When you paraphrase, you are taking the words of another source and restating them in your own words. A paraphrase is usually about the same length as the original text. You keep the meaning of the original text, but use your own vocabulary to describe the idea. Paraphrasing is most useful when you want to present an author’s idea or argument, but don’t feel their original words merit direct quotation.
Original text
Such intuition is even making its way, albeit slowly, into scholarly circles, where recognition is mounting that ever-increasing pressures on ecosystems, life-supporting environmental services, and critical natural cycles are driven not only by the sheer number of resources users and the inefficiencies of their resource use, but also by the patterns of resource use themselves. In global environmental policymaking arenas, it is becoming more and more difficult to ignore the fact that the overdeveloped North must restrain its consumption if it expects the underdeveloped South to embrace a more sustainable trajectory.
Princen, T., Maniates, M., & Conca, K. (Eds). (2002). Confronting consumption. MIT Press. http://login.library.sheridanc.on.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=70962&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Paraphrase of source
Scholars are coming to believe that consumption is partly to blame for changes in ecosystems, reduction of essential natural resources, and changes in natural cycles. Policy makers increasingly see that developing nations will not adopt practices that reduce pollution and waste unless wealthy nations consume less. Rising population around the world does cause significant stress on the environment, but consumption is increasing even more rapidly than population.
(Princen et al., 2002, p. 4)