Teaching How to Paraphrase, Step by Step

Teaching how to paraphrase is a challenging yet crucial skill for students to master.

It’s essential for many types of writing, and without it, students risk poor writing habits and even plagiarism. This guide will help you teach paraphrasing to your students, step by step.

Teaching How to Paraphrase: Starting with Conversation

Introduction to Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is about putting something into your own words. Begin by engaging your students in a simple, fun activity. Pair them up and ask questions like, “What did you do after school yesterday?” or “Where would you like to go on vacation and why?” Student A answers the question in a few sentences, and Student B paraphrases the response. Then, they switch roles. Model this for your class a couple of times before they try it themselves.

Quiz, Quiz, Trade Game

Another engaging activity for teaching how to paraphrase is a variation of Quiz, Quiz, Trade. Give each student a card with a sentence on it. Students find partners, with Student A reading their sentence and Student B paraphrasing it. They then switch roles and trade cards before moving on to new partners.

Paraphrasing as a Class

Collaborative Paraphrasing

Work on paraphrasing a short paragraph together as a class. Display the paragraph on the board or use a document camera. Provide students with their own copies and explain the difference between paraphrasing and summarizing. Discuss strategies, such as the Four R’s:

• Reword: Replace words and phrases with synonyms when possible.
• Rearrange: Change the structure of sentences and ideas.
• Realize: Recognize that some words (names, dates, titles) can’t be changed but can be presented differently.
• Recheck: Ensure the paraphrase conveys the same meaning as the original text.

Example:

Original Text: “At just 8.5 square miles, the Pacific island country of Nauru is one of the smallest countries in the world. The island was once rich in phosphate, but most of the resource has been mined, leaving damage to the environment behind. Nauru has a population of about 10,000 people.”

Paraphrased Text: “Nauru is a Pacific island country that is only 8.5 square miles in area. It is one of the smallest countries on the planet and only about 10,000 people live there. Nauru has mined its once plentiful supply of phosphate. This has damaged the environment on the island.”

Independent Practice in Teaching How to Paraphrase

Pair Work

After practicing together, let students work in pairs to paraphrase a paragraph. Allow a few pairs to share their paraphrases with the class. Then, have students begin working independently. Start with one paragraph at a time to avoid overwhelming them. Use Paraphrasing Task Cards for Grades 4-8 for independent practice. These task cards are perfect for reinforcing the skill.

Advanced Paraphrasing Activities

Bite-Sized Pieces

Once students are comfortable with paraphrasing paragraphs, encourage them to paraphrase entire articles in small sections. As they become more fluent, introduce advanced activities such as:

• Paraphrasing from notes instead of the original text.
• Including quotes in paraphrased writings.
• Combining paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting in one piece.
• Using multiple sources to paraphrase, summarize, and quote, then creating a bibliography.

Incorporating Summarizing Skills

Understanding Paraphrasing and Summarizing

Paraphrasing and summarizing are both challenging skills for students to master, and they often get these two mixed up. Here are helpful acronyms to distinguish between them:

PARAphrase It!

• Put the text in your own words.
• Avoid copying the text.
• Rearrange similar text.
• Ask yourself if you included all the important points.

SUMmarize It!

• Shorter than the text.
• Use your own words.
• Main ideas only.

The acronyms make the differences clear and serve as reminders for each skill.

Introduce paraphrasing before summarizing. Although paraphrasing requires more writing, it’s an easier skill to master. Once students learn to put the text into their own words instead of copying it, they have a good grasp of paraphrasing. Using short paragraphs, like those in paraphrasing task cards, is an effective way to start.

Summarizing is more challenging because students must identify the most important points and condense them into a much shorter form.

Using short passages and limiting the number of words they can use, such as with summarizing task cards, helps them focus on the main points and prevents them from paraphrasing instead of summarizing.

Combined Practice

Use the same paragraph for both skills. Have students paraphrase first and then summarize. If time is limited, consider paraphrasing verbally and then writing the summary. This is a good activity to do in pairs.

Ready to get started? Download the PARAphrase It! and SUMmarize It! posters and reminder cards for free right here.

Teaching Paraphrasing can be fun!

By following these steps in teaching how to paraphrase and incorporating summarizing skills, you’ll help your students become proficient writers. Teaching how to paraphrase effectively sets students up for success in many areas of their academic and future professional lives, reducing the risk of plagiarism and enhancing their overall writing abilities.