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The Difference Between Paraphrasing And Rewriting

By DALE JACKSON

For a lot of people, rewriting and paraphrasing might sound similar, but the truth is that the two notions are very different. Although both pertain to writing, they tackle previously written content in a specific manner. Which makes you wonder, what is rewriting and how is it different from paraphrasing? Let’s find out.

What does paraphrasing mean?

The idea behind paraphrasing is that you are restating something already said in a text. The idea here is to clarify what was mentioned, but you keep the same idea. It’s widely used in speeches, mainly because it takes out unnecessary bits of information. At the same time, it also allows you to shorten the sentence.

You can use paraphrasing for:

  • Showcasing the most important idea in a text
  • Shortening sentences and text to make them easier to read
  • Removing content from the text that may not really make a huge difference

A lot of people use paraphrasing as a way of using only the best ideas from a text. This works really well, and a lot of people find it very easy to do. Granted, it does take a bit of experimentation to see which ideas stand out and what needs to be removed, but it’s well worth the effort.

What does rewriting mean?

Unlike paraphrasing, rewriting focuses on deleting the original content and writing it again using different words while retaining the intended meaning of the statement. This might make it sound extremely similar to paraphrasing; however, there is a difference here. Unlike paraphrasing, rewriting retains all the original information.

You’re not cutting or removing information when you rewrite, but merely using different words to make the content sound different. For paraphrasing, you’re basically rearranging the most important aspects of the text. It works really well, and in the end, you will find yourself immersed in the entire experience in a very creative way.

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Which is better?

It all comes down to what you need to do and how you want to approach your original content. If you just want to restate specific passages while highlighting the important parts, paraphrasing is the better option. It allows you to make certain ideas stand out while removing things that might not be entirely relevant for the topic at hand.

However, a rewrite is different because it requires you to restate everything using different words. You’re basically writing the same content again, without using the same words as the original. Paraphrasing is more about setting out the  significance of the text while using a variety of different terms.

If you want to share previous written statements or ideas in your own words, rewriting is the right way to do it. But if you want to build upon specific ideas from a text, then paraphrasing is the best approach. Once you keep these ideas in mind, it will be easy to figure out when to use paraphrasing and when you need to rewrite the content!

If you want to share previous written statements or ideas in your own words, rewriting is the right way to do it.

But if you want to build upon specific ideas from a text, then paraphrasing is the best approach. Once you keep these ideas in mind, it will be easy to figure out when to use paraphrasing and when you need to rewrite the content!

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