Citation History

I think i have developed over time in my citation usage, on how exactly to cite and what's the appropriate way to cite and what is the plagirizing way to cite. I have to recognize that in middle school i was a big fan of copying and pasting and just referencing to the original author. I learned in high school that this was plagiarism so i couldnt be taking exact phrases someone else wrote. In high school i changed to using more of the patch citation where i used most of the ideas and words bu ti just changed some of the words with synonyms. Towards the end of my high school years and now in college i have developes a kind of citation where i just reference a work to develop my own ideas and explain things with my own words.