What is a responsible approach to paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism?

• A. Copy key phrases to ensure fidelity.
• B. Restate ideas in your own words and structure, cite if required, and avoid copying phrases.
• C. Paraphrase by changing a few words but keep the same structure.
• D. Use direct quotes for everything.

Answer: (B)

Paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism means expressing someone else’s idea in your own words and sentence structure, while giving proper credit for the idea. The best approach is to first understand the meaning, then restate it with fresh wording and a different flow, and include a citation if the source requires it. This shows you’ve grasped the concept and can communicate it in your own voice, not just reproduce the original phrasing. Copying key phrases isn’t paraphrasing and can still count as plagiarism. Paraphrase by changing more than a few words and by altering the sentence structure and organization, so the result reflects your own expression. Using direct quotes for everything isn’t paraphrasing either; quotes have a different purpose and need to be integrated with proper attribution. When in doubt, cite the source and aim to summarize or synthesize the idea in your own words.