It is a fact knowing that
we write down different information that we learned from different sources into
various forms. As a result many ideas are shared into different ways.
Sometimes, due to vast information and gained knowledge we try to summarize things,
so as to state it in our own learnings and understandings. In these way, we
come up to an idea of summarizing and paraphrasing.
Summarizing and paraphrasing are two important things when it comes to an academic paper. Both are used for citing references, avoid plagiarism and can be used to go directly to a main point. There are also differences between summarizing and paraphrasing as the two are mostly confusing the way it is used.
Summarizing usually shortens the context containing the main and sub-ideas including a reference, author, date or title of an article. The writer’s ideas are synthesized. It is not matching sources word for word. It is using own words but main points are there. It is not considered summarizing when you write down everything, may it be the same length or longer than the original text even you cited sources.
On the other hand, paraphrasing may or may not shorten the context but can never be longer than the original text itself. Ideas are still attributed to the author. It is usually used by rewriting the ideas in your own words and can be used to clarify some meanings. It is a good way to avoid plagiarism and provide a personal touch of a written paraphrased context without compromising the true idea of the original context. It not considered paraphrasing when there is removing, changing and rearranging of words. It is also wrong when a writer includes his or her opinions and biases just to make it longer.
Always remember in writing a summary or paraphrase a context, never include opinions, misinterpreted sources just to support a claim, judged articles, and other additional information that is not really connected to the article. Make it neutral, comprehensive and can stand like the original text because it is best when you know how to do summarizing and paraphrasing.
