Biotechnology: Avoiding Plagiarism

Paraphrasing vs. Patchwriting: Spot the Difference

Original Source:

Increasingly, researchers have been turning to identical and fraternal twins for answers, with dramatic results. They are finding that genetics, in addition to familial interests, educational, social and other environmental pressures, have a considerable impact on how we choose what we do--and how happy we are with that choice.

Segal NL 2006.  “New Twins Studies Show: The Career of Your Dreams May Be the Career of Your Genes.” Psychology Today: Sept./Oct. 2006: 54-60

After reading the original paragraph, which paragraph has been correctly paraphrased?

Option1:

To answer the question of how genetics influence career choices, researchers have turned to identical and fraternal twins, with impressive results. They have found that genetics, in additional to familial interests, educational, social and other environmental pressures, have a major impact on how people choose what they do—and how satisfied they are with that choice (Segal 2006). 

Option 2:

Recent research on identical and fraternal twins indicates that while external influences such as social pressure have some impact on career choice, genetcs also plays a major role in how people decide what to do for a living (Segal 2006).

Paraphrasing the following:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final [research] paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.

Lester JD.  1976. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. Glenview (IL): Scott, Foresman. p 46-47.

Ask yourself:

What are the main topics of this paragraph?

Now, use your own words to write a paraphrase in sentene form.