If you analyze a paragraph in its entirety rather than look at each word individually, you should be able to organize your information differently from the way the original author did and write an effective paraphrase. As you analyze a source, you may still need to figure out the meaning of certain words. But do not focus on word-for-word substitutions.

Here is the student’s paraphrase of Rebecca Webber’s work after she annotated the text.

ACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE

Individuals notice and respond to life’s chances in different ways. Some people notice opportunities that other people might not notice, they are more willing to take risks, and they do not get discouraged if their decisions do not work out. Because they do not get discouraged easily, they are able to stay positive and content and to continue to search enthusiastically for the next opportunity (Webber 64).

This paraphrase presents the student’s understanding of the author’s meaning—without using words or sentence structure from the original. Notice that the paraphrase includes a citation. The idea is still Webber’s idea, so a citation is needed, but the student uses her own words to communicate the information from Webber’s article.