Paraphrasing is another way you can use other writers' ideas in your essays. The basic skill is to repeat what the writer has said, but express the idea in different words. You must still cite the authour, but page numbers (and of course quotation marks) are not necessary. In the post about quotations (below), I gave this example:
According to Smith (2005) "border collies are the most intelligent dogs" (p.47).
A paraphrase of this could, for example, be something like:
The dog which has the sharpest mind is the border collie (Smith, 2005).
For good general advice about paraphrasing and suggested methods for doing it well, you can read the link to the right "Paraphrasing 1" (pages 3 & 4). For practice exercises, click "Paraphrasing 2". On the left side, you'll see "Paraphrasing Exercise". It has 5 short pieces for you to try rewriting in your own words (in your notebook, or loose leaf paper). When you've finished, you can compare what you wrote with the "Paraphrasing Exercise Answers". Don't be too disappointed if what you wrote isn't as good as the answers. It's just an exercise to give you the general idea of how to do it.
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