Paraphrasing comes from paraphrasing, which is a language resource. A paraphrase is used to communicate the idea of someone we know (usually a prestigious author) through our own words. Thus, if someone is arguing on a topic and wants to contribute an idea of Aristotle, they should say "paraphrasing Aristotle" and then say what this philosopher said but in an approximate way and not in a textual way.
The use of paraphrases allows to reinforce a personal argument, since an idea of one's own has greater consideration if it connects with what someone with intellectual authority has said or written. On the other hand, the paraphrase serves to convey erudition or it can be used to make a more or less ingenious play on words (for example, paraphrasing Descartes, I affirm that I think, then annoying).
Quoting is not the same as paraphrasing
If I quote an author, I must faithfully reproduce his words. Suppose I am talking about intelligence and I want to refer to a famous phrase to illustrate a certain idea, for example a witty quote from Rudyard Kipling, "The dumbest of women can handle an intelligent man." In this case the mention I make is literal. On the other hand, if I want to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling's phrase, I could say the following, "paraphrasing Kipling, intelligent men can be manipulated by any woman." In this case, I do not quote the author's words with precision but rather adapt them to my speech in a free and informal way, since I understand that the important thing is the general idea and not the accuracy of the sentence.
How to paraphrase in written language
When we write a text we can also use paraphrases. It is a way not to plagiarize, so it is necessary to mention the original source. In this way, to paraphrase an idea of an author it is convenient to underline his original statement and indicate in parentheses the work in which said idea appears.
We can then explain our own idea in our own way, thereby combining a certain reference (the author's phrase) with our personal arguments. In this sense, by paraphrasing we are establishing a debate between the reflections themselves and what the author said. For example, Plato affirms that justice is based on individual and social balance (The Republic), but I maintain that true justice depends exclusively on the correct interpretation of the law.
It could be concluded that paraphrasing in written language is a strategy to enrich a text, since using a paraphrase it is possible to establish an exposition of ideas with a component of intellectual reflection.
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