Summarising and Paraphrasing

What You Will Learn

You'll master two essential writing skills: summarising (condensing main ideas) and paraphrasing (restating information in different words). These skills are crucial for academic writing, reports, and avoiding plagiarism.

Explanation (with real-life context)

Imagine your manager sends you a 500-word email about a project. You need to tell your colleague the key points in 2-3 sentences. That's summarising.

Or you're writing an essay and find a perfect quote, but using the author's exact words looks like copying. You rewrite it using your own vocabulary and sentence structure. That's paraphrasing.

Why does this matter? Summarising shows you understand the "big picture." Paraphrasing proves you've actually understood the content, not just copied it. Both demonstrate critical thinking — something employers and teachers value.

Examples (natural sentences from daily life)

Original text: "The coffee industry faces serious environmental challenges due to deforestation and water consumption, affecting both ecosystems and farmer livelihoods."

Summarised version: "Coffee production harms the environment and damages farmers' income."

Paraphrased version: "Growing coffee causes ecological damage and reduces what farmers earn because it requires cutting down forests and using large amounts of water."

Key difference: Summarising cuts it down; paraphrasing keeps roughly the same length but changes the words.

Common Mistakes

• Changing just a few words — This is lazy paraphrasing. "The coffee industry faces serious environmental challenges" → "The coffee business faces major environmental problems" isn't real paraphrasing. You've only swapped synonyms.

• Forgetting to credit the source — Even when you paraphrase, you must cite where the idea came from.

• Losing the meaning — Your summary should still be accurate. Don't oversimplify so much that it becomes misleading.

• Mixing original wording with your own — Either paraphrase everything or use quotation marks around the original phrase.

Quick Tips

✓ Read the text twice before writing anything.

✓ Cover the original text while paraphrasing — force yourself to use your own words.

✓ Check that your version has the same meaning but different structure.

✓ Ask yourself: "Could I explain this to a friend?" If yes, you understand it well enough to paraphrase.