worksheets for paraphrasing and summarizing

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Paraphrase and Summary Exercises

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The exercises in this section provide opportunities for second language writers (ESL) of various proficiency levels to practice with paraphrase and summary writing.

Exercises in this section were developed by Kamal Belmihoub. Last Update May 29, 2014.

Basic-level Paraphrase and Summary Writing

Paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing refers to rewriting a given sentence using your own words. When we need to use a sentence in our writing that someone else wrote, we paraphrase it. That is, we use the same idea(s) in that sentence and write it differently. In addition to using different words, we use different grammar. The main purpose of paraphrasing has to do with being able to use someone else’s ideas while we write our own texts. Of course, it is required that any writer acknowledges the original source using the proper citation format.

This paraphrase has too many words, such as “PayLess is closed because of” are repeated. It is important to use different words and grammatical structure, while keeping the same meaning of the original sentence.

As can be seen in the above example, in addition to using different words, the grammatical structure of the sentence was changed by starting with the second part (dependent clause) of the original sentence.

Summarizing

A summary should be a short version of a longer original source. Its main goal is to present a large amount of information in a short and concise text that includes only the most important ideas of the original text.

Intermediate-level Paraphrase Exercises

Source Material

Inappropriate paraphrase

The inappropriate paraphrase is too close to the original sentence. Several words are the same and the complex structure of the sentence is the same. Deleting some words from the original sentence is not enough to write an appropriate paraphrase.

Appropriate paraphrase

The appropriate paraphrase uses a different structure for the sentence, and most words are different from the original.

Paraphrase Summary Exercises List of Works Consulted

List of works consulted.

“American History Series: The United States Turns Inward After World War One.” Voice of America, 24 Nov. 2010. Web. 1 April 2013.

“Budgets Slash English Classes for Immigrants.” 8 Apr.. 2013. Web. 1 May 2013.

“Bullying.” Science Daily, n.d. Web. 30 May 2013.

“Business English Speakers Can Still be Divided by a Common Language.” Voice of America, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“Camaraderie of sports Teams May Deter Bullying.” Science Daily, 5 May 2013. Web. 30 May 2013.

“Childhood Bullying Increases the Propensity to Self-Harm During Adolescence.” Science Daily, 28 May 2013. Web. 30 May 2013.

“Exposure to Two Languages Can Have Far-Reaching Benefits.” Northwestern, 20 May 2009. Web. 1 May 2013.

“Global Economic Forum Rates Global Risks for 2013.” Voice of America, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 May 2013.

“Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!” Voice of America, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“Lifestyle Habits Lower Heart Failure Risk.” Science Daily, 13 Sep. 2011. Web. 30 May 2013.

“More Wins for TEA Party Activists, but Will They Win in November?” Voice of America, 17 Sep. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“Movies Become Big Business in the 1920s.” Voice of America, 7 Dec. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“New Anti-Cancer Components of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Revealed.” Science Daily, 27 Dec. 2008. Web. 30 May 2013.

“New Hampshire Chinese Language School Attracts non-Chinese Students.” 30 Oct. 2009. Web. 1 May 2013.

“Quitting Smoking: Licensed Medications are Effective.” Science Daily, 30 May 2013. Web. 30 May 2013.

“Soccer Training Improves Heart Health of Men with Type 2 Diabetes.” Science Daily, 30 May 2013. Web. 30 May 2013.

“Tornado Season Returns, Voice of America.” Voice of America. 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“What is the Human Relations Commission?” City of West Lafayette Indiana, 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“Women Edge Past Men in Getting Doctorates, Voice of America.” Voice of America, 5 Oct. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

“World’s Population Reaches 7 Billion Voice of America. 4 Jan. 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2013.

• Paraphrase Online

Paraphrasing and Summarizing Exercises with Answers

Paraphrasing and Summarizing are two skills that are highly useful for writers. With these two techniques, writers can get help creating their content and providing it to their readers in an easy-to-peruse way.

However, if you happen to be new to the field of writing, you could be a little unaware and untrained in both these skills. But don’t worry. Everyone starts out as a beginner.

In this post, we’re going to be looking at some  paraphrasing and summarizing  exercises along with their answers and explanations. By following along, you’ll get a good idea about how you can use these techniques in your own capacity.

Let’s begin!

What is Paraphrasing and Summarizing?

Before we get to the exercises, let’s digress a little and understand what paraphrasing and summarization actually are.

Let’s start with paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing  is the process in which a particular piece of content is reworded and rephrased in such a way that it looks different from its original version but it has the same meaning and context.

A simple example of paraphrasing would be to change “John likes his cat” to “John adores his feline pet”. Paraphrasing can be as slight as merely changing some words in the text, or it can be as drastic as fully changing the tone, structure, order, and words of the content.

On the other hand,  Summarizing  is the process in which a piece of content is shrunk and shortened to about one-tenth of its original size. In this shortened version, the main idea and concept of the content is provided.

Summarization is usually used by authors and writers when they want to give a brief outline of a book or article to their readers.

Now that we’ve looked at the definitions of both, let’s move ahead to look at some exercises.

Paraphrasing Exercises (with Answers)

The main purpose of providing these exercises along with their answers is to help you understand what these techniques look like when they are implemented. Since we have explained their core definition above, you can try and work along the exercises to improve your skills a little as well.

Related:  Difference Between Paraphrasing And Rephrasing

Paraphrasing Exercise # 1:

Here is a sample paragraph that we will be paraphrasing as an exercise. We’ll write the paragraph alone first, and then provide the answer after a brief explanation.

Sample Paragraph:

"John could not find the butter in his fridge. He went to buy some from the store. On coming back, he saw his cat sitting on the floor, smacking its lips. There was some yellow stuff smeared all around its face. Thus, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

So, as we mentioned earlier, paraphrasing can be done simply and sparingly, or it can be done drastically.

One of the primary and basic ways of paraphrasing is to simply change some words in the provided content with their synonyms. This is, we reiterate, a very basic level of paraphrasing, and it is often very easy to see through it.

So, for this first exercise, we are going to be doing only that level of paraphrasing as a way to illustrate how it looks like.

Here is what the above paragraph looks like when paraphrased:

Paraphrased Paragraph:

"John could not locate the butter in the refrigerator. He went to purchase some from the shop. On coming back, he observed his cat sitting on the ground, licking its lips. There was some yellow material smeared all around its face. Hence, John solved the mystery of the missing butter."

While we are on this discussion, it will also be salubrious to understand that when changing words with their synonyms for the purpose of paraphrasing, you have to be careful that you pick those that don’t mess up the context and intent of the lines.

Paraphrasing Exercise # 2:

Moving on, let’s look at another paraphrasing exercise. Here is the paragraph that we will be using for this one:

"John’s cat got lost in the forest. He went looking for it in the night time. He heard some movement in one of the bushes. He put his hand in and felt the fur. He pulled the thing out, thinking it to be his cat. After coming home, he realized it was an angry raccoon."

We mentioned in the last exercise that the basic level of paraphrasing is to change some of the words in the given text with their synonyms. And we also mentioned how that sort of paraphrasing can be easily detected.

So, for writers who want to paraphrase something in such a way that it does not resemble its original form a lot, there’s a step further that they can go, and that is to change the sentence structures + phrases.

Essentially, by changing the phrases used in the content as well as the arrangement of the sentences, the overall look of the paraphrased piece looks very different. If someone wants to go even ahead of that, they can shuffle the sentence  order  as well.

Considering this type of ‘extensive’ paraphrasing, here is the answer to the paragraph given above:

"John’s cat went missing in the forest. He went to search for it when it was dark. He discerned some movement in the hedge. After putting his hand inside it, he felt some fur. Thinking that it was his cat, he pulled the animal out. It was only after coming home that he realized that it was a frustrated raccoon."

Read more: How And Why to Paraphrase Your Content?

Summarizing Exercises (with Answers)

Now that we have looked at the paraphrasing exercises, let’s move on to look at some for summarizing.

Just as we’ve looked at two types of paraphrasing above, we’ll also look at two different types of summarizing.

Actually, it’ll be better if we explain those two types before getting to the exercises.

Basically, there are  two types of summaries . One of them is called  extractive  and the other is called  abstractive .

In extractive summarization, the summary of a piece of content is generated merely by taking out some sentences from it and joining them together. This is usually the type of summaries that you get from automated tools.

When extractive summaries are created, there is no effort to understand the actual meaning and context of the text. Rather, the purpose is only to take some lines from it and join them together in such a way that they make sense.

On the other hand, abstractive summaries are those that are written using a completely new and different set of words, phrases and sentences than the content (that is being summarized). As opposed to extractive summarization, abstractive summarization involves understanding the meaning and context of the text, and then creating a completely new summary that features all those concepts and ideas.

Summarizing Exercise # 1 (Extractive)

In order to demonstrate and explain extractive summarization, we’re going to first write a paragraph here and then provide its summary afterwards:

Sample paragraph:

"John’s car broke down. He stopped by the road side and screamed at people to stop and help him. But no one stopped for him. He continued howling and howling for hours. People kept driving by. After getting tired, he picked up a sheet and wrapped it around himself. Then, he started spinning on his spot. He grew dizzy. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Now, since we have to use the “extractive” summarization technique here, we’ll create the summary using the lines and sentences used in the content itself.

"John’s car broke down. But no one stopped for him. Then, he started spinning on the spot. He kept spinning and spinning until he fell asleep."

Summarizing Exercise # 2 (Abstractive)

For this exercise, we will use the same para that we did above. However, the technique used for the summarization will be different.

Since we will be using the abstractive technique here, the summary will be created using different words and phrases as the original.

"John’s vehicle went phut. But, no one stopped their car to help him. After he was tired, he made himself dizzy by spinning and then went to sleep."

So, that’s about it.

If you were a little confused about paraphrasing and summarization techniques, hopefully you’re a little more confident about them now.

These skills can come in handy for writers in a lot of different situations. If you don’t have the hang of them already, you should try and get it as quick as you can.

Free Printable Summarizing worksheets

Summarizing made accessible with our free printable Reading & Writing worksheets! Discover a vast collection of resources tailored for Reading & Writing teachers to help students master the art of summarizing.

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Explore printable Summarizing worksheets

Summarizing worksheets are an essential tool for teachers to help students develop their reading and writing skills. These worksheets provide a structured approach to breaking down complex texts, enabling students to identify the main ideas and supporting details. By incorporating reading comprehension strategies such as predicting, questioning, clarifying, and evaluating, summarizing worksheets encourage students to engage with the text actively. This active engagement not only improves their reading skills but also enhances their ability to express themselves in writing. Teachers can use these worksheets across various grade levels, tailoring the content and complexity to suit the needs of their students. In conclusion, summarizing worksheets are a valuable resource for educators looking to foster a deeper understanding of reading and writing in their students.

Quizizz is an innovative platform that offers a variety of educational resources, including worksheets, to support teachers in their quest to improve students' reading and writing abilities. With a vast library of content, Quizizz allows educators to create customized quizzes and activities that align with their curriculum and target specific reading comprehension strategies. These quizzes can be used alongside summarizing worksheets to reinforce learning and assess students' progress. Additionally, Quizizz offers real-time feedback and analytics, enabling teachers to identify areas where students may need additional support or practice. By incorporating Quizizz into their lesson plans, educators can provide a comprehensive and engaging learning experience that promotes the development of essential reading and writing skills across all grade levels.

Worksheets on Summarizing Made Easy…

Oct 1, 2022

Long story, short… that’s exactly what a summary is! But how often does someone who uses that statement actually make their story short?! Whether in school or in life beyond the classroom, summarizing is a skill that needs practice, repeated practice. Writing a summary is a skill that needs to be honed. It should be taught yearly, not just as a refresher but as though it’s a brand new task. Certainly, students will have a background in the skill as they have repeated exposure through worksheets on summarizing, but treating it as new means you can shift to more challenging texts and more challenging strategies for summarizing too!

If you’re just starting with summary skills, then consider this series of reading comprehension passages . Each of these worksheets on summarizing focuses on finding the central idea in either an informational or narrative text. Being able to find a central idea is a foundational skill, particularly if summarizing a short story. 

Building on that skill in the initial stages will ensure students in classes all the way through AP Lang are able to be even more succinct with their summaries. To practice that, you could use this lesson that focuses on writing one-sentence summaries of a speech about child labor . These worksheets on summaries are ideal because the text is already in chunks to help differentiate for your students!

Need help with Test Prep? Check out this FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities to help students achieve success on standardized tests!

Table of Contents

Significance of  Worksheets on Summarizing

As a skill, summarizing is integral to the development of critical thinking. With strategies for summarizing, students can sort important information from irrelevant information. And, with well-scaffolded worksheets on summarizing, students can analyze a variety of texts. They can then integrate this new information with their own background knowledge. In turn, this can better inform their thinking on a variety of topics from short stories to world issues featured in the news. 

Summarizing is also relevant in life beyond the classroom. When applying for jobs, students will be asked to summarize their experience, so they’ll need to review their whole work history in order to pick out the most relevant and important information. If it’s in a job interview, this will need to be done quickly and effectively. A solid background in summarizing throughout high school means that this skill is finely honed and ready to be used at the minute! 

Want help with guided reading activities you can use with worksheets on summarizing? Click below!

Difference between paraphrasing and worksheets on summarizing

Paraphrasing means rewording what someone else has written or said using your own words, usually to the same level of detail. In contrast, summarizing highlights the central idea without the inclusion of a lot of detail unless it supports the main idea. 

Take a look at these examples using the opening paragraph of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” : 

“True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story.”

Paraphrased: I was very anxious but I was not mad. In fact, my five senses were sharp, especially my hearing. I could hear everything both figurative and literal. But listen, I have a story to tell you and I will do it calmly and thoroughly.

Summarized: The speaker is anxious but has a story to tell.

In each instance, the paragraph is explained but note the difference in the level of detail. The paraphrase takes the seven sentences and re-tells the story in only slightly fewer sentences. The strategy for summarizing meanwhile is to boil down as much as possible to get to the central idea or, dare I say, the heart of the paragraph! 

Get the worksheets on summarizing “The Tell-Tale Heart” by clicking below!

What You Can Summarize…

Any number of texts can be used for summary practice. Each one has value and can meet the requirements of different groups of learners in your English classroom.

• An entire text – This one is the most difficult! This type of summary can be pretty general as it needs to connect to each part of the text; it is broad in nature but still short in word count. It should be reserved for higher-level learners who have already found success with the types below.
• A chunk – As the saying goes, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The same is true for summarizing a text. Rather than focusing on a full text, shift to chunking into smaller pieces such as a paragraph or a few paragraphs combined. This is a tried-and-true method to differentiate. Check out these worksheets on summarizing “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe that is already chunked for you and your students. 
• Paragraphs/stanzas – Whether it is narrative, nonfiction, or even poetry, these smaller parts of texts make it a cinch for students’ summary practice. This poetry-focused activity incorporates SEL and strategies for summarizing by having students summarize stanzas into a single sentence. 
• An excerpt – Another option is an excerpt from a larger work. In this way, students gain an idea of the whole of the text and make use of their inference skills as well. Another great way to feature excerpts is in specific pairings of fiction or nonfiction and poetry. This lesson that pairs an excerpt from Tolstoy’s Childhood with Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “The Land of Story-books“ is an excellent example of joining two complementary texts using worksheets on summarizing independently in order to make thematic connections.  

Need worksheets on summarizing for “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge?” Click HERE !

Click HERE for help with teaching using thematic units!

Two Ways to Summarize

Paragraph Summary –  For this type of summary a strong structure is key. Like a body paragraph that has its parts, so too does a paragraph summary. Explain to students that one sentence provides the central idea, another two to three sentences – this is flexible depending on the length of the text – provide details from throughout the text, and the last sentence reinforces the most important idea(s).

1-Sentence Summary – This method is by far my favorite! This is exactly what it sounds like in that the summary should only be ONE sentence in length. The best part of this option is its flexibility, so you can differentiate for your students. One group can summarize several chunks, whereas another group of struggling readers could summarize a single chunk. This set of differentiated graphic organizers for one-sentence summaries will make life easier for busy teachers looking to include more summarizing in class! 

You can even make worksheets on summarizing more of a challenge with a layer of financial literacy by providing a value to each word and then a budget for the sentence. For example, each word is worth 10 cents and you have $1.20 to spend for the sentence. This is a way to keep things fresh too as you continue to work on one-sentence summaries throughout the course and year after year!

Why incorporate worksheets on summarizing?

No matter what type or length of text you use, practicing summarizing time and again is key! You want students to be able to pick out a central idea with comfort even if the text isn’t always easy. The higher the level of the text becomes, the more students need to practice summarizing. Using a variety of worksheets on summarizing that incorporate different strategies can make this easier for teachers and students alike!

Need more fun lessons and activities that incorporate worksheets on summarizing? Check out my store Kristin Menke-Integrated ELA Test Prep !

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Summarizing worksheet 1.

Here is a worksheet to help students practice summarizing. Read four nonfiction paragraphs about trains, highlight or underline important information, and write a title for the passage related to its main idea. Then create a summary.

Readability Score for Summarizing Worksheet 1

Summarizing common core state standards.

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SUMMARIZING and PARAPHRASING

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Use your own words, keep the main idea.

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Paraphrasing Worksheets

Related ela standard: w.5.8.

When we have a serious task in front of us it is often helpful to reflect on work that has already been performed by others. Why reinvent the wheel or fire? We will often summarize a body of work to put the thoughts of an author in our own words. This means that we took the main points the author put forward and just redirected them. Paraphrasing is when you pinpoint an exact section of an author's words and make sense of them by putting them in your own words. You will want to paraphrase when you feel the need to clarify a short text based reading passage. It is also helpful when you are writing research pieces where you want to avoid using quotations too much. These worksheets will ask you to both summarize and paraphrase the work of other authors.

Paraphrasing Worksheets:

In Summary - You will need a 4-5 page reading passage to go along with this organizer. Write the text's main idea in one sentence. Then write only the important details that explain the main idea. Use your own words as much as possible.

Paraphrasing - You'll need more text for this one. Read the text twice, to make sure you understand it. Now set the text aside. In the thought bubble write down what you remember, in your own words, answering the questions who, what, where, when, why and how. Then use your notes to paraphrase the text on the lines.

Summarizing from your Sources - All parts of research are broken down here. When you take notes while doing research, write down only the important information and ideas. Use your own words. Be sure to make a note of each source.

Summarizing - Can you get it all in one sentence? What is the most important detail in the mix?

Summary | Paraphrase - This does flow nice. Many teachers use this as a template for their classes. It helps you get a handle on both skills in one nice worksheet.

Fishing For Information - Write the text's main idea in one sentence. Then write only the important details that explain the main idea.

Keep it Short! - Write the text's main idea in one sentence. Then write only the important details that explain the main idea. Use your own words as much as possible.

Paraphrasing - When you paraphrase, you write the ideas from the text in your own words.

Writing a Summary - Write the text's main idea in one sentence. Then write only the important details that explain the main idea.

Out for Pizza - Write the text's main idea in one sentence. Then write only the important details that explain the main idea.

In Your Own Words... - When you paraphrase, you write the ideas from the text in your own words.

Short and Sweet - Write the text's main idea in one sentence. Then write only the important details that explain the main idea.

Sharing Great Ideas - Read the text twice, to make sure you understand it. Now set the text aside.

Trick or Treat - In your own words, answer the questions who, what, where, when, why and how. Then use your notes to paraphrase the text on the lines.

The Mechanics - You will be given a reading passage about gardening that you will put your skills to work for.

Plotting - Complete all of the sentences by choosing the proper wording.

Paraphrase vs. Summarize - We compare and contrast the two closely related concepts.

Introduction - This is perfect for class discussions where you introduce the topic. It can also be used as a review worksheet.

True or False - We cover some serious detail on this technique in here.

Practice Passage - You will be given an detailed example to work off of and then asked to use this technique with a reading passage.

Citing Sheet - This is a great note sheet to have handy.

Article Practice - Find an article in a print periodical that you want to read. Read the article. Then choose a passage from the article that you find particular interesting and paraphrase it.

Inaugural Address - You read John F. Kennedy's 1961 address and reference it in your own work.

Three Things - As you conduct your research, fill out the questionnaire for each of your sources.

Fiction - We look at how to apply this skill to fictional works.

Passage Breakdown - This worksheet walks you through the steps you need to take to apply this skill to an assigned reading passage.

Sentences - You will paraphrase a series of sentences.

Explain the Concept - Why is it an important technique to learn?

Exercises - Flex your muscles and get some real quality work in on this worksheet.

What is Paraphrasing?

One of the most common tasks assigned to students in their initial stages of learning is paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is the practice of rewriting a text in your own words without adding anything to it or removing anything from the original text. While this may be aimed at strengthening the written skills of students from an early age, learning paraphrasing becomes inevitable after one reaches a stage where they have to cite and add someone else's works in their own research to substantiate their work with suitable evidences.

The Process of Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is an important academic skill a student must acquire. In order to paraphrase any text, one has to thoroughly and carefully read it twice or even more times. The purpose of such a detailed reading is to understand the text to its very core, ensuring that no chunk of information in the actual text is left unnoticed. Once careful reading is done, the person has to rewrite the whole idea in his or her own words. This rewriting does not merely mean using synonyms for words in the original text, but also includes changing sentence structure, making ideas more clear and easier to understand, and can also be a total different sequence of sub-ideas put down to ultimately convey the exact sense as has been conveyed by the original text.

What Makes a Paraphrased Text Excellent?

There are a few points to be kept in mind while paraphrasing anything to make sure that the text has been excellently paraphrased. A good paraphrased text only includes ideas that were there in the actual text and there is no addition or subtraction of ideas by the one who is paraphrasing. It is simple and cited without any personal ideas being narrated by the second author.

How To Paraphrase Properly

If your work or degree revolves around submitting written content, you probably already understand the importance of proper paraphrasing. In today's world, one can find ample information online on every possible topic. Although this can help gather data for your work, it makes writing an original piece of content extremely challenging.

Submitting poorly paraphrased work can lead to your work being categorized as plagiarized. Plagiarism is a serious offense in many countries worldwide and can cancel your admission and degree and even affect your job.

Paraphrasing or rephrasing is the use of different words, expressions, phrases, and texts to restate a passage or concept while keeping the gist of the content the same.

Paraphrasing is often used by students, writers, and professional content creators to avoid plagiarism and produce an original written piece of work. Not only does paraphrasing help avoid the consequences of submitting plagiarized work, but it also helps an individual gain recognition as a writer with good work ethic who respects intellectual property.

Step 1: Spend Time Reading the Passage Carefully

There is nothing wrong with using a book or internet sources to write your content, as a one person can't know everything. However, you must respect the original writer's intellectual property and refrain from copying their work as your own.

Instead, to paraphrase the information, spend time reading the passage carefully. Read the content three to four times before you start penning down the information. Doing so will help you understand the main concept or the gist of the information.

Step 2: Pen Down the Key Ideas

Once you have read the content thoroughly and have gained insight into the author's words, the next step is to pen down the key ideas or concepts on a rough piece of paper. Although many writers tend to skip this step, doing this will greatly help you structure your work with greater coherence.

Step 3: Get to Writing

Keep the paper containing the key ideas before you and get to writing. For this step, refrain from looking at the author's original work and stick to the key ideas you have penned down. Doing so will make help you write as originally as possible.

Step 4: Compare Your Work with The Original Text

Once you are done writing, compare what you have written with the original text. This step is not to copy the author's tone or expression; instead, it is to make any necessary factual or conceptual adjustments.

Step 5: Provide Accurate Citations

To write as ethically as possible, never forget to give credit to the source that helped you produce your content. Remember to provide proper citations for all the papers, journals, online sources, etc., that you used to complete your task.

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Paraphrasing vs. Summarizing (Differences, Examples, How To)

It can be confusing to know when to paraphrase and when to summarize. Many people use the terms interchangeably even though the two have different meanings and uses.

Today, let’s understand the basic differences between paraphrasing vs. summarizing and when to use which . We’ll also look at types and examples of paraphrasing and summarizing, as well as how to do both effectively.

Let’s look at paraphrasing first.

What is paraphrasing?

It refers to rewriting someone else’s ideas in your own words. 

It’s important to rewrite the whole idea in your words rather than just replacing a few words with their synonyms. That way, you present an idea in a way that your audience will understand easily and also avoid plagiarism. 

It’s also important to cite your sources when paraphrasing so that the original author of the work gets due credit.

When should you paraphrase?

The main purpose of paraphrasing is often to clarify an existing passage. You should use paraphrasing when you want to show that you understand the concept, like while writing an essay about a specific topic. 

You may also use it when you’re quoting someone but can’t remember their exact words. 

Finally, paraphrasing is a very effective way to rewrite outdated content in a way that’s relevant to your current audience.

How to paraphrase effectively

Follow these steps to paraphrase any piece of text effectively:

• Read the full text and ensure that you understand it completely. It helps to look up words you don’t fully understand in an online or offline dictionary.
• Once you understand the text, rewrite it in your own words. Remember to rewrite it instead of just substituting words with their synonyms.
• Edit the text to ensure it’s easy to understand for your audience.
• Mix in your own insights while rewriting the text to make it more relevant.
• Run the text through a plagiarism checker to ensure that it does not have any of the original content.

Example of paraphrasing

Here’s an example of paraphrasing:

• Original:  The national park is full of trees, water bodies, and various species of flora and fauna.
• Paraphrased:  Many animal species thrive in the verdant national park that is served by lakes and rivers flowing through it.

What is summarizing?

Summarizing is also based on someone else’s text but rather than presenting their ideas in your words, you only sum up their main ideas in a smaller piece of text.

It’s important to not use their exact words or phrases when summarizing to avoid plagiarism. It’s best to make your own notes while reading through the text and writing a summary based on your notes.

You must only summarize the most important ideas from a piece of text as summaries are essentially very short compared to the original work. And just like paraphrasing, you should cite the original text as a reference.

When should you summarize?

The main purpose of summarizing is to reduce a passage or other text to fewer words while ensuring that everything important is covered.

Summaries are useful when you want to cut to the chase and lay down the most important points from a piece of text or convey the entire message in fewer words. You should summarize when you have to write a short essay about a larger piece of text, such as writing a book review.

You can also summarize when you want to provide background information about something without taking up too much space.

How to summarize effectively

Follow these steps to summarize any prose effectively:

• Read the text to fully understand it. It helps to read it a few times instead of just going through it once.
• Pay attention to the larger theme of the text rather than trying to rewrite it sentence for sentence.
• Understand how all the main ideas are linked and piece them together to form an overview.
• Remove all the information that’s not crucial to the main ideas or theme. Remember, summaries must only include the most essential points and information.
• Edit your overview to ensure that the information is organized logically and follows the correct chronology where applicable.
• Review and edit the summary again to make it clearer, ensure that it’s accurate, and make it even more concise where you can.
• Ensure that you cite the original text.

Example of summarization

You can summarize any text into a shorter version. For example, this entire article can be summarized in just a few sentences as follows:

• Summary:  The article discusses paraphrasing vs. summarizing by explaining the two concepts. It specifies when you should use paraphrasing and when you should summarize a piece of text and describes the process of each. It ends with examples of both paraphrasing and summarizing to provide a better understanding to the reader.

Paraphrasing vs. summarizing has been a long-standing point of confusion for writers of all levels, whether you’re writing a college essay or reviewing a research paper or book. The above tips and examples can help you identify when to use paraphrasing or summarizing and how to go about them effectively.

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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Paraphrase Games and Activities You Should Know

Table of Contents

Paraphrase games and activities teach your students to paraphrase without putting them to sleep. This article teaches and reinforces this skill in fun and exciting ways by using activities and games.

Students must sometimes find solutions or facts from what they’ve read and not merely duplicate the source. We call this “paraphrasing.”

Why does this matter? First, we want to make sure we don’t plagiarize, so we don’t use someone else’s work and call it our own. After rephrasing and rethinking, teachers need to hear what a student says to know if they understand.

Why Play Paraphrase Games?

Teachers must often hear students synthesize and rewrite words to evaluate if they grasp it. Most people aren’t born knowing how to paraphrase. These activities and games teach and reinforce paraphrase.

Most of us aren’t born knowing how to paraphrase, though. Use these games and activities to help your students learn and practice paraphrasing.

1. Paraphrasing Races

The teacher puts the students into groups and gives each group a sentence. They have three minutes to come up with as many different ways to say the sentence as they can. Each good way of putting it is worth one point. The winner is the team with the most points.

2. Fun Question and Answer

At its core, paraphrasing means rewriting something in your own words, so have students start by doing that. Split your students into pairs and ask them questions.

Questions like “What did you do yesterday after school?” Tell me your vacation plans etc.

• Student A gives a three- or four-sentence answer to the question.
• Student B rewrites what Student A said.
• Then, each pair changes roles.

You should show the class how to do this a few times before you start.

3. Quiz, Quiz, Trade Game

This is another version of the “Talk at First” Game. Start by:

• Giving each student a piece of paper with a sentence on it.
• Have students find partners.
• Student A says her sentence, and Student B rewrites it in his or her own words.

The students then switch places. Then, they trade cards and go on to find different partners.

4. The Use of Index Cards

Ask students to take something their parent or sibling says and put it in their own words. Send them home with two index cards. On one, have them write down the original idea and on the other, how they changed it. Share the next day in class.

5. Identify Me

Make index cards with samples of academic text, like a few sentences from your science or social studies book.

Instructions

Give each group both a set of sample text cards and a set of blank index cards. Have each group choose someone to be the first judge and someone else to be the reader.

The judge picks a ready-made card and reads it out loud. Then, the judge puts it in the middle of the group so that everyone can see it.

Everyone in the group (except the reader) rewrites the text in their own words and writes it on a blank index card.

The card is then put in the reader. The reader reads each quoted card aloud, and the judge tries to guess who authored it. Give points for each right answer. Switch roles and keep playing until all of the task cards are used up.

6. Paraphrase Together

Try rewriting a short paragraph as a whole class. Use your document, camera or write it on the board to show the paragraph. You might want to give each student a copy. Make sure your pupils are aware of the distinction between paraphrasing and summarizing . Talk about the different ways to do things.

The students are to use the Four R’s to paraphrase correctly.

Reword the sentences

• Students should try to reword the sentences. Use synonyms for words and phrases whenever you can.

Rearrange the sentences

• Students should be able to change the order of the words in a sentence to make a new sentence. They can even switch the order of the ideas in a paragraph.

Realize that s ome words are unchangeable

• Students should be aware that some words and phrases cannot be changed. Words such as names, dates, titles, etc., but they can be rephrased in a different way.

Recheck for same meaning

• Make sure that the meaning of your paraphrase is the same as the original.

Paraphrase games are a great way to practice and develop your paraphrasing skills . They provide a space to reflect on and improve on your writing skills as well as work on teamwork, and creativity.

With a bit of creative thinking and originality, these games provide a lot of possibility for unforgettable moments.

Pam is an expert grammarian with years of experience teaching English, writing and ESL Grammar courses at the university level. She is enamored with all things language and fascinated with how we use words to shape our world.

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