To paraphrase means to express someone else's ideas using your own words while keeping the same meaning. When you paraphrase a passage from a book, you're not copying the author's exact sentences but restating the information in a fresh way that shows you understand it.

Paraphrasing is different from quoting, where you use someone's exact words in quotation marks. It's also different from summarizing, which shortens something to just the main points. When you paraphrase, you're giving the full idea but rewording it completely.

Teachers often ask students to paraphrase to check understanding. If you can explain a concept from your science textbook in your own words, you've truly learned it. Good paraphrasing changes the sentence structure and vocabulary while staying faithful to the original meaning. For example, if a book says “The enormous elephant thundered across the savanna,” you might paraphrase it as “A huge elephant thundered across the grassland.”

Learning to paraphrase well takes practice. You need to read carefully, understand deeply, and then set aside the original text before writing your version. Paraphrasing helps you avoid plagiarism (copying without credit) while still sharing valuable information you've learned from others.