Paraphrase

Paraphrasing is the process of rewriting someone else's idea(s) in your own words. A paraphrase is usually around the same length as the original. Look at the following example of the original text and the paraphrase. Can you see that some of the important terminology has been used in the paraphrase, but most of the grammatical elements have been changed?

 

Original text	Paraphrase
... the climate in most groups and organisations does not encourage open expression of feelings. The necessity of hiding feelings, Organisational Development practitioners believe, has a negative effect not only on group member’s willingness and ability to solve problems constructively, but also on job satisfaction and performance. From: Stoner, J. A. F. & Wankel, C. (1986) Management. (3rd Edition), New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.	The emotional suppression encouraged by the workplace negatively affects the employee’s problem solving ability, motivation, enjoyment and productivity at work (Stoner and Wankel, 1986).
Statistical analysis of the changes in radiographic parameters of flatfeet at final follow-up demonstrated that the arch improved in each group but that the children who wore special shoes or inserts had no greater improvement than did the control children. We concluded that the natural history of arch development from age one to six years is for significant improvement, but that the amount of improvement is not altered by wearing a corrective shoe or insert. From: Wenger, D. R. (1993) Flatfoot and Children’s shoes. in D. R. Wenger and M. Rang (eds.) The Art and practice of Children’s Orthopaedics. New York: Raven Press.	Wenger’s (1993) findings indicated that wearing corrective shoes is of no more benefit than ordinary shoes in improving flat footedness in children.
The education system has performed, on an even wider scale, a major task of social control, training the growing workforce in the discipline and work style necessary in a capitalist economy, and systematically conveying ‘acceptable’ — ie safe — social attitudes to the rising generations. From: Jagtenberg, T. & D’Alton, P. Four Dimensional Social Space, Harper & Row, Sydney, 1988	The education system serves two socialisation purposes: to provide the necessary skills development to suit the demands of the economy, and to teach the socially acceptable attitudes and values of the day (Jagtenberg & D’Alton, 1988).

Remember to reference your paraphrasing as it is still someone else's idea you are using.

Beware of close paraphrasing where you only change a couple of words and leave the rest in its original form, as you may risk being accused of plagiarism.