Paraphrasing

Research is using information to create new information. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through paraphrasing, which is already something we do all the time when talking about our ideas. Paraphrasing in academic work formalizes the process by both providing a citation after paraphrased concept, and contextualizing the original information within the researcher’s new ideas.

Let’s say you’re writing a paper about copyright in the music industry. You want to argue that social media can be an effective tool for educating college students about copyright laws that pertain to music piracy in order to combat the illegal downloading of music. You do some research, and find a journal article that has some great information related to your topic. You want to paraphrase parts of the article to help support your argument.

Here’s a direct quote from the article:

“The government and music industry, for example, could work on a clear and extensive consumer policy that uses numerous online social media outlets—especially those utilized by Gen Z—to spread information about copyright laws, regulations, and penalties that pertain to music piracy. In addition, new laws can focus on the liability of online intermediaries and platforms facilitating copyright infringement.” (Borja & Dieringer, 2022)

The goal of paraphrasing is this: when putting someone else’s thoughts into your own words, you are also entangling them with your own ideas. If you were paraphrasing the quote above, it would not be enough to simply change, delete or add a few words:

The government and music industry could work on a detailed consumer policy that uses online social media outlets utilized by Gen Z to spread information about copyright laws, regulations, and penalties that pertain to music piracy. Additionally, new laws can focus on the liability of online platforms facilitating copyright infringement. (Borja & Dieringer, 2022)

This is so close to the original statement it might as well be a direct quote. There is no sense of the author’s own ideas and no synthesis of those ideas with Borja and Dieringer’s thoughts. Anti-plagiarism software might even flag this paragraph as being plagiarized. More effective paraphrasing would be something like this:

Social media is a powerful tool for reaching college students, and can be used not only to provide information but to promote peer-to-peer discussion. Students are likely to value and respond to new information when it is shared by their peers. One way to reduce music piracy among Generation Z would be for the music industry to use social media platforms to educate users about laws pertaining to copyright infringement and illegal downloading of music (Borja & Dieringer, 2022).

Here, the author has synthesized their own ideas on the value of peer-to-peer sharing of information with Borja and Dieringer’s thoughts on the use of social media to educate students about copyright law. Because the author uses Borja and Dieringer's thoughts to help inform their own writing, it is still important to cite them as a source when paraphrasing.

Borja, K., & Dieringer, S. (2022). Is music piracy over? Comparing music piracy attitudes and behaviors between young generations. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 56(2), 899-924.