AT A GLANCE

Guidelines for Paraphrasing

  • Include all main points and any important details from the original source, in the same order in which the author presents them.
  • State the meaning in your own words and sentence structures. If you want to include especially memorable language from the original, enclose it in quotation marks.
  • Save your comments, elaborations, or reactions on another note.
  • Record the author’s name, the shortened title, and the page number(s) on which the original material appears. For sources without page numbers, record the paragraph, screen, or other section number(s), if any.
  • Make sure you have a corresponding working-bibliography entry with complete source information. (17b)
  • Label the note with a subject heading, and identify it as a paraphrase.