Paraphrase

Paraphrase
Paraphrasing means using your own words to describe somebody else's argument. There may be several reasons for wanting to paraphrase:
1. The passage is too long to use as a quotation and you don't want to be accused of plagiarizing.
2. The register of the writing is not suitable (for example informal rather than formal).
3. The language is not suitable for your target audience (difficult to understand).

EXAMPLE
The following is an example of writing adapted from Newsweek Magazine. It is not suitable for an academic essay because:
register is (far) too informal (e.g. "a lot of Valley wanna-bes", "the proper 'tude")
language is difficult to understand (e.g. "lifelong fealty to an employer")

How do you go about building a tech city? One thing you've gotta have is the proper 'tude. Silicon Valley's most valuable asset is its mind-set, a powerful merging of two behavioral strains: the macho, riverboat-gambler swagger of the original chipmakers who thought nothing of betting the company on a risky new idea, and the gently subversive high-tech idealism of early computer hackers. The resulting intellectual alloy counts you as a sellout if you don't try to make yourself a billionaire.
This attitude is where a lot of Valley wanna-bes, particularly those outside the United States, fall short. But it's hard to overcome centuries of tradition that honor the very qualities that Silicon Valley loathes: aversion to risk, lifelong fealty to an employer, willingness to work within a strict hierarchy

Adapted from: Levy, S. (1998) The Hot New Tech Cities, Newsweek, Nov. 1998. http://newsweek.com/nw-srv/issue/19_98b/printed/int/wb/bz0119_1.htm

What factors are important in creating a high tech city? According to Levy the attitude of potential employees is vitally important. It could be argued that Silicon Valley's most valuable resource is the mind set of it's workforce: a combination of the original risk taking mentality of the wild west and the anti-establishment high tech idealism of the early computer hackers.

It is the lack of these attitudes, especially in societies outside the US, which may hold similar ventures back. The very qualities upon which Silicon valley is based, for example risk taking, job mobility and lack of strict work hierarchy, may be precisely the reverse of cherished values in more traditional societies (Levy, 1998)