How to Paraphrase and Avoid Mistake

PARAPHRASING

Are you deliberated to improve your score in IELTS Test? One thing that you can do is practice PARAPHRASING.

 

Wondering,     what Paraphrasing is?

 

Paraphrasing in IELTS is the skill of being able to read or hear one or more sentences, and then write or say a sentence back that means the same thing only by using mostly different words and different grammatical constructions.

The IELTS examiners love it!

 

The use of paraphrasing in IELTS is what allows you to show that you have a sufficient range of vocabulary to cope with the task, whether it is in speaking or writing.

This paraphrasing skill is used extensively in writing IELTS introductions in particular. One part of paraphrasing is using similar meaning words; these are known as synonyms, different words with the same meaning.

Don’t go over the top, it is very difficult to find a synonym for some words and you won’t always be able to do so. Instead, you could try a group of words, so, rather than saying ‘adult’, you might say ‘grown up’.

However, if you can’t think of a paraphrase of synonym then don’t be afraid to use the words in the question. It is more important to be accurate with your word choice than to try lots of different synonyms. Always choose the words that you know to be 100% correct, in that way you will reduce your mistakes and increase your band score.

Paraphrasing is important because:

1.     it helps you to focus on the main topic, using your own words

2.   Provides you with the skill to develop an idea, reformulate a concept and offer variety in your writing style

3.    Prevents redundancy and makes the essay or written material more appealing to the reader

3 WAYS TO PARAPHRASE

Firstly, there are three principles of paraphrasing strategies:

Strategy 1: Use of synonyms

Strategy 2: Verb transformation

Strategy 3: Sentence restructuring

Secondly, Writing skills in this component of the exam include:

●             giving an opinion

●             discussing causes and suggesting solutions

●             discussing arguments for or against an idea or situation

●             discussing advantages and disadvantages

STRATEGY 1 - USE OF SYNONYM

First, read and understand the question.

Use a highlighter to highlight the keywords in the question. Select synonyms to replace those keywords.

Example:

Unemployment is one of the most serious problems facing developed nations today. What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of reducing the working week to thirty-five hours?

Select synonyms to replace those keywords.

Unemployment = lack of jobs serious problems = grave issues

Advantages and/or disadvantages = pros and/or cons working week = professional schedule

STRATEGY 2 - VERB TRANSFORMATION

Select new verbs or synonyms OR transform the verb

Example:

Unemployment is one of the most serious problems facing developed nations today. What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of reducing the working week to thirty-five hours?

Select verb transformation to replace those keywords

Facing = confronting

Reducing = lessening

STRATEGY 3 - SENTENCE RECONSTRUCTURING

Example:

What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of reducing the working week to thirty-five hours?

Can be paraphrased as

Let’s examine the pros and/or cons of …

Let’s look at the pros and/or cons of …

Introduction:

Lack of jobs is indeed a grave issue confronting industrialized countries at this time. Let’s examine the pros and/or cons of lessening professional schedules to thirty-five hours.

AVOID MISTAKES WHILE PARAPHRASING

When paraphrasing, there are a few common mistakes you should learn to avoid:

1.  Avoid switching out or changing around a few words in an author's sentence(s) for use in your paper.

2.  Avoid failing to acknowledge (through an in-text citation or direct quotes) the outside source from which you obtained your information or ideas.

Exception: When paraphrasing, you do not have to directly cite common knowledge. Common knowledge is information that is widely known and can be found in multiple places. For example, writing that Ronald Reagan was a U.S. Republican president would be considered common knowledge, so it would not need to be cited.

3.  Avoid acknowledging the examiner in an in-text citation but failing to include quotation marks around any terms or phrasing that you have borrowed from the examiner.