Check your understanding of paraphrasing and summarizing.

Question

Which three elements do paraphrases and summaries have in common?

You must keep the same meaning as the original text.
You must keep the same order of ideas and events as the original text.
You must make the rewritten text similar in length to the original text.
You must provide quotations for words pulled from the original text.
You must put the author’s original text in your own words.

Answer 1

Paraphrases and summaries share the following three elements in common:

1. You must keep the same meaning as the original text: Both paraphrases and summaries should accurately convey the original author's ideas and concepts without altering their intended meaning.

2. You must put the author’s original text in your own words: Both methods involve rephrasing the original text. In paraphrasing, the wording and sentence structure are changed, while in summarizing, the content is condensed into a shorter form, but both require expressing the ideas in the writer's own language.

3. You must provide quotations for words pulled from the original text: While both paraphrases and summaries primarily use original wording and structure, any direct quotes from the source must be accurately presented with citation.

In summary, the first and second points are valid for both aspects, but the third point applies more to integrated quotes within the text rather than the paraphrase or summary as a whole. The second point does not necessarily imply retaining the order of ideas and events in a summary, which focuses on conciseness rather than strict order.