Are Paraphrasing Tools Affecting the Development of English Writing Skills?

Paraphrasing is the art of rewriting opinions, thoughts, and works of others. The key here is to keep the gist of the original contact alive. This practice is widely used in academia to teach youngsters about writing in the English language.

To paraphrase well, one should possess sound knowledge of the language and its nuances. Without having adequate expertise, all your attempts would be fruitless. Therefore, it is important to get your basics right before going this route.

Why Paraphrase? 

Paraphrasing is one skill that every English writer should learn. Doesn’t matter whether you are an academic writer, content creator, or news reporter, you should develop the ability to say things in a variety of manners.

Paraphrasing allows you to mold your thoughts as per the user’s demand and understanding level. You can’t present a Ph.D.-level research to a 10th grader, can you?  Hence, you must use paraphrasing to explain the same thing in a simplistic tone. That’s paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing should be used while referring to research of the past or while directly quoting something from notable journals, papers, or magazines. It tells the reader about your ability to understand and interpret.  Referring experts also provide a sense of authenticity to your work. People feel that you are up to date and well-connected with the subject of discussion. 

Introduction to Paraphrasing Tool

We are living in a time where everything has shifted to the internet. The tech has placed its footprints on every human field we can imagine. The paraphrasing isn’t any different either.  

If you aren’t good at English, the better way to paraphrase is to use paraphrasing tools.

Paraphrasing Tools are online tools with the ability to rewrite any content in a matter of seconds. The tools use advanced AI algorithms to give different look to the original content. 

The cutting-edge technology allows the tools to not just rewrite but also improve the overall quality of original text as well. The rewrite gives a professional outlook, guaranteeing respect among the critics.

The content creators require frequent content to stay relevant and on top of Google’s SERP. Paraphrasing tools have enables them to rewrite their original content an infinite number of times.

Rewriting a standard 1400 words article takes 4 hours of your quality time. The paraphrasing tools can do this with just a few clicks. This has saved them a lifetime of effort. 

Paraphrasing tools and development of English Writing Skills 

Writing is not an easy skill to master. It takes a lifetime to learn the art of proving your point on a Piece of paper. You have to convey all of your thoughts in an organized manner to convey your message. 

Paraphrasing tools have always been the claimant of generating high-quality user-friendly content. With more and more people using these tools, it is important to analyze the impact they can have on English Writing Skills. 

 This section shows the impact they have had on writing skills. For a hint, it isn’t one-way traffic. 

Pros 

The right use of paraphrasing can improve your English writing in the following ways.

1. Word Placement 

English is a very wide language. Meriam Webster's official edition of 2022 includes 470,000-word entries. The language keeps on getting new updates every year, including new words.   The old words become obsolete, and people can no longer connect with them. To

Another important thing to consider is the nature of words. Quite often, words with the same meaning differ in intensity, emotional state, or wider meaning.  Anger and Fury both depict a sense of disapproval, but the intensities of both words decide their usage.

Paraphrasing tools teach you how to use the right word in the right place. The tools have access to an unlimited database of words. They first understand and analyze your original content and then come up with their own version, using alternate keywords which are more appropriate.

The output content is refreshing and in line with contemporary demands. Here is an example to illustrate this fact:

 

You can see that words like “focus, builds customer interest, and crystallizes have been replaced with “targeted, engage customers and shape”. These words resonate more with the audience. 

  By repeated practice, you can add this skill to your English writings.

 

2. Appropriate Sentence Structure and paragraphing

Every written piece is nothing but a combination of sentences.  It is described as a set of words expressing an idea. It is the basic unit of any English writing, to improve our writing skills, a writer should work on structuring his sentences.

The sentences should be knitted seamlessly.  Every sentence should have its own significant role in the development of the discussion. It should expand the meaning of its predecessor and leave people wanting to read its successor. Once you do that, the readers would become glued to your work.

As per Indiana University Writing Tutorials, a paragraph is a combination of sentences focused on a single point. A writer should know two things about paragraphing 

1. Purpose
2. Positioning

The purpose of a paragraph is to raise and prove your point. It shouldn’t leave the audience in a state of neutrality. Secondly, the paragraph should be placed where it contributes the most to discourse. The paragraph concerning your most powerful point should be on top, followed by the allies, which are like soldiers accompanying the general.

Paraphrasing tools can teach you the technicalities of English writing with live examples. You can simply put your rough drafts through them and check the rewritten version. And then from those rewrites, you can learn to improve the flaws in your sentences and paragraphs.

Consider the below example:

 

The highlighted words show the changes in paragraphs, which have made the original better and more convincing. 

3. Grammatical Accuracy

Grammar is the basic requirement for writing. A writer with flawed grammar isn’t respected by his peers and audience. The editing department of any publisher would simply throw your manuscript in the dustbin if you were still stuck with basic issues.

Doesn’t matter how great your ideas are, if you can not say them right, they are nothing. This often happens when foreigners try to write in the English language. Since English isn’t their mother tongue, they struggle to comply with its linguistical nuances.

Such writers should always seek help from the rephraser. They can provide you with error-free copies of your primary drafts. By comparing both, you can detect your grammatical mistakes. And after that, you can work on these areas.

4. Eliminating Redundancy 

As per the University of Arkansas, redundancy refers to the unnecessary repetition of words. Sometimes, writers write multiple sentences of the same meaning. These sentences act as fillers, contributing nothing to the subject.

Such sentences take out all crispiness and bite from the content. The writing becomes dull, making your readers bored. This often occurs when an author doesn’t have much to say on a topic. Hence, he uses fillers to complete the word count.

Paragraphing tools specialize in removing such content. They can also remove words that have become redundant with time. The output is crisp, giving a wonderful experience to its readers.

5. Writing Tone

Writing tone is another facet of every quality writer. A writer should know about the writing type and audience. Business writing should always be formal, meeting the demands of professionals. While marketing content should be formal so that the masses can relate.

Similarly, the tones of news stories, scripts, and other writing forms are different. You can’t paint pictures with the same brush, can you?

Paraphrasing tools understand the type of your draft and decide the type and target audience. After that, they give you the appropriate output. So that, the output is as per user demand. Writers should always consult these tools before posting.

6. Coherence and Engagement

Coherence means the contribution of all elements towards the production of desired meaning. Every sentence, paragraph, statistic, and data should be used for proving your central theme. Engagement means presenting these things in a way that attracts the audience. It involves the length of sentences, SEO Practices, and overall presentation of content.

Paraphrasing technology is aided by tools that can determine the readability of your content. This enables you to improve your scores and become a better writer.

Cons  

So far, we have only discussed the pros, however, the misuse of paraphrasing tools can also cause the following things.

1. Lack of Individuality 

Each human is blessed with a unique style. The problem occurs when writers try to cheat and use paragraphing skills for that. Although they can rewrite any copied content from the internet, the output would lack your individuality.

The readers aren’t dumb. They can easily differentiate between an original style and a computer-generated document. 

Therefore, it is important to use paraphrasing tools for assistance and learning skills instead of blatant cheating.

2. No Innovations

Since such tools depend upon the input for rewriting. You can not get innovations or new thoughts on a subject. This can only come from humans.

 A human brain can think and contemplate the idea, which enables us to find new meanings and implications or examples connecting to the original point. The paraphrasing tools can not give you such content.

Final Words   

Paraphrasing tools have become the need of the hour. Every writer uses these tools to produce content. This article explains how they are affecting the development of English writing skills. This article highlights the pros and cons so that you can benefit from the positives and avoid the negative aspects.