Effective Steps to Summarize a Paragraph Without Plagiarizing

How to summarize a paragraph without plagiarizing? A common query among students. With a pile of assignments and reports in academic studies, it often becomes difficult to cope with all the submissions. And when you rush to get things done the night before the deadline, chances are that you’ll end up with plagiarized work.

However, there are ways to preserve the uniqueness of an article or essay, even if the ideas in the piece are not entirely yours. This article discusses how you can effectively summarize a paragraph, essay, or article without any hassle.

How to Summarize a Paragraph Without Plagiarizing?

You must be well aware that in academic writing, you are often asked to summarize a research paper or a long article. And it’s no surprise that many students find it challenging to summarize a text without plagiarizing.

While extracting the key points in a summary and structuring it in a concise manner, students pick up sentences without proper paraphrasing. Therefore, we have outlined how to summarize a paragraph without plagiarizing the original text.

Read the Text Thoroughly

The reading strategy depends on the type and genre of the text. But a generally helpful practice is reading the introduction and conclusion and comparing the two. Then take note of the author’s intended message and the outcomes attained.

Be sure to underline key phrases and new concepts as you read everything in between these two sections. This will help you move along with your work more quickly at the next stage. You can write a key phrase next to the paragraph describing its content.

Structure the Content

The headings and subheadings are important pointers for summarizing a text. You don’t need to create anything entirely new. Just follow the summary structure based on the original text. Use your notes from the previous step to help you expand the ideas.

Make sure to add only the necessary details without trying to include everything in your writing. You’ll want to include keywords that the paragraph is talking about. Think about what has been said. Try to find a takeaway message that’s central to the paragraph.

Summarize Your Paragraph

The best strategy is to keep the original source aside and formulate your summary based on your notes. Make sure to write everything in your own words based on your understanding of the text.

When summarizing a paragraph, you also need to paraphrase the sentences. But while paraphrasing, you must rewrite the entire sentence rather than only modifying a few words or their placement.

If there’s no other way than to copy the exact words from the source, you must properly format it using quotations to avoid plagiarism. It’s better not to use too many quotes. Only include the ones essential to comprehending the topic and complete your summary.

Check the Summary Against the Source

After you’re done writing the summary of a paragraph, one crucial final step is to compare it with the source text. Rewrite any line or phrase that closely resembles the original text. Read the whole summary and see if it properly conveys the core message of the paragraph you summarized.

Conclusion

Writing summaries of long articles or papers is a common assignment in academic writing. It is important to remember that plagiarism is a serious issue that should be avoided at all costs in both academic and professional fields. Follow the steps in this article to help you summarize a paragraph without plagiarism.