How to Paraphrase Without Plagiarising

What Is Paraphrasing?
Why Paraphrase Instead of Quote?
What Bad Paraphrasing Looks Like
The 5-Step Paraphrasing Technique
Before & After Examples
How to Cite a Paraphrase
Patchwriting: The Common Trap
Paraphrasing Checklist

What Is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing means restating another writer's ideas in your own words and sentence structure. A good paraphrase is roughly the same length as the original and captures the same meaning — but reads as though you wrote it, not as a rearranged version of the source.

Unlike a direct quote, a paraphrase does not use quotation marks. But it always requires a citation. The source doesn't disappear just because you rephrased it.

Why Paraphrase Instead of Quote?

Direct quotes are powerful tools, but over-quoting makes your writing look like a patchwork of other people's words. Paraphrasing shows that you have understood the material and can integrate it into your own analysis. Most academic writing guides recommend paraphrasing as the default, reserving direct quotes for when the original wording is particularly significant or irreplaceable.

What Bad Paraphrasing Looks Like

Many students make the mistake of simply swapping synonyms or reshuffling sentence order. This is still plagiarism — even if every word has been changed — because the sentence structure and logic remain the author's.

Original source

"Social media platforms have fundamentally altered the way young people form and maintain friendships, making geographic distance largely irrelevant to the depth of a relationship." (Valkenburg, 2022, p. 83)

Bad paraphrase (synonym swap)

Social networking sites have profoundly changed how teenagers build and sustain friendships, rendering physical distance mostly unimportant to how deep a relationship is (Valkenburg, 2022).

Good paraphrase (rewritten)

Geographic proximity now matters far less to how close young people feel to their friends, a shift Valkenburg (2022) attributes to the rise of social media platforms.

The bad example has changed individual words but kept the exact grammatical structure and sequence of ideas — a pattern plagiarism checkers and tutors will spot immediately.

The 5-Step Paraphrasing Technique

Read the passage carefully

Read the original text several times until you fully understand what the author is arguing. If you misunderstand the source, your paraphrase will misrepresent it.
Put it aside and take notes from memory

Close the source and write down the key points from memory. Writing from memory forces you to use your own words naturally — you can't unconsciously copy what you can't see.
Draft without looking at the original

Using your notes, write a full sentence or paragraph that captures the idea. Focus on meaning, not wording.
Compare your draft against the original

Now check your draft against the source. Are any phrases lifted verbatim? Does the sentence structure mirror the original too closely? If so, revise further.
Add the citation

Every paraphrase needs a citation. Even though you used your own words, the idea belongs to the original author.

Before & After Examples

Example 1 — Social science

Original

"Children who grow up in households with high levels of parental conflict show significantly elevated rates of anxiety and depression by adolescence, regardless of whether their parents ultimately divorce." (Davies & Cummings, 2019, p. 112)

Patchwriting (too close)

Kids raised in homes with high parental conflict display significantly increased anxiety and depression rates during adolescence, whether or not their parents get divorced (Davies & Cummings, 2019).

Good paraphrase

Adolescent mental health problems — particularly anxiety and depression — are strongly associated with early exposure to parental conflict, and this effect persists even in intact families (Davies & Cummings, 2019).

Example 2 — Science / medicine

Original

"Regular aerobic exercise of moderate intensity, performed at least three times per week for a minimum of 30 minutes, has been shown to reduce symptoms of mild to moderate depression as effectively as antidepressant medication in some patient populations." (Blumenthal et al., 2007, p. 588)

Patchwriting (too close)

Doing moderate aerobic exercise at least three times weekly for 30 minutes or more has been found to reduce mild to moderate depression symptoms as effectively as antidepressants in certain groups (Blumenthal et al., 2007).

Good paraphrase

For some patients with mild to moderate depression, a consistent exercise routine may work as well as medication — Blumenthal et al. (2007) found comparable outcomes between moderate aerobic activity (three or more sessions weekly) and antidepressant treatment.

How to Cite a Paraphrase

A paraphrase needs an author and year (and optionally a page number). Page numbers are encouraged but not strictly required for paraphrases in APA 7 — though your institution may require them.

Style	Parenthetical	Narrative
APA 7	(Smith, 2021) or (Smith, 2021, p. 44)	Smith (2021) argued that…
MLA 9	(Smith 44)	Smith argues that… (44)
Chicago NB	Footnote: Smith, Title, 44.	Narrative footnote at end of sentence.
Chicago AD	(Smith 2021, 44)	Smith (2021, 44) argues…
Harvard	(Smith, 2021, p. 44)	Smith (2021, p. 44) argues…

Patchwriting: The Common Trap

Patchwriting is the practice of making minimal changes to a source text — swapping a few words, moving a clause, using synonyms — while keeping the original structure and sequence. It is considered a form of plagiarism even when the source is cited.

Why patchwriting fails even with a citation

A citation acknowledges the idea came from a source. It does not give you permission to reproduce the author's sentence structure and expression. The writing — not just the idea — must be yours.

The clearest test: if you deleted the citation, could a reader still recognise the original sentence in yours? If yes, you need to rewrite further.

Signs you're patchwriting

You wrote your paraphrase with the original open in front of you
Your sentence has the same subject-verb-object structure as the original
You used a thesaurus to swap individual words
Your paraphrase is the same length and covers ideas in the same order as the original

Paraphrasing Checklist

Check	Yes
Have I understood the original fully?	✓
Did I write from memory rather than copying?	✓
Is my sentence structure different from the original?	✓
Have I avoided synonym-swapping as a strategy?	✓
Does my version capture the same meaning accurately?	✓
Have I added a citation (author, year, page if needed)?	✓
Would a reader know this idea came from a source?	✓

When to quote instead of paraphrase

Use a direct quote when the original wording is particularly vivid, precise, or distinctive — when changing it would weaken the argument. Otherwise, default to paraphrasing to show your own engagement with the material.