Paraphrasing is a skill that takes time to develop. One way of becoming familiar with paraphrasing is by examining successful and unsuccessful attempts at paraphrasing. Read the quote below from page 179 of Howard Gardner's book titled Multiple Intelligences and then examine the two attempts at paraphrasing that follow.
Click on the attempts at paraphrasing below to see which one is an acceptable paraphrase.
Paraphrasing Attempt 1: America has now gone too far toward formal testing, without realizing the costs and limitations of exclusively emphasizing that approach (Gardner 179).
Paraphrasing Attempt 2: In the United States, the education system places too much emphasis on formal testing, overlooking the limitations and expenses imposed when that assessment strategy is employed exclusively (Gardner 179).
Changing every third word in a passage does not count as paraphrasing. Although the source is cited, the paraphrasing is too close to the original statement as it retained too much of the original wording and sentence structure.
This paraphrase is different enough from the original source that it would not be considered plagiarism, so long as Gardner is credited. Remember: Changing every third word in a passage does not count as paraphrasing.
Gardner, Howard. Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons in Theory and Practice. BasicBooks, 2006.