Paraphrasing, often used in academia, is the act of taking someone else’s idea or writing and putting it into your own words. Often this involves summarizing sentences, but you can also paraphrase paragraphs, essays, articles, or larger works. No matter what you’re paraphrasing, you’ll need to cite the original source wherever you use a paraphrase. This will help you avoid plagiarism.

Rewording involves replacing some of the words in a sentence or piece of writing with synonyms.

Rephrasing implies restructuring or reordering a piece of writing.

You’ll often use rewording and rephrasing when creating a paraphrase.