Google Books fair use and paraphrasing I am writing some essays for some MBA courses and I will start writing my master thesis soon. I always prefer to source ideas out of books and journals, rather than online resources. Google Books is a miracle in the sense that I can find genuine free book resources and it allows me to verify any secondary and tertiary information I have.

However, I've been reading about this fair use rule recently and I am unable to answer this question now: if I want to paraphrase a specific idea (for example, the definition of "value" in marketing as stated in book x by author y), can I still go on and paraphrase it and include all the required citation? Is this still considered fair use? (I am asking this because I read that the fair use should be "trans-formative", yes sometimes I am commenting and analyzing others ideas but most of the times I am paraphrasing others ideas just for the sake of adding relevant information and literature review (especially in essays))
Fair use (in the US) has nothing to do with being "transformative." Here's a quote from section 107 of the US Copyright law (highlights are mine):


  Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.


I'm am not a lawyer, but as long as you are paraphrasing sections and including the correct citations, you should be good.

EDIT: As Oswald Veblen points out below, there is more to copyright here than what a casual reading of the law would lead one to believe. Please see his comment below for more information.