Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is an interesting approach to completing a paper. It is taught in most every class since you begin writing essays, and is the standard for any “complete” paper. Teachers think it is a brilliant idea to use the ideas of another person to form your paper…as long as you credit the author in the accepted format. But the idea behind paraphrasing is flawed in a major way, at least for some people.

Students are taught to paraphrase because teachers believe that the authors of the books and articles are going to be more intelligent and better gifted at forming ideas on a subject. And the teachers are right, for the vast, vast majority of students. There are, however, people who are more intelligent and more naturally – gifted thinkers then these authors. These people would not need to paraphrase the ideas of the authors, of course, because their ideas are going to be more novel in most cases.

Now, citing information you did not previously know to support your argument is an entirely different thing, and is not in the context of the question. The question asks whether you would take the ideas and opinions of an author and use them as your own, not whether you would cite facts to support your ideas. Someone who is more intelligent then an author might not be more informed on a subject.

The question is great, because it is very relevant in any institute of learning, especially the ones we are about to join for the next four years. I just think that some people would not even need to paraphrase, even if they had very little time. If they were novel enough, and gifted enough, they could formulate their own genius ideas.

I didn’t focus on would it be okay or not to steal ideas, because everyone knows it wouldn’t. I wanted to introduce the idea that paraphrasing isn’t even an issue in that situation for a very gifted person. Why steal ideas when you can formulate ones that are so much better? No one who owns a Ferrari steals a Hyundai.