The first level of reading proficiently is that of accurately translating an author’s thoughts into our own words. A successful paraphrase must capture the essential meaning of the original text, must make intelligible the  meaning of the original text.

Hence, if we read the following in a text: “democracy is rule by the people.” our paraphrase of it might read, Democracy exists only to the extent that there is a broad basis of equality of political power among the people at large. This means that all people within the state should have relatively equal power and equal input in determining what laws are enacted. The paraphrase helps open up the text because it points us to possible problems in assessing the degrees to which any country is democratic.

[adapted from Critical Thinking Reading & Writing Test]