Paraphrasing is a useful technique in which a piece of content is altered by changing words, phrases, sentence structure, and voice (such as active voice to passive and vice versa) without changing the original meaning.
Although paraphrasing is generally associated with unethical use (such as the complete reproduction of existing content without giving credit), there are a lot of ways in which it can be used constructively. And when used constructively, it can provide a lot of benefits, especially for bloggers.
In this article, we will be discussing the major benefits of paraphrasing that will encourage you to consider utilizing this technique to write better blogs.
Notable Benefits of Paraphrasing for Blog Writing
1. Easy way to avoid plagiarism
Plagiarism is one of the most common issues that bloggers face while writing blog posts. Plagiarism basically occurs when someone uses another author’s or source’s content without giving them the due kudos. This is typically done deliberately, but it can also happen unintentionally when a writer uses the exact same words and sentences that have already been utilized by someone else.
In most cases, even if you have written a blog post from scratch using your own words and ideas, there will be always a chance that your written content may contain some pieces of accidental plagiarism.
This type of plagiarism can be detected when the content is checked after the writing phase. A lot of writers can find themselves in a quandary about how to deal with this type of plagiarism. They can’t use the content as it is for fear of a search engine penalty (and other similar consequences). And they can’t exactly excise the plagiarized parts since the content would then remain incomplete.
Paraphrasing can be a good solution to this problem. When the accidentally matching content is paraphrased, the words and sentence structure are changed. This removes the similarity in the content and the plagiarism remains no more.
But, it has to be remembered that doing this is only fine if the initial content is your own. Taking someone’s content, paraphrasing it, and then passing it off as your own is not correct.
2. Make Sentences Clear and Easy to Understand
Another useful benefit of paraphrasing is that it makes complex sentences clearer and simpler to understand. Sometimes bloggers need to write content on a quite complex topic. And when explaining those complex topics, the sentences and words themselves can get quite complicated. A lot of writers can struggle to explain such ideas and concepts using easy words due to not knowing the right words.
This is once again something that paraphrasing can help you with.
But, let us clarify that if a writer does this type of paraphrasing themselves i.e., for better clarity, there won’t actually be any benefit. In other words, the writer will already have exhausted their ability to make the content simple. So, if they paraphrase the hard sentences themselves, they won’t be actually doing anything new.
What we mean here is that a person can write down their sentences in whatever form they are able. Then, they can use an online paraphrase tool to rephrase those sentences and make them easier to understand.
While we are at it, we should explain that paraphrasing is typically done in two ways. It is either done manually i.e., when the changes are made by an actual person. Or, it is done by an online tool. Online tools also paraphrase the content using the same types of changes i.e., synonym swapping, etc.
To show you what we mean here, let us show you an example of a difficult sentence getting paraphrased by a random online tool:
3. Improve overall writing ability
This is again a benefit that you can get mainly by using a tool for paraphrasing rather than doing it manually.
When you paraphrase content time and again for different purposes, you automatically get exposed to new words and phrases. You also find out new ways in which you can form your sentences, and so on.
This essentially helps you improve your overall writing ability. In other words, while you are paraphrasing content to eliminate plagiarism or enhance readability, etc., you are simultaneously learning new things to boost your own writing skills.
To summarize, here are some things that you can learn while paraphrasing:
- New words
- New phrases
- How to convert active voice to passive and vice versa
- How to arrange the components in your sentences for better readability
Conclusion
Blog writing is a field that presents bloggers with limitless opportunities to tell their ideas and thoughts to the world. However, it is also an extremely competitive and time-consuming field. Fortunately, with the help of paraphrasing techniques, you can quickly and efficiently write better blogs without spending much time on research. If rephrasing seems time-consuming, you can always get help from tools.