Paraphrase. In your own words.

Jargon of the day: Paraphrase

To paraphrase something, is to break it down from its original form, into your own words. Journalists use paraphrasing to break down long quotes they might use for a story. When using quotes, you have two choices -paraphrase and direct quote. Usually, paraphrasing makes more sense if:

• the quotation is long and wordy
• the words in the quotation are not powerful enough
  
• the source of the quotation is unknown
  
• you are capable of making a good paraphrase without making it seem like plagiarism

Using a direct quote means to use the quote word for word as it is. But sometimes, paraphrasing comes in handy.