« Plagiarism » and « Paraphrasing »

[yousrati]

Good evening,

Recently, I read some published books and articles about « plagiarism » and « paraphrasing » in Internet. I have tried to understand them and I actually did. But, once my teacher said this sentence I was then confused :-?

“You haven’t to change only one word when paraphrasing, I mean you don’t have to give only a synonyms or render the passive form to active (and vice versa). You should rather create your own sentences by re-writing the previous one in your own style without forgetting to keep the meaning”

Well, in my research study , I attempted to apply what my teacher said, but I found myself sometimes obliged to keep at least one or two words because I can’t find others that are at roughly the same meaning as the used ones. But I have to confess, I mentioned the authors or writers at the end of my research paper.

So, I will be really thankful if you answer to my questions:

Can we consider what I did right? Or it is still called plagiarism?
How can you simplify for me the meaning of plagiarism and paraphrasing and the way to use it?

Thank you again in advance.

 

[susiedq]

plagiarism is to copy the material word for word and claim it is your own writing.

paraphrasing is to read the material and then re-write it in your own words. The more technical the material, the more difficult this will be.

 

[emsr2d2]

Good evening,

Recently, I read some published books and articles about « plagiarism » and « paraphrasing » in Internet. I have tried to understand them and I actually did. But, once my teacher said this sentence I was then confused :-?

“You haven’t to change only one word when paraphrasing, I mean you don’t have to give only a synonyms or render the passive form to active (and vice versa). You should rather create your own sentences by re-writing the previous one in your own style without forgetting to keep the meaning”

Well, in my research study , I attempted to apply what my teacher said, but I found myself sometimes obliged to keep at least one or two words because I can’t find others that are at roughly the same meaning as the used ones. But I have to confess, I mentioned the authors or writers at the end of my research paper.

So, I will be really thankful if you answer to my questions:

Can we consider what I did right? Or it is still called plagiarism?
How can you simplify for me the meaning of plagiarism and paraphrasing and the way to use it?

Thank you again in advance.

Your teacher said "You haven't to change only one word ..." then you said "I found myself obliged to keep at least one or two words..." These two are not mutually exclusive. Your teacher meant that it is not enough to just change one word from the original.

If the original sentence said "The car has become one of the most important aspects of life in the 21st century" and you simply changed it to "The automobile has become one of the most important aspects of day-to-day life ...." then you wouldn't be able to claim that you had paraphrased it. To paraphrase it, you could change it to "In the 21st century, the automobile has become fundamental to our everyday existence ..."

 

[yousrati]

Thank you very much emsr2d2 for your explanation, now it is clear for me.