- Borrowing
A paraphrase restates another person's idea (or your own previously published idea) in your own words. Note that it is not considered proper paraphrasing if you only substitute some of the words with synonyms and rearrange the sentences (this would be considered patchwriting and could potentially be flagged as plagiarism).
If you are paraphrasing, your in-text citation generally consists of two elements (if available):
You may need to add information about the specific part of a source if your instructor requires you to do so.
For more extensive information provided by APA, see their webpage on Paraphrasing.
Short paraphrases are accompanied by either a narrative or a parenthetical citation.
Smail (2008) suggested that the speed of human cultural evolution is linked to the turnover rate of cultural entities.
The speed of human cultural evolution is linked to the turnover rate of cultural entities (Smail, 2008).
A paraphrase may continue for several sentences. In such cases, cite the work being paraphrased on first mention. Once the work has been cited, it is not necessary to repeat the citation within a paragraph as long as the context of the writing makes it clear that the same work continues to be paraphrased.
The average person accepts pseudoscience much more readily than real science (Sagan, 1996). One of the reasons is that pseudoscience feeds the illusion of having unrealistic personal powers (Sagan, 1996). Some even go as far as to proclaim that wishful thinking is enough to create the reality we desire (Sagan, 1996). Other branches of pseudoscience satisfy our spiritual longings and promise that we are one with the Universe (Sagan, 1996).
According to Sagan (1996), the average person accepts pseudoscience much more readily than real science. One of the reasons is that pseudoscience feeds the illusion of having unrealistic personal powers, with some going as far as to proclaim that wishful thinking is enough to create the reality we desire. The author points out that other branches of pseudoscience satisfy our spiritual longings and promise that we are one with the Universe.
If the paraphrase continues into a new paragraph, you must reintroduce the citation. Also, if you paraphrase multiple sources, switch back and forth between sources, or add your own thoughts in between, you must reintroduce the citation so it is clear to the reader what comes from which source.
Also note the following: When using a narrative citation, the date needs to be included right after the author information. You do not need to repeat the date if you cite the author as part of a sentence again in the same paragraph; however, you DO need to repeat the year if there was a parenthetical reference before
For more extensive information provided by APA, see their webpage on Paraphrasing.