Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing

Close paraphrasing, or patchwriting, is the superficial modification of material from another source. Editors should generally, adding inline citations as required by the sourcing policy.

Limited close paraphrasing is appropriate within reason, as is quoting, so long as the material does not violate copyrights and is cited and (for biased statements of opinion) clearly attributed in the text – for example, by adding "John Smith wrote ...", together with a footnote containing the citation at the end of the clause, sentence or paragraph. Limited close paraphrasing is also appropriate if there are only a limited number of ways to say the same thing.

Close paraphrasing without in-text attribution may constitute plagiarism, and when extensive (with or without in-text attribution) may also violate Wikipedia's copyright policy, which forbids Wikipedia contributors from copying an excessive amount of material directly from other sources. Although in legal terms it's not possible to have close paraphrasing of a work without copyright protection, Wikipedia's own rules require public domain material to be cited. Public domain material may have in-text attribution where appropriate. If the source material bears a free copyright license that is compatible with Wikipedia's licenses, copying or closely paraphrasing it is not a copyright violation so long as the source is attributed as part of the citation or at the end of the article.

The best way to prevent close paraphrasing is to understand clearly when it is a problem, how to avoid it, and how to address it when it appears.

Concepts
There are legal, ethical, and organizational standard considerations regarding the use of close paraphrasing.

Copyright law
Wikipedia's primary concern is with the legal constraints imposed by copyright law. Close paraphrasing of the creative expression in a non-free copyrighted source is likely to be an infringement of the copyright of the source. In many countries close paraphrasing may be also seen as mutilation or distortion of an author's work, infringing on their moral rights.

Creative expression
Facts and ideas cannot be protected by copyright, but creative expression is protected. The test of creativity is minimal.

Hilaire Belloc's 1897 More Beasts: (for Worse Children) illustrates creative expression in his description of a llama: "The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat, with an indolent expression and an undulating throat; like an unsuccessful literary man." If this somewhat dubious source was used for the article on llamas and was still protected by copyright, it would be acceptable to say that the llama is an animal with a shaggy coat, and perhaps that it has a long neck. These are facts. But use of the phrases "indolent expression" and "undulating throat" might violate copyright. The original choice of words is part of Belloc's creative expression. Going further, the simile "like an unsuccessful literary man" is also creative, and is also protected. A clumsy paraphrase like "resembling a failed writer" might violate copyright even though the words are entirely different. More than the facts have been copied.

It is of course also necessary that other requirements for copyright violation also exist, such as being a "substantial" taking.

Translation
Translation from a foreign language is a form of paraphrase, since all the words or phrases have been replaced with equivalent English-language words or phrases. This may or may not be acceptable, depending on whether any creative expression – anything other than simple statements of fact – has been taken from the foreign-language source. For example, consider two translations from the Turkish language: The first is a simple statement of fact and should be acceptable. The second carries over the figurative expressions "looms through" and "like a red omen", so presumably is not acceptable despite using completely different words from the original. But even if you only carry across statements of fact, the more you translate and the more closely you translate, the more likely you are to create a copyright problem.
 * 1) "Istanbul is a large city"
 * 2) "The sun looms through the haze like a red omen"

Selection and arrangement
Although facts are not subject to copyright, a selection or arrangement of facts may be considered creative and therefore protected. For example, an alphabetical list of states in the US giving their name, size and population cannot be copyrighted. However, a shorter list of states giving the name, size and population as before, but ranked as the "top most livable states" would be subject to copyright. The selection and ranking is considered creative.

Moral rights
Wikipedia does not have an official policy regarding moral rights of authors.

The "moral rights" of an author are independent of copyright ownership. They include the author's right to control first publication of a work; the author's right to be attributed or to remain anonymous; the author's right for the work to be published without distortion or mutilation. As with copyright, moral rights apply to creative expression but not to mere facts. Respecting moral rights can help ensure that Wikipedia content can be reused as widely as possible.

In accordance with verifiability policy, Wikipedia editors should not use unpublished work (note: unpublished work in public collections may be suitable). With published work, biased statements of opinion should be attributed in the text either to the author or the publication or both. It is sometimes relevant for an article to include a short quotation such as a significant statement made by the subject of the article or a notable comment about the subject. In these cases a verbatim quotation should be given rather than a paraphrase. Quotations should be used sparingly, typically only if the information within cannot be conveyed otherwise. They should be clearly identified and formatted as defined in MOS:QUOTE.

Substantial similarity
The US Copyright Office states that, "Copyright law does not protect names, titles, or short phrases or expressions... The Copyright Office cannot register claims to exclusive rights in brief combinations of words ... To be protected by copyright, a work must contain a certain minimum amount of authorship ... Names, titles, and other short phrases do not meet these requirements." However, if a source creatively combines, selects or arranges names, titles, short phrases or expressions, following it too closely may infringe on its copyright.

Paraphrasing rises to the level of copyright infringement when there is substantial similarity between an article and a copyrighted source. This may exist when the creative expression in an important passage of the source has been closely paraphrased, even if it is a small portion of the source, or when paraphrasing is looser but covers a larger part of the source or covers "the heart" (the most essential content). A close paraphrase of one sentence from a book may be of low concern, while a close paraphrase of one paragraph of a two-paragraph article might be considered a serious violation. Editors must therefore take particular care when writing an article, or a section of an article, that has much the same scope as a single source. The editor must be especially careful in these cases to extract the facts alone and present the facts in plain language, without carrying forward anything that could be considered "creative expression".

Under US copyright law, however, substantial similarity does not always indicate infringement. It does not indicate infringement, for instance, where the doctrine of fair use permits the use of the material. Wikipedia deliberately adopts a narrower limitation and exception from copyright than fair use. Our policy and guideline are set out at Non-free content.

Substantial similarity is also immaterial when strong evidence exists that the content was created independently. An author may think they are being original when they write "Charles de Gaulle was a towering statesman", not realizing that many other authors have independently come up with these identical words. What looks like copying or close paraphrasing may thus be accidental. These similarities are more likely to exist where content is less creative and more formulaic. Independent creation is less likely when there is evidence that the source was consulted or close following is extensive.

Wikipedia's guidelines
Even when content is verifiably public domain or released under a compatible free license, close paraphrasing may be at odds with Wikipedia's guideline related to plagiarism. While in this context, too, close paraphrasing of a single sentence is not as much of a concern, if a contributor closely paraphrases public domain or freely licensed content, they should explicitly acknowledge that content is closely paraphrased. (See below.)

Another potential problem arises when a contributor copies or closely paraphrases a biased source either purposefully or without understanding the bias. This can make the article appear to directly espouse the bias of the source, which violates our neutral point of view policy.

When is close paraphrasing permitted?
There are a few specific situations when close paraphrasing is permitted. If information is gathered from the public domain or is free use content, close paraphrasing may be acceptable. In some instances it is helpful to capture the words as written, in which case the guidelines for Quotations apply. Lastly, there may be some instances where it's difficult to paraphrase because of the nature of the content; in such cases, there are a couple of tips below about how to limit the degree of close paraphrasing to avoid issues.

When using a close paraphrase legitimately, citing a source is in most cases required and highly recommended.

Public domain or compatibly-licensed content
In some limited cases, close paraphrasing may be an acceptable way of writing an article. For example, many Wikipedia articles are (or were) based on text from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (see 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica). If the source is in the public domain, such as work of the U.S. government, or is available under a license compatible with the CC BY-SA license (a partial table of license compatibility can be found at the Copyright FAQ), then the source may be closely paraphrased if the source is appropriately attributed. Attribution in such instances may include in-text attribution that makes clear whose words or ideas are being used (e.g. "John Smith wrote that ...") or may include more general attribution that indicates the material originates from a free source, either as part of an inline citation or as a general notice in the article's "References" section (for further information on how to attribute free sources, see ).

Quotation of non-free text
Limited quotation from non-free copyrighted sources is allowed, as discussed in Wikipedia's non-free content policy and guideline. Quotations must always have inline citations (see WP:When to cite), and quotations of biased statements of opinion should have in-text attribution. With direct quotation, editors should clearly distinguish the quoted material from the original text of the article following the guidelines for quotations. Extensive use of quotation from non-free sources is generally not acceptable. Even if content is attributed, it can still create copyright problems if the taking is too substantial. To avoid this risk, Wikipedia keeps this—like other non-free content—minimal.

Quotation from non-free sources may be appropriate when the exact words in the source are relevant to the article, not just the facts or ideas given by the source. Examples may include statements made by a person discussed in the article; brief excerpts from a poem, song, or book described in the article; or significant opinions about the subject of the article. Quotation should not, however, be treated as an alternative to extracting facts and presenting them in plain language. Thus:
 * Right: Churchill said, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
 * Right: The New York Times reviewer found the film "pretentious and boring".
 * Wrong: According to Bulgarian Butterflies, "the patient observer may be fortunate enough to glimpse this rare moth flitting along the mossy banks of a woodland stream."

When there are a limited number of ways to say the same thing
Close paraphrasing is also permitted when there are only a limited number of ways to say the same thing. This may be the case when there is no reasonable way to avoid using technical terms, and may also be the case with simple statements of fact.

Names or titles of people, organizations, books, films and so on may be given in full: the US Copyright Office states that, "Copyright law does not protect names, titles, or short phrases or expressions... ."

Short catchphrases, slogans or mottos may also be reproduced where relevant to the discussion.

It is acceptable to use a technical term such as "The War of the Spanish Succession" or "Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)" when the term is almost always used by sources that discuss the subject, and when such sources rarely use any other term. In this case, the technical term is considered to be "merged" with the idea expressed.

There is no reasonable alternative way of expressing the idea, and since ideas are not subject to copyright the term is also not protected. However, if different sources use different terms for the concept, it may be best for the article to use a different term from the source or to include the term in a sourced quote.

An example of closely paraphrased simple statements of fact is given by a biography that relies on two sources for the basic outline. The sources and the article start with: In this example, the wording of the article is very close to that of both sources. However, the article merely presents standard facts for a topic like this in standard sequence. The article does not copy any creative words or phrases, similes or metaphors, and makes an effort at paraphrasing in the second sentence. Just two short sentences are close to the sources. For these reasons the close paraphrasing should be acceptable. Note, however, that closely paraphrasing extensively from a non-free source may be a copyright problem, even if it is difficult to find different means of expression. The more extensively we rely on this exception, the more likely we are to run afoul of compilation protection.
 * Source1: John Smith was born in Hartford, Connecticut on February 2nd 1949... He attended State University, obtaining an M.D. in 1973.
 * Source2: John Smith was born on 2 February 1949 in Hartford... He graduated with a medical degree from State University in 1973.
 * Article: John Smith was born on 2 February 1949 in Hartford, Connecticut... He studied medicine at State University, and earned an MD in 1973.

Example
In this example, Wikipedia's article text is an attempt at paraphrasing the source. However, almost all of the original word choice, word order and sentence structure is retained.

Analysis:
 * "A statement issued by the receiver, Deloitte's David Carson, confirmed that, of the 670 employees, 480 of them would be laid off" vs. "A statement from the receiver, David Carson of Deloitte, confirmed that 480 of the 670 employees have been made redundant".
 * The structure of Wikipedia's statement is essentially the same as the original. Changing a single word and slightly reordering one phrase is not enough to constitute a paraphrase.
 * "They insisted they would refuse to leave until they had met with Carson" vs. "The employees say they will not be leaving until they meet with Mr. Carson".
 * The structure of this sentence is the same as the original with too much similarity within the structure of the paragraph.
 * "there was a minor scuffle during which the main door to the visitors' centre was damaged" vs. "There were some scuffles at one point and a main door to the visitors' centre was damaged".
 * The structure and language of the two sentences are the same.
 * "Local Sinn Féin Councillor Joe Kelly was amongst those who occupied the visitors' gallery" vs. "Local Sinn Féin Councillor Joe Kelly, who is one of those currently occupying the visitors' gallery".
 * This slight rewording does not change the fact that the underlying structure and language are the same. Minor changes, such as "was amongst those" --> "is one of those" and "occupied" --> "currently occupying", are not enough to constitute an original rewriting of the passage.

See below for an example of an unusable paraphrase repaired to become acceptable.

How to write acceptable content
To properly paraphrase content, you review information from reliable sources, extract the salient points, and use your own words, style and sentence structure to draft text for an article.

Take notes
 * One of the key factors in the creation of inadvertent close paraphrasing is starting with text taken directly from the source. The word choice and style can easily resurface since it is foremost in our minds. An approach to ensure that information is fully understood and formed into unique thoughts is to isolate the essential information by taking notes.
 * Start off by taking notes of essential information only, excluding the use of phrases.
 * Record the source for the citation.
 * Collect information from multiple sources. This will have several benefits: it promotes a tone with a neutral point of view and produces a well-rounded understanding of the topic. It also makes it less likely that your end result will follow too closely on any one source.
 * Gather short quotations when they powerfully illustrate a point for your article. Overuse can result in a disjointed article and may breach copyright. (Extensive quotations are forbidden by policy.)

Write a draft
 * Gather related items from the multiple sources and explain it to yourself: The point is to rephrase or summarize a body of information in your own words and sentence structure.
 * Add inline citations in accordance with the sourcing guideline.
 * Allow time between note-taking and drafting to clear your mind of the original diction and better paraphrase the content.
 * Don't paraphrase information in the same order it was presented from the source.

Review
 * After material has been written, return to the source to double check for content and properly paraphrased language.
 * Information has been gathered from several sources and distilled in your words.
 * Quotations are used appropriately and infrequently.
 * Words or ideas do not follow the same pattern and order as the source material.

The example above on this page illustrates a common way in which people closely paraphrase content; this one demonstrates how to properly synthesize and paraphrase information.

Consider the following example of a close paraphrase (unacceptable version) and ways to correct it to make an acceptable version:

Detecting
Unlike straightforward copyright violations, close paraphrasing is notoriously difficult to detect; frequently the contributor will add wiki syntax and write in the style of a Wikipedia article (as indeed they should). Here are some ways you might detect it:
 * Look for disjointed and sudden changes in the tone, vocabulary, and style of content introduced by the same contributor. For example, "The cat is a small predatory carnivorous species of crepuscular mammal. Housecats like to kill mice and bats."
 * Look for redundant content; this may be a sign that two or more sources were closely paraphrased. For example, "The cat is a small predatory carnivorous species of crepuscular mammal. Like many pets, domestic cats are carnivorous."
 * Look for content that resembles content included in a quotation.
 * Examine the talk pages of major contributors and other pages where they have written in their own words, and determine if their article contributions substantially differ in tone, structure, and vocabulary from these discussions.
 * Take short phrases from the article and put them in a search engine. Take a look at the results and see if they closely resemble the article.

Addressing
Your approach may vary depending upon the severity of the concern. Here are a couple of ways to manage close-paraphrase concerns.

Insert a dispute template and/or engage in a copyright-infringement discussion: Your approach here may depend upon the extensiveness of the issues you discover.
 * Flag the problem:
 * You can use the Close paraphrasing template, which can be customized to identify the source and to indicate if the source is public domain, to mark it for cleanup (and usually one would also open a talk page discussion about the matter):


 * However, if you believe that the close paraphrasing in question is so close that it infringes copyright, instead follow the instructions at Template:Copyvio, which may require removing the paraphrasing content until it can be repaired. Unless close paraphrasing is immediately obvious, it is good practice to cite specific passages alongside the corresponding passage from the source on the talk page to highlight their similarity; this will provide objective evidence of close paraphrasing.

It is to discuss your concerns with the contributor. Many people who paraphrase too closely are not intentionally infringing, but just don't know how to properly paraphrase. It might help to point them to this essay or to the references and resources listed here, which include some pointers for proper paraphrasing.
 * Notice to the contributor:

Example approaches to discussing with other editors
Note: All text in these examples is dedicated by its authors to the public domain

The following example messages can be copied and pasted directly from this page, although you will need to fill in your own example close paraphrases as well as supplying the article's title and the source URL. The messages strive to avoid accusations while at the same time pointing to clear instructions on how to fix errors of this sort. The spaces for examples from the editor's inappropriate text are provided because even experienced or good faith editors may not recognize where the issues lie without them. If there is a passage of several consecutive sentences which is a continuous close paraphrase, this may alone be a sufficient demonstration. Otherwise, showing the pattern in several separated sentences is typically better than offering one, brief example.

Extensive problems
The following example was engineered for cases when the paraphrasing is close enough to require blanking of the article and listing at Copyright problems. It would not be appropriate for situations where the close paraphrasing template is used, since rewriting can be done on the spot rather than in a temporary page. You may use this example verbatim, if you wish, but may and should modify it if it is not completely appropriate to the circumstances.

Limited problems
This example was engineered for cases when the paraphrasing is not enough of a concern to require blanking and listing and the close paraphrasing template is used instead. You may use this example verbatim, if you wish, but may and should modify it if it is not completely appropriate to the circumstances.

Relevant policies and guidelines
A number of Wikipedia policies and guidelines are relevant to this essay. They include: Several Wikipedia articles discuss related topics such as Copyright law of the United States, fair use, plagiarism, moral rights and paraphrasing of copyrighted material. These may be of interest to editors. However, they may have inaccuracies or omissions, and Wikipedia has a broader aim of providing material that may be used anywhere for any purpose, which imposes further restrictions that are defined in our policies and guidelines.
 * No original research – policy stating that, while articles should be written in your own words, they should substantially retain the meaning of the source material
 * Copyrights – policy that describes general principles that apply to use of copyrighted work
 * Copyright violations – policy that describes copyright violations and how to address them
 * Non-free content criteria – policy that defines limitations on use of non-free content
 * Non-free content – guideline that expands on WP:NFCC and describes when non-free material may be used under the "fair use" principle
 * Plagiarism – guideline that describes the importance of attributing the sources used, even when they may be out of copyright
 * – guideline that describes how quotations should be faithfully reproduced, clearly identified as quotations