Paraphrasing

WRITE IT IN YOUR OWN WORDS A paraphrase is

Your

own sentences in your own words of the essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form. One way to borrow from a source (when quoting). A detailed restatement, not a summary, which focuses on one main idea.

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because .

It

is better than quoting. It helps you control the temptation to quote too much. The mental process required helps you grasp the full meaning of the original quote.

Paraphrasing

Six steps to Effective Paraphrasing: 1. Re-read the original passage until you understand the full meaning. 2. Set the original aside and write your paraphrase on a note card. 3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to help remind you on how you wanted to use the text. At the top of the note card, write something to remind you of the topic of the paraphrase.

Paraphrasing

Continue 4. Compare your notes to quote to make sure it is accurate. 5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phrase. 6. Be sure to record your sources on your paper or note card.

Paraphrasing
Example:
Source:

Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final paper should appear as direct quoting. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of quoting while taking notes. Lester, James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. (1976): 46-47
Paraphrasing:

In research papers, students often quote too much, failing to keep quoting down. Since the problems usually originates during note taking, it is important to minimize the materials recorded. (Lester 46-47)

Summarising

Putting down the main ideas of someone elses work in your own words.
A summary is always shorter than the original since the idea is to include only the main points of the original work and to leave out the irrelevant.

Continue.

Summarising is a valuable skill because .

It

is better than quoting. Delete trivial unnecessary information Delete redundant material. The mental process required helps you grasp the full meaning of the original quote.

Summarising
Seven steps to Effective Summarising
1. Read the article. 2. Re-read the article. Underline important ideas. Circle key terms. Find the main point of the article. Divide the article into sections or stages of thought, and label each section or stage of thought in the margins. Note the main idea of each paragraph if the article is short.

3. Write brief summaries of each stage of thought or if appropriate each paragraph. Use a separate piece of paper for this step. This should be a brief outline of the article. 4. Write the main point of the article. Use your own words. Be careful not to use the author's words or to follow the sentence structure of the original passage. This should be a sentence that expresses the central idea of the article as you have determined it from the steps above.

5. Write your rough draft of the summary. Combine the information from the first four steps into paragraphs. Make sure that you are faithful to the meaning of the source and that you have accurately represented the main ideas.

6. Edit your version. Be concise. Eliminate needless words and repetitions.(Avoid using "the author says...," "the author argues...," etc.)
7. Compare your version to the original.

Be sure your summary answers the following questions:

What does the text say? How does it say it? What does the text mean? So what?

Summarising

Example
Source: The amphibia, which is the animal class to which our frogs and toads belong, were the first animals to crawl from the sea and inhabit the earth. Summary: The first animals to leave the sea and live on dry land were the amphibia.

Paraphrasing and Summarising

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