Take a look at the excerpt and paraphrase below and answer the following question.
NB: The examples use APA referencing style.

Original excerpt:

“Throughout most of human history, calories were relatively scarce and hard to get, and physical activity unavoidable” (Katz, 2011, p. 1).

Paraphrase:

Humans evolved when food was scarce and physical activity unavoidable (Katz, 2011).

What’s wrong with this paraphrase?

Question

Take a look at the excerpt and paraphrase below and answer the following question. 
NB: The examples use APA referencing style.

Original excerpt:

“Throughout most of human history, calories were relatively scarce and hard to get, and physical activity unavoidable” (Katz, 2011, p. 1).

Paraphrase:

Humans evolved when food was scarce and physical activity unavoidable (Katz, 2011).

What’s wrong with this paraphrase?

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks what’s wrong with the given paraphrase of the original excerpt, so we need to compare the paraphrase to key features of proper paraphrasing. 
Option 1: 'Similar length, same ideas, similar structure and language.' This points to a paraphrase that is very close to the original in length, preserves the same ideas, and retains a similar structure and language. In typical academic editing, such a paraphrase fails to sufficiently reword or restructure the source, risking plagiarism because it does not demonstrate genuine re-expression of the ideas. This option highlights the core issue that the paraphrase is too close to the source. 
Option 2: 'Similar length, different structure and language, but the idea has changed.' The claim here is that the structure and wording differ while the idea changes. However, in the provided paraphrase the ideas are essentially the same as the original (calories scarce, physical activity unavoidable, historical framing), so the notion that the idea has changed is inaccurate. Moreover, if the structure and language are only described as different, that part also contradicts the paraphrase which remains too familiar. 
Option 3: 'Substantially different length, similar structure and language, same idea.' This suggests a much shorter or longer paraphrase but with similar wording and idea. In the given example, the paraphrase is not substantially different in length, and the phrasing remains close to the original, so this statement mischaracterizes the paraphrase’s proximity to the source. 
Option 4: 'Substantially different length, same idea, different structure and language.' This would indicate a strong rewrite with a changed structure and wording while keeping the same message. Yet the provided paraphrase does not show a substantial length difference and keeps the core ideas in a familiar frame, so this option does not accurately describe the paraphrase either. 
Overall, the first option correctly captures the main problem: the paraphrase is too similar to the original in length, ideas, and language/structure, which is what usually signals inadequate paraphrasing rather than a proper restatement.

ANSC20003_2025_SM2 Academic Integrity Quiz

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