What is paraphrasing?
Paraphrasing is representing in your own words what someone else has said or written. The paraphrase should always be phrased in the spirit of the original text. See also quoting. It should be clear what you are saying yourself, what the ideas of others are, and what text the paraphrase is based on: the source citation.
In the text, you make a brief reference by mentioning author's name and year of publication. Unlike quoting, paraphrasing does not require a page number. It is allowed.
The complete source should be mentioned in the bibliography at the end of your report. See also bibliography.
Examples (APA style):
Jansen (2004) says that student satisfaction increases when the library is open on Sundays.
According to Jansen (2004), student satisfaction increases when libraries are open on Sundays.
Student satisfaction would increase if libraries are open on Sundays (Jansen, 2004).
When to paraphrase?
You use a paraphrase, for example:
When the original text is too difficult or long for your readers. You then give a simple representation of the text.
If the original text is in another language. You then give a translation of the text.