Paraphrasing is the process of taking an original idea from an author's work and rewording or rephrasing it so that the words are your own
. It is a crucial skill in academic writing and helps to avoid plagiarism, which involves using someone else's work without proper credit
. To effectively paraphrase, you should:
- Express the author's ideas with your own words
- Keep in mind the author's meaning
- Do not use the original sentence structure
- Always give credit to the author
Paraphrasing is not considered plagiarism if you put the author's ideas completely in your own words and provide proper credit
. However, it is essential to differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism. Paraphrasing is a legitimate practice in academic writing, while plagiarism is the unethical use of someone else's work without proper credit or permission
