Have no idea where it came from but it's certainly something that I learnt at school. We would have to read something then write about it. You would basically be copying the text but writing it in your own words.
By saying this I mean I saw people asking for rewriting articles. Wht don't they ask simply for writing new one? Also, incurrent scenario, by rewriting, webmasters meant to write in one's own words but the theme should remain the same and # of words would remain almost Equivalent? If I'm wrong please correct me.
Some people want articles "spun" or rewritten because they think they'll get penalized by submitting the exact same article to directories or other sites. Unless that specific site (like EZA) only accepts unique content, I don't really see the point of this. Some people thinks it affects search rankings, but I have yet to see evidence of it. Just the other day I was googling something and the exact same word for word article dominated the first 3 pages, so obviously Google doesn't mind ranking the same article highly over and over again. I would love to hear other opinions on this (backed up with fact preferably) because I've been wondering about this too.
The reason people want articles re-written is because unique articles are harder to create, so they cost more. You can get an article re-written for much cheaper, so you get unique content for less price. It may also help you avoid the duplicate penalty, but I'm not sure if it exists.
Rewritten articles are cheaper on the side of website owners. This is normally half the price of original content, sometimes, even one-third of the price. This is normally used for directory submission purposes, I think.
Yes, in a nutshell: 1. Rewritten articles count as unique content as far as SE's are concerned. So, people who are petrified of the duplicate content debate can regurgitate old content as if it's new. 2. As mentioned, an article can be re-written for a substantial discount to a new article. The writer already has a blueprint to work with and does not have to do research. They simply have to juggle the words a bit which takes a few mintes per article. 3. Articles can be re-written from a variety of PLR sources and then resold as new PLR content. The article marketing industry has boomed - there are things like article rewriting software, article submission software...even software that creates videos from an article source. Unfortunately, it's leading to a widespread quantity over quality mentality among most marketers (try reading an article that's been spun by some of the software out there - pure garbage!)
Rewriting an article is easier than writing an article, and it appears to a search engine to be a unique article. Unique articles are given more credit than duplicates, so basically article rewriting is an easier way to get articles out for your website.
Rewriting is simpler than writing your own content. It uses someone elses time & research to produce your own unique content.