✂️ How to Write a Summary · Lesson 4 of 6
Paraphrasing without plagiarism
Change the words and the structure — and still cite.
What plagiarism looks like
| Copying | Using sentences from the source without quotation marks |
|---|---|
| Patchwriting | Keeping the sentence and swapping in synonyms |
| No citation | Using the author’s ideas without naming the source |
| Fake paraphrase | Changing a few words but keeping the structure and phrasing |
How to paraphrase
- Read the passage until you understand it
- Close the source (or cover it)
- Write the idea from memory, the way you would explain it to a friend
- Compare: did you change both the words and the sentence structure? Is the meaning the same?
- Add the citation
Example
Original: “Sleep deprivation significantly impairs working memory and decision-making in undergraduate students.” Patchwriting (bad): “Lack of sleep greatly harms working memory and choices in college students.” Paraphrase (good): “When college students don’t get enough sleep, they have more trouble holding information in mind and making good decisions (Lee, 2021).”
When to quote
Quote only when the exact words matter — a definition, a striking phrase, a claim you will analyze. In a summary, quotes should be rare and short, in quotation marks, with a page number.
Tip
💡 The summary builder warns you when 8 or more words in a row match the source. That is a sign you copied instead of paraphrased.
✏️ Practice: your turn
- Paraphrase 3 sentences from a reading using the close-the-source method
- Compare each with the original: words and structure both changed?
- Turn one patchwritten sentence into a real paraphrase
- Add an APA or MLA in-text citation to each
✏️ Summary & outline builder: main idea → key points → summary draft
🧠 Quick quiz
Answer all 4 questions correctly to mark this lesson as done.
0 of 4 correct
All lessons in How to Write a Summary
- 📝 1. What a summary is — and isn’tShort, accurate, neutral and in your own words
- 🎯 2. Finding the main ideaThe thesis, topic sentences and the one-sentence test
- 🗂️ 3. Key points and an outlineChoose 3–5 key points, drop the details, and order them
- 🔄 4. Paraphrasing without plagiarismChange the words and the structure — and still cite
- ✏️ 5. Writing and cutting the summaryDraft from the outline, link the ideas, then trim to length
- 🔬 6. Summarizing research articlesAbstracts, annotated bibliographies and literature reviews