PARAPHRASING

References

Reinking, J. A., et al.  Strategies for Successful Writing: A Rhetoric, Research Guide, Reader, and Handbook. Toronto: Pearson Canada, 2010. 347. Print.

WHAT IS A PARAPHRASE?

A retelling in your own words and your own style (voice)

A "translation" into layman's terms 

A restatement of meaning (not a transcription, word for word)

WHY SHOULD WE USE A PARAPHRASE?

1. To explain, clarify, writing that is difficult because it is: dense, archaic, abstract, confusing, jargon

2. While studying, to discover what you know or do not know

3. To sharpen reading skills, analysis of sentence structure,  and build vocabulary

4. To include another's ideas into your own writing for:  amplification, clarification, illustration, development of an argument

EXERCISE A:  PARAPHRASE THE FOLLOWING PHRASES:

1. a particularly sobering experience

2. an overly ambitious curriculum

3. the most pernicious of illusions

4. to cast a sharp relief

HOW SHOULD I WRITE A PARAPHRASE?

1. Read the original (duh) for understanding.

2. Cover and rewrite it as if telling a friend. (This checks your understanding.)

3. Reread the original and compare it with your paraphrase.  (This checks your accuracy.)

4. Rewrite your own paraphrase, substituting your words for the original's as necessary.  (Use a dictionary and a Thesaurus.)

Note:  Use the original's nouns, verbs, and other words, when their denotations are simple, i.e., when no simpler synonyms exist.

5. Edit for smoothness and accuracy, checking on sentence structure that has been "echoed' inadvertently.

6. Include the author's last name in the first sentence.  This clearly signals that you are about to include someone else's writing.

WHEN MAY I QUOTE IN A PARAPHRASE?

1. When the original is memorable in interest or liveliness

2. When the original is clear and changing it would complicate your paraphrase

3. If you really need to depend upon the original author's reputation

4. You may wish to emphasize the author's opinions.

5. Authors’ opinions challenge or vary greatly from those of others in the field.

WHEN TO SUMMARIZE

Long passages whose main points you wish to record selectively.

The passage is too long to quote exactly.

EXERCISE B:  READ THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH AND STATE WHY VERSIONS 1 AND 2 ARE PLAGIARIZED.

The "injuries and insolencies” that caused conflict on the frontier were usually rooted in simple trespass either by the English cattle or hogs onto the the unfenced cornfields of the Indians or by the Indian habit of moving freely over open fields that the English regarded as sacred private property. 

(Robert M. Utley and Wilcomb E Washburn. Indian Wars) 

Version B.1.

Conflict on the frontier between English and Indians was usually rooted in simple trespass either by English animals onto  the unfenced cornfields of the Indians or by the Indian habit of moving freely over open fields that the English considered to be their own private property.

ANSWER. B.1.

Conflict on the frontier between English and Indians was usually rooted in simple trespass either by English animals onto the unfenced cornfields of the Indians or by the Indian habit of moving freely over open fields that the English considered to be their own private property.  (The only difference is that only the highlighted words have been replaced.  Also, there is no citation.)

VERSION B.2

Conflict on the frontier between the English and the Indians was usually rooted in a lack of respect for property.  The English cattle and hogs were permitted to trespass on the unfenced cornfields of the Indians.  The Indians trespassed freely on private property that the English regarded as sacred. 

ANSWER B.2

Conflict on the frontier between the English and the Indians was usually rooted in a lack of respect for property.  The English cattle and hogs were permitted to trespass on the unfenced cornfields of the Indians.  The Indians trespassed freely on private property that the English regarded as sacred. 

(Phrases still copied from original.  No citation.)

SUCCESSFUL PARAPHRASE

Utley and Washburn maintain that the frontier conflict between the English and the Indians often has a simple cause - trespassing on the property of the other. The English permitted their animals to wander on cornfields that the Indians refused to fence.  The Indians, with little notion of private property, wandered freely over English fields (n.d.).

HOW CAN PLAGIARISM BE SPOTTED ?

Each of us writes with a unique voice or style.  Shifts in style can usually be identified easily and arouse suspicion.  Note that the first paragraph appears to have been written by an average writer, while the second has been written by one who is experienced

in academic and professional writing.

#1 

Political campaigns have become more and more like entertainment.  To get elected, politicians advertise themselves like commercial products.  The commercials do not say much.  Instead, they have pictures, music, and slogans.

#2 

What is happening is that the use of extended and complex language is being rapidly replaced by gestures, images, and formats of the arts of show business, toward which most of the new media, especially television, are powerfully disposed.  The result is that in the political domain, as well as in other arenas of public discourse - religion and commerce, for example - Americans no longer talk to each other; they entertain each other.

PRACTICE 1:  PARAPHRASE EACH OF THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE AND GIVE CREDIT TO THE SOURCE WITHIN THE PARAPHRASE.

Throughout the Middle Ages, and even later, it was widely believed that London had once been inhabited by giants, a legend which derived from the massive bones which were occasionally unearthed in and around the City.  Sometimes these finds were put on display in City churches: during the sixteenth century, for instance, St. Mary Aldermary exhibited a huge thigh-bone, "more than after the proportion of five shank bones of any man now living," together with a twelve-foot drawing of a Goliath-like figure to assist the ignorant public in the work of reconstruction.  (Robert Gray.  A History of London.)

PRACTICE 2:  PARAPHRASE EACH OF THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE AND GIVE CREDIT TO THE SOURCE WITHIN THE PARAPHRASE.

A marathon is any kind of endurance contest - running, dancing, bicycling, flagpole-sitting.  It is named for the narrow valley in Greece where in 490 B.C. the Athenians, under Miltiades, pinned down superior Persian forces so that they could not use their cavalry, and proceeded to  slaughter them.  The Persians lost 6,4000 men in the battle; the Greeks, 192.  Miltiades, fearing that the Athenians might surrender to Persian attack by sea in ignorance of the victory at Marathon, dispatched Pheidippides, his fastest runner, to take home the good news.  Though nearly exhausted, having already run to Sparta and back, Pheidippides raced twenty-some miles to Athens, gasped out "Rejoice - we conquer!" and fell dead.  (Willard R. Espy. Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun)

HOMEWORK:  PARAPHRASE THIS PARAGRAPH, WHICH IS A TRANSLATION OF THE MARQUIS DE CONDORCET.  IT IS A DIFFICULT PARAGRAPH, TYPICAL OF THE KIND OF WRITING YOU MIGHT WANT TO PARAPHRASE.

Marquis de Condorcet

If man can, with almost complete assurance, predict phenomena when he knows their laws, and if, even when he does not, he can still, with great expectation of success, forecast the future on the basis of his experience of the past, why, then, should it be regarded as a fantastic undertaking to sketch, with some pretense to truth, the future destiny of man on the basis of his history?  The sole foundation for belief in the natural sciences is this idea, that the general laws directing the phenomena of the universe, known or unknown, are necessary and constant.  Why should this principle be any less true for the development of the intellectual and moral faculties of man than for the operations of nature?

TEACHING AIDS - PARSING

PARSING – DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES

Subject / Verb / Completion Objective

SubjectiveI drink tea.

Subj Vb Comp

AND NOW WE ADD TO THE SENTENCE …

I drink tea. (Independent clause) Being very thirsty (Dependent clause) Sloshing in the saucer (Dependent clause)

Being very thirsty, I drink tea, sloshing in the saucer.

PARSE THIS SENTENCE

Only I drove the bright red truck very quickly to the nearest town.

(Click again to reveal sentence for blackboard work.)

* Only I drove the bright red truck very quickly to the nearest town.

HOW NOT TO DIAGRAMME A SENTENCE

LET’S PARAPHRASE CONDORCET’S PARAGRAPH.

  (1A)     If man can, with almost complete assurance, predict phenomena when he knows their laws, and (1B) if, even when he does not, he can still, with great expectation of success, forecast the future on the basis of his experience of the past, (1C) why, then, should it be regarded as a fantastic undertaking to sketch, with some pretense to truth, the future destiny of man on the basis of his history? 

(2) The sole foundation for belief in the natural sciences is this idea, that the general laws directing the phenomena of the universe, known or unknown, are necessary and constant. 

(3) Why should this principle be any less true for the development of the intellectual and moral faculties of man than for the operations of nature?