1. Read and reread the source material until you understand it completely.

2.Put the source material aside and on a piece of paper or a notecard, write your paraphrase in your own words and sentence structure.

3. Compare your version to the original source, making sure your paraphrase is original, accurate, complete, and objective.

4.If you find you needed to use a unique term or phrase from the source, make sure you use quotes to identify that you borrowed it for the source.

5.Record the source information (even the page number) with the paraphrase, so you have it ready when you are writing your paper and wish to integrate this source’s ideas.

Original Material -

The emergency room medical intervention provided to the subject was deemed suboptimal to best practices by legal counsel, so the facility and the on-shift physician received a legal suit declaring a therapeutic misadventure. From Jane Doe, p. 321

Paraphrase -

Jane Doe reports that after the accident, attorneys for the patient decided that the treatment given in the emergency room was substandard in comparison with that of other hospitals, so they filed a malpractice lawsuit against the doctor on duty and the hospital (321).

Aaron, Jane E. The Little, Brown Compact Handbook. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.

Hacker, Diana and Nancy Sommers. A Writer’s Reference 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Print.

Harris, Robert. Using Sources Effectively. 3rd ed. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing, 2011. Print.

Howard, Rebecca Moore. Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. Print.

Kirszner, Laurie G. and Stephen R. Mandell. The Brief Wadsworth Handbook. 6th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2010. Print