How do you "put it in your own words"?

The typical advice to take research and "put it in your own words" leaves a lot of room for error. As a result, people tend to commit accidental plagiarism including puzzle piece plagiarism and replacing that for this plagiarism. The problem is not that people aren't trying; it's a matter of how they are studying. Think about what you tend to do when you have to use research to prove your points. You sit in front of your computer, surrounded by the articles you've read, knowing that you must include info from the author to validate your points. So you read a favorite section of the article again, and then start typing "your own" sentences about it. The problem is your brain is too smart for your own good; it will remember words, phrases, and whole sentences from the author and you'll end up typing something a heck of a lot like the original. There are two ways to solve this issue. When you study the source, highlight any really good sentences that you may want to quote directly word-for-word later in your paper. Other than that, you should be summarizing the source, and you can't do so "in your own words" when it's right next to you. You've got to hide it from yourself! See my post on summarizing for more...