Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing means rewriting in your own words ideas expressed by someone else, being careful to keep the meaning identical but using your own wording and grammatical structure. Quotation marks are not used in a complete paraphrase, but an in-text citation is always necessary to indicate that the ideas expressed are derived from another source and not purely from your own thoughts.

How to paraphrase correctly

1. First make sure that you fully understand the passage, quotation or ideas expressed
2. Think about how you can reorganise these ideas, keeping the meaning the same
3. Change the wording (vocabulary) using synonyms (words of similar meaning), and alternative expressions, and
4. Change the structure (grammar) of the original passage, but again keep the meaning the same
5. Use an in-text reference and integrate the paraphrase into your essay

Consider the following extract from Frost (1981, p. 523) from a unit reader:

However much we may now regret the British failure to negotiate with the Aborigines – and the concomitant failure of more recent administrators to rectify this first omission can only compound the evil – to consider Cook and Banks, Pitt and his colleagues, and Phillip and his officers as marauders such as Swift described and castigated, is not only to do them scant justice, but also to make the same error in assessing late eighteenth century British culture as the representatives of that culture made in assessing the Aboriginal one – that is, of judging according to inappropriate criteria.

Frost, A., 1981, 'New South Wales as terra nullius: the British denial of Aboriginal land rights', Historical Studies Vol 19, No. 77, October, pp. 513-523.

Are the following paraphrases and quotations acceptable or unacceptable? Do any of them amount to plagiarism?

Example 1

Frost (1981) points out that although it is common now to regret the failure of the British to negotiate with the Aborigines, it would be unjust to castigate Cook, Banks, Pitt, Phillip and colleagues too harshly because we would be making the same mistake as them of judging another people according to inappropriate criteria.

Example 2

According to Frost (1981, p. 523), we should not make the same mistake as our forebears of assessing other people and cultures purely from our own perspectives and values; on the same basis, it would be unjust to condemn Cook, Banks, Pitt, Phillip and colleagues too harshly in their dealings with Aboriginal people.

Example 3

Frost argues that to consider Cook and Banks, Pitt and his colleagues, and Phillip and his officers as marauders...... is not only to do them scarce justice, but also to making the same errors in assessing late Eighteenth Century British culture as the representatives of that culture made in assessing the Aboriginal one – that is, of judging according to inappropriate criteria. (p. 523)

Example 4

Frost (1981, p. 523) argues that to consider Cook, Banks, Pitt, and Phillip as marauders is not only unjust, 'but also to make the same error in assessing late eighteenth century British culture as the representatives of that culture made in assessing the Aboriginal one – that is, of judging according to inappropriate criteria'.

What makes them either acceptable or unacceptable? Identify the items or details that need rectifying.