Paraphrasing Sources in APA Style

How to Paraphrase

To paraphrase a passage of text, read through it, reflect upon it, and then restate it in a way that is meaningful to you within the context of your paper or project.

Tips 

  • Don’t take a passage and change a word here or there. If the information is too close to the original (even if it follows a similar sentence structure), it may be considered plagiarism.
  • After reading the passage that you want to paraphrase, look away from it, and imagine explaining the main point to another person.
  • After paraphrasing the passage, go back and compare it to the original. Are there any phrases that have come directly from the original source? If so, you should rephrase it or put the original in quotation marks.

Take a look at the examples of poor and high quality paraphrasing.

Source

UNews. (2018, April 30). Vultures reveal critical Old World flyways. 

http://unews.utah.edu/old-world-flyways/

Original passage

“The vultures are just one species out of around 35 large soaring bird species that migrate along the Red Sea Flyway. There are dozens more small birds that migrate here, as well. It's the second-largest migratory flyway in the world, behind only the Americas Flyway, which connects North and South America.

On some flyways, migratory birds are funneled into narrow passageways over land due to geographic features, Buechley says. Large birds like Egyptian vultures need to glide to conserve energy. They use rising columns of thermal air to keep soaring without needing to constantly flap their 5.6 foot-wingspan (1.7 m)--a kind of avian cruise control. These thermals rarely exist over the ocean, so birds tend to hug coasts and mountain ridges.”

Paraphrasing examples

  • Poor quality paraphrase: Vultures are one of the species using the Red Sea Flyway. The migratory birds use rising columns of thermal air to soar and they glide to conserve energy (2018).
    • Explanation: A few words in the original passage have been changed, but the basic wording and sentence structure is the same. This paraphrase would likely be flagged as plagiarism. The in-text citation is also missing the author information.
  • High quality paraphrase: Recent research demonstrates that vultures in the Red Sea Flyway use inland thermal air to glide and save energy (UNews, 2018).
    • Explanation: This paraphrase suggests that the author has reflected upon the passage and translated it into his/her own words while keeping the essence of the original meaning. The proper in-text citation is also included with the paraphrase.