What is "paraphrasing"?

We can define paraphrasing as restating (or rewriting) someone else's ideas using our own words.
Often it is used to make the meaning clearer -- either to one's reader/audience, or to oneself.
What are some "paraphrasing skills"?
Here are some suggested paraphrasing strategies (adapted from Wecklser 1995):
When paraphrasing: Be sure to include all the information in the original excerpt. To paraphrase
you can do a number of things.
1. Use synonyms:
ORIGINAL: People think it is asocial to sit at a computer terminal at a cafe.
PARAPHRASE: People think it is anti-social to sit at a computer terminal at a cafe.
2. Use different forms of a word (noun --> verb; adverb --> adjective, etc.):
ORIGINAL: Many girls model themselves after their mothers.
PARAPHRASE: Many girls use their mothers as models.
3. Change the connectors/transitions, making sure to make any grammatical changes
that are necessary:
ORIGINAL: Computers are expensive; however, the prices are coming down.
PARAPHRASE: Computers are expensive, but the prices are coming down.
4. Change active sentences to passive ones (and vice-versa):
ORIGINAL: Most of the students of the IEI attended the fall picnic.
PARAPHRASE: The fall picnic was attended by most of the IEI students.
5. Change negative to affirmative, or vice-versa:
ORIGINAL: All the political parties disagreed on that particular issue.
PARAPHRASE: None of the political parties agreed on that particular issue.
6. Avoid giving your own opinion or new information when paraphrasing.

7. Avoid changing vocabulary items in certain fields, such as science, technology,

education, government, geography (but sometimes you can paraphrase some
geographical names), language, brand names, or ordinary, everyday words that have no
synonyms, such as dictionary, chair, or toothbrush.
8. To avoid plagiarism: ALWAYS cite your sources. You can do this by writing an
introductory clause (which can be written or spoken in several ways) which mentions the
author and title of your source, for example,
o In "Scientists Use Fiber Optic Network as Internet Alternative", the author
syas/writes/states/informs...
o Deborah Shapley, in an article entitled, "Scientists Use Fiber Optic Network as
Internet Alternative," expresses/ states/writes/etc....
9. If the information in the statement is common knowledge, you do not need to cite
the source. For example, if you heard about something of major importance on the six
o'clock news that was broadcast all over the country or world, citing the specific source is
not crucial, although you should cite specific details and statements about this happening.
10. BEWARE of using a bilingual dictionary or a thesaurus when you paraphrase, because
some synonyms are quite different in meaning or usage. (For instance, one dictionary
gives change, vary, convert, and transmute as synonyms, and then gives separate
definitions for each.)
ORIGINAL: Cybercafes are changing the face of coffee shops worldwide.
PARAPHRASE: Cybercafes are transmuting the face of coffee shops worldwide.
(Incorrect synonym)
11. Be sure that the meaning of your paraphrase is the same as that of the original statement.