Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase information from a source, you take the information and put it into your own words.  Textbooks often encourage students to paraphrase when they are borrowing a great deal of information because frequent direct quotations can interrupt the flow of your paper.  The Longman Concise Companion, for example, says, "To make your writing smoother and more sophisticated, be selective in using quotations.  Usually you can summarize, even combining several sources, or paraphrase rather than quoting sources directly" (194).

To avoid plagiarism, carefully document paraphrased material.