Paraphrasing, quoting and AI rewriting: where each one stands

1Quoting

Quote when the exact wording matters: a definition, a striking phrase, a claim you are about to analyse. Put the words in quotation marks, copy them exactly, and cite the source with a page number where your style requires it. Keep quotes short and follow each one with your own analysis of what it shows.

2Paraphrasing well

The University of North Carolina's Writing Center is clear about what paraphrasing is not: changing a word or two, rearranging the sentence while keeping the original words, or swapping in synonyms. That, it says, is plagiarizing, not paraphrasing.

Its advice for doing it well: take notes from your reading with the book closed, so the idea comes out in your own words, and always cite the paraphrase. A good paraphrase changes the words and the structure, and usually reflects your own way of connecting the idea to your argument.

Source (invented for this page): "Students who start revision early report lower stress in the final week."
Too close: Students who begin revising early say they feel less stressed in the last week.
Paraphrase: Early starters, by their own account, reach the end of term less anxious (with a citation to the source).

3Why AI rewriting is different

A paraphrasing or rewriting tool does the restating for you. That raises two problems. First, the result can stay close to the source's structure and ideas while changing enough words to look original, which is the kind of closeness the paraphrasing rule exists to stop. Second, the wording is now the tool's, not yours, which many policies treat as AI use that has to be allowed and acknowledged.

UCL's rule on language review, as quoted in its AI guidance, shows the line: checking grammar, fluency and structure can be acceptable, but substantive changes to content made by software, or at its recommendation, may be misconduct.

4Summarising, the third option

Between quoting and paraphrasing sits summarising: stating the main point of a longer passage, or a whole source, in a sentence or two of your own. It is the most useful of the three in most essays, because it lets you bring in a source's argument briefly and move on to your own analysis.

A summary needs a citation too, and it needs to be accurate: compress the source's point without changing it. The same closed-book method helps. Read the passage, put it away, write what it argued, then check your sentence against the original for accuracy and for any phrases you copied without meaning to.

An AI summary of a source has the same problem as an AI paraphrase: the wording is the tool's, and it may be wrong. If you use one to understand a source, write your own summary afterwards, from your own reading.

5What policies say

Policies treat rewriting tools in different ways. Some group them with grammar checkers; many treat them as generative AI; some ban them outright for assessed work. Look for them by name in your course's AI guidance, and ask if they are not mentioned. Whatever the policy, a rewritten source still needs a citation.

For the wider picture, see is using AI plagiarism?, keep a record of sources in an annotated bibliography, use AI feedback rather than rewrites, and run the pre-submission checklist before you hand in.

More on this in Integrity.

6FAQ