Paraphrasing ... an essential skill for academic writing

In academic writing you support your ideas with the ideas of others,  then cite and reference these 'authors', following whichever referencing system (i.e. APA,  MLA,  Harvard) is required.   Please note that I wrote "use the ideas",   not  "use the words" (as in direct quoting).   Good writers use direct quotations rarely.   That means  unless you want to be caught and punished for plagiarism,   you need to know how to paraphrase.

What is paraphrasing?   Simply put,  it  is taking the ideas of someone else and putting them in your own words,  plus citing and referencing the author of the idea/s.      There is no need for quotation marks, but you need to change the words and grammar sufficiently for it to differ from the original.    Only the idea should remain the same.    A writer can paraphrase a phrase,   a clause,  a sentence or a paragraph.   When we get to larger units than paragraphs,  the process is called summarizing.  

Paraphrasing is not easy.   A writer needs a strong vocabulary and grammar skills,  plus access to a good thesaurus/dictionary.   The internet has made copying and pasting too easy,  which results in too many writers just composing texts with bits and pieces copied from other texts.   Without quotes and citations,  this is plagiarism;  with many quotes and citations,  it is bad writing.     The way to effective paraphrasing is following an effective method.   I recommend the following 5-step method.

1. Read and understand the original idea.
2. Cover or turn over the original text.
3. In point form,  write down the idea.
4. Using the notes from step 3,  write the idea in grammatically correct form.
5. Compare your paraphrase with the original.   Does the idea accurately reflect the original idea?  Is the vocabulary and grammar sufficiently different?

Don't forget to note the page (or paragraph) number and the referencing information.

Beyond this larger strategy, there are some specific techniques a writer can use to paraphrase.

1. Use synonyms for all but generic words (ie.  business, school, computer) which have no substitutes.
2. Restructure the grammar of the sentence.
3. Make phrases into clauses,  or clauses into phrases.
4. Convert active tense to passive tense,  or passive tense to active tense.
5. Change word forms

As an example,  study the following.

The original text:

The central point the reader is to draw from this unique narrative is that character and plot are intertwined.

An unacceptable paraphrase (which only changes the words) is:

The main idea the reader should conclude from this original story is that character and plot are strongly connected.

An acceptable paraphrase (which changes both the words and the grammatical structure) is:

Upon reading this unique story,  one should conclude that character and plot are strongly connected.

An unacceptable paraphrase (where the original meaning is inaccurately conveyed) is:

When reading this story,   you should enjoy the connection between the characters and the plot.

MIT's Academic Integrity Handbook provides some excellent examples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrasing here:

Avoiding Plagiarism - Paraphrasing

And you can practice paraphrasing and check your answers at Owl Writing Lab

Finally,   it is important to remember that effective paraphrasing is founded strong reading ability (you need to understand what it is you are paraphrasing),   strong vocabulary,  and strong grammar.   The better your reading and writing is,  the better your paraphrasing will be.