Chapter 26 How to Paraphrase a Source

Learning how to summarize an idea from a published article is an important part of scientific writing. Paraphrasing helps you better understand others ideas. It also lets you avoid copying and quoting the original texts, which takes up valuable space in your own writing.

To help you develop this skill, we selected three articles from an open-access online journal. We’ll show you some good examples of paraphrasing that were written by the authors themselves, and explain why they work well. We also will look at some bad examples too.

26.1 The Source Materials

The text excerpts for this set of exercises come from three open-access articles published originally in PLoS ONE. All three articles are Copyright: © 2021 by their respective authors. The articles are used here under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

26.2 Exercise 1. Key Features of Paraphrasing

Text Source

Jung S-K, Park SB, Shim BS (2021) Diagnosis of pine wilt disease using remote wireless sensing. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0257900. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257900

One of the ways you can learn how to paraphrase well is to look at article abstract. They are meant to paraphrase several pages of text in just 200-300 words.

This is a quote from the Introduction section of the original text.

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is one of the major plant diseases that, despite years of research and control efforts, constantly threaten pine forests in Japan, China, Canada, and Europe [1–4]. PWD was first reported in Japan in 1905, and has spread nationwide in Korea since it was first discovered in Busan in 1988 [1]. PWD is caused by the pine wood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, which is transferred to trees by vector insects such as Monochamus alternatus and Monochamus saltuarius [1,5]. Once infection begins, the pine trees gradually dry from the top to the bottom and die [6].


Here is how the authors paraphrased their own text in the Abstract for the same article, with an in-text citation added.

Pine wilt disease caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is a major tree disease that threatens pine forests worldwide (Jung, et al., 2021).


This sentence illustrates 4 features of good paraphrasing.

  • The paraphrased sentence captures the key idea of the original paragraph.
  • The paraphrased sentence does not contain any directly quoted phrases longer than 2-3 words.
  • The paraphrased version is not too detailed.
  • The original source of the paraphrased information is provided.


This is another excerpt from the original Introduction.

In this study, we (1) , (2) attached the device to wild pine trees in a forest, and measured sensing data of the trees at regular intervals, (3) collected sensing data from a distance through <long-range (LoRa) communication> in real time, and (4) developed a technology to diagnose infected trees by performing statistical analysis of processed sensing signals. We have been collecting data since 2017 from sensing devices installed in multiple forest areas such as Gyeongju and Ulsan, where PWD occurs regularly and causes considerable damage to pine forests. For remote sensing, a LoRa network commercially built by SK Telecom (Seoul, South Korea) in 2017 was used to wirelessly collect sensing data from sensing devices in forest areas in real time. For reference, the lowest monthly rate in 2021 is 350 Korean won (US$ 0.31/month), which is very affordable.


Here is how the authors paraphrased their own text in their Abstract.

To diagnose this disease, we capable of <long-range (LoRa) communication> and installed them in pine trees (Pinus densiflora) in Gyeongju and Ulsan, South Korea.


Once again, the paraphrased sentence captures the key idea of the original paragraph without being overly detailed. This sentence also illustrates some additional features of a well-written paraphrasing statement.

This paraphrased sentence does have two directly quoted phrases, but they are descriptions of experimental materials, not original concepts or ideas from the authors. This kind of direct quote would be acceptable because you are not claiming credit for the original authors’ ideas. You simply are using the same terms to describe a specific part of the experimental methods.

This is how the paraphrased sentence would look if you had written the sentence in your own lab report, so you know how you would credit the original source.

To diagnose this disease, <Jung, et al. (2021)> developed battery-powered remote sensing devices capable of long-range (LoRa) communication and installed them in pine trees (Pinus densiflora) in Gyeongju and Ulsan, South Korea.


The last excerpt comes from the original Discussion section.

Upon analyzing the collected tree sensing signals, which represented stem resistance, we found that the mean absolute deviation (MAD) of the sensing signals was useful for distinguishing between uninfected and infected trees. The MAD of infected trees was greater than that of uninfected trees from August of the year, and in the two-dimensional plane, consisting of the MAD value in July and that in October, the infected and uninfected trees were separated by the first-order boundary line generated using linear discriminant analysis. It was also observed that wood moisture content and precipitation affected MAD. This is the first study to diagnose pine wilt disease using remote sensors attached to trees.


This is how the authors summarized their findings for their Abstract,again formatted as if you were writing it in your own lab report.

Upon analyzing the collected sensing data, <Jung, et al. (2021)> found that there was a difference in the changes in the sensing signals of uninfected and infected pine trees, and that the mean absolute deviation (MAD) could be used to distinguish between the two classes. <This is the first study in which PWD was diagnosed using remote sensors attached to trees.>


In this example the last sentence would be very close to crossing the line into plagiarism. We need to paraphrase further.

Jung, et al. (2021) was the first study to diagnose PWD using remote sensing. Using sensors attached to trees they showed clear differences in signals from trees that were vs. were not infected.


This final version still makes the same point, but is more thoroughly reworded.