Online paraphrasing refers to the use of online tools for paraphrasing purposes. Nowadays, there are tools that you can find on the Internet that are made for the express purpose of paraphrasing content. They can make things easier for students who have to paraphrase content when writing their assignments and essays, etc.
However, while these tools are simple and straightforward for the most part, you do have to be a bit careful about how you use them to get their full potential.
In this guide, we’re going to be looking at how you can get the most out of paraphrasing tools.
Guide on Using Online Paraphrasing Tools for Students
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Search and pick a good paraphrasing tool
The effectiveness and efficiency of online paraphrasing depends on the tool that you pick to do the job with. If the tool is smart and intelligent, you will be able to get results that are likewise smart, coherent, and high-quality. The opposite goes for if the tool happens to be low-quality and outdated.
Other than the working and performance, there are a number of other factors that also decide whether or not a tool is worth using. We’ll try and cover as many of them as we can here in this list:
- For starters, the paraphrasing tool should be well-known. If a tool is well-known, it is an easy indicator of its reliability. If a tool comes with inherent problems or usage safety issues, it won’t be well-known to begin with.
- The tool should come with an AI-assisted working. AI integration into paraphrasing tools helps them get more accurate and precise. You should look at the information published on the page of the tool to determine whether it uses AI or not.
- The tool should come with helpful features such as file uploading and output editing, etc. Features like this make the whole use process easier and more streamlined. You can check the features that the tool comes with just by looking at the interface.
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Understand the available features of the tool and utilize them properly
The key to getting the most out of paraphrasing tools is to understand the features they come with and to utilize them properly. In a lot of tools, there are features like multiple paraphrasing modes, excluding specific words from being changed, etc.
You can use these features to define the way you want the paraphrasing to be affected. For example, if there are multiple modes available, you can choose one that suits your requirements the best. For example, if the tool you’re using has a “Formal” or “Professional” tone, you can use that if you want the paraphrased version of the text to have a crisp look to it.
To give you a better understanding of this, we will use an example of an actual paraphrasing tool. Here is a screenshot of its interface:
The tool depicted in the image above is Paraphrase-Online.com. You can see that on the top of its interface, there is a list of modes that you can choose from. There is also an option to choose from different languages, etc.
In the same way, different tools on the Internet have different features. You should familiarize yourself with the features and use them to the fullest so that the paraphrasing process is quick and the output does not require editing.
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Use the paraphrasing tool on your content bit by bit
This is an important tip to keep in mind when paraphrasing content. Paraphrasing your content bit by bit is useful for a couple of different reasons:
- First of all, paraphrasing your content in pieces helps the tool to not get confused about the context and meaning of the text. If you give the tool all the content at once – say 1,000 words – it could get a bit muddled. The content could be discussing one thing in the first half and something else in the other half. The tone could also be a bit varied. Due to this, the tool may get confused, and the changes it makes may get somewhat inaccurate.
- Second of all, paraphrasing your content in parts also helps you stay on top of errors and imperfections, i.e., that are made by the tool with regard to the context and tone, etc. If you work on content bit by bit, you will be able to quickly and easily spot such errors and fix them as you go along. On the other hand, paraphrasing and checking the entire content all at once may be more arduous.
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Always thoroughly check the paraphrased content before finalizing it
When you’re done with paraphrasing the content – even if you’ve done it in the piece-by-piece method mentioned above – you should always give it a thorough read before finalizing it.
Since paraphrasers are “tools,” they can slip up at times, and they can make mistakes when changing the text. They can replace some words with synonyms that don’t align with the tone. They can likewise make mistakes when shuffling sentences and breaking/merging them.
You should check the outputs that they give to make sure that there are no such errors and issues in there.
Final Thoughts
Using a paraphrasing tool for students sounds easy and simple, but there are some things that you have to do in a specific way to get it all right. In the post above, we have talked about how students can use these tools effectively to make the most out of them.