Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is when previously published or spoken information is rewritten in your own words without changing the original meaning.

Paraphrased information must be referenced. A referencing system (such as Chicago) must be used to give credit to the original author. See Curtin library's Chicago Author-Date Referencing Guide.

Paraphrasing is most often used in conjunction with summarising, in which only the original author's main points are used.

The most common mistake that students make is to change only a few words in the original sentence or paragraph and think that is OK, if they reference the source. An adequately paraphrased piece of writing should be in your own writing style but contain the original author's idea or information, with referencing to indicate the source of the information.