1. Library Research Skills Tutorial
How to paraphrase
Library Research Skills Tutorial

2. Start with the quote from the article
Florianne Koechlin, “The dignity of plants,” Plant Signaling & Behavior 4, no. 1 (2009):

3. What idea is the author trying to communicate?
Plants are dynamic organisms that communicate and interact with their surrounding environment. 

4. Using your own words, write the idea in your assignment with the citation
It is known that plants actively engage with their surrounding environment and possess communication capabilities more varied than previously assumed (Koechlin, 2009, 78).

5. Avoid Thesaurus Plagiarism!
It’s tempting to simply replace a few words in the quotation

6. Plagiarized paraphrase in assignment
The structure is too close to the original; you should rewrite it or quote it directly
Original article
Plagiarized paraphrase in assignment

7. Paraphrasing starts with taking notes in your own words Here’s an example

8. Original article
Student’s notes
We found that, compared with reading a printed book in reflected light, reading a LE-eBook in the hours before bedtime decreased subjective sleepiness, decreased EEG delta/theta activity, and suppressed the late evening rise of pineal melatonin secretion during the time that the book was being read.
Participants report feeling less sleepy, after reading light-emitting eBook before bed
EEG (electroencephalogram) testing showed changes to drowsiness (delta) and sleepiness (theta) brainwaves
Reduced late evening melatonin secretion

9. Original article
Student’s notes
We also found that, compared with reading a printed book, reading an LE-eBook in the hours before bedtime lengthened sleep latency; delayed the phase of the endogenous circadian pacemaker that drives the timing of daily rhythms of melatonin secretion, sleep propensity, and REM sleep propensity; and impaired morning alertness.
Delayed shift from wakefulness to sleep
Participants less alert in morning

10. Student’s paraphrase in essay
Original article
Student’s paraphrase in essay
We found that, compared with reading a printed book in reflected light, reading a LE-eBook in the hours before bedtime decreased subjective sleepiness, decreased EEG delta/theta activity, and suppressed the late evening rise of pineal melatonin secretion during the time that the book was being read.
Chang et al. reported that reading ebooks before bed impacted feelings of sleepiness, length of time it takes to fall asleep, morning alertness, and also reduced the levels of melatonin in the brain. Furthermore, their EEG testing showed changes to brainwaves associated with drowsiness and sleepiness. 1
We also found that, compared with reading a printed book, reading an LE-eBook in the hours before bedtime lengthened sleep latency; delayed the phase of the endogenous circadian pacemaker that drives the timing of daily rhythms of melatonin secretion, sleep propensity, and REM sleep propensity; and impaired morning alertness.1
1Anne-Marie Chang, Daniel Aeschbach, Jeanne F. Duffy, and Charles A. Czeisler, “Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, no. 4 (2015): , doi: /pnas  

11. If you compare the original with the student’s paraphrase, you’ll see it’s quite different but conveys the same idea.

12. library.concordia.ca/learn
Library Research Skills Tutorial