TOEFL® Tip: Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is restating something from source material in your own words.

If test takers just copy words from the reading passage on the TOEFL iBT™ test, they will not earn any points. Practice paraphrasing words, phrases, sentences and entire paragraphs using the following tips:

• Write a paraphrase of a reading passage using only your notes. If you haven't taken notes, write the paraphrase without looking at the original text.
• Check the paraphrase with the original passage to make sure that it is factually accurate and that you have used different words and grammatical structures.

Practice your writing skills with TOEFL Practice Online and receive instant scores to confirm that you are ready for test day.

If you want more writing practice, ask your teacher about ETS's Criterion® Online Writing Evaluation Service or visit www.ets.org/criterion.