Using your own word choice to describe the document's thesis, key points and ideas is an appropriate way to paraphrase. Students frequently face problems paraphrasing because they think effective paraphrasing involves using the author's words intermingled with their own, which is incorrect. However, modifying only a few words leads to plagiarism because the word choice lacks distinct variety from the author's. Use a thesaurus or paraphrase without the original document in front of you to avoid plagiarism.
Provide attribution to the author. Do so at the beginning of the summary by identifying the author and title of the work or throughout the paraphrased material with key words and phrases surrounded by quotation marks to avoid plagiarism. If you cannot find another way to reword an idea from the author's original work, quote the idea directly, but do not overuse direct quotes, as your voice will become lost amongst the author's.
Maintain your own voice throughout the paraphrased material. Sometimes, instructors ask you to paraphrase outdated stories or documents, which can prove difficult. Locate a specific angle from the article and approach the assignment using your own vocabulary and writing pattern to rewrite the author's ideas. Otherwise, trying to use the author's voice leads to plagiarism because your paraphrased document lacks originality, and you are using the author's voice as a crutch to complete the assignment.
Vary your sentence structure enough so that it differs from the author's ideas. Rewriting the original work is the wisest technique in paraphrasing material so that you avoid plagiarism. However, simply rearranging words and sentences leads to "patchwork paraphrasing," which is a form of plagiarism because, although you created a new pattern, much of the author's work remains unattributed with quotation marks or page numbers. Taking time to understand the author's ideas before trying to paraphrase will eliminate the possibility of plagiarizing.