from clarifying texts, paraphrasing also helps quite a bit with improving readability. For example, substituting jargon and acronyms can usually allow your work to be read by a larger audience. The fact that your audience won’t have to switch back and forth between your article and an online dictionary marginally improves the reading experience.

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Paraphrasing can also alter the tone of your text. For example, you could switch out complex words for simpler ones if you want your article’s tone to be more light-hearted and engaging. Similarly, you could specifically change longer terms for much more difficult but concise ones if your audience is more serious and academic in nature.

Things to keep in mind when paraphrasing

Alright, now that we’re on the same page, let’s talk about what to keep in mind when paraphrasing online without the aid of hyperlinks.

• Focus on accuracy. Though a sentence may already make sense, maybe you could make it better by shifting some words around. Consider going the extra mile to see if there is a more specific word for the situation. Your readers will definitely thank you.
• Avoid vague words that can potentially change the original meaning too much. Some words may sound perfect for the sentence, but just because they sound nice, they may not always be the best option. At the end of the day, it is a rule of thumb to always pick clarity above all.
• Maintain proper grammar usage when paraphrasing. Needless to say, your paraphrased sentences need to still follow the rules of grammar, or everything will still come falling apart in the end.
• Make sure that the meaning is consistent with the original text. Naturally, that’s common sense, but people are prone to forgetting about the simple things, which is why you shouldn’t allow that to happen to yourself. Remember, if you can’t paraphrase the sentence to explain the same thing, maybe don’t paraphrase it at all.

Conclusion

To summarize, paraphrasing is important not only to make your tests easier to understand, but also to make them more readable in general.