What is paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is an essential skill that you must master if you plan to take regular classes in the university.  Paraphrasing means restating information using your own words.  However, it is not just a vocabulary exercise; you should also attempt to change the order of information, as well as the grammatical structures.  In other words, there are three elements that you should change when you restate an idea in your own words:  1) vocabulary (except for key words in some cases), 2) the order of information or ideas, and 3) the grammatical forms used.

In addition to mechanical changes described above, it is important to use your own voice as a writer. This means using your own individual style of writing which you have developed; however, since paraphrasing is most often used in academic papers, you must also limit yourself to an academic style.  Hopefully, by the end of the term, you will have found your own voice within the limits of academic style.  Only practice can help you do this.

1. Each week you will receive one or two statements from the teacher.
2. In addition, you must find one more statement from other sources.  The statement you find should not be a simple sentence: it must be either a compound or complex statement.  In order to retain a meaningful context for your statement, you may wish to count two statements as one.  (For example, "Paraphrasing is difficult even for native speakers. Although the assignments may look short on paper, they can be very time-consuming to do well.") In this example, the first sentence is a simple sentence, and does not fulfill the requirements of the assignment.  However, the second sentence is complex, and does fulfill the requirements.  Standing alone, the second sentence has less meaning than if it is paired with the first.  The two sentences together could count as one source for your paraphrase.
3. Photocopy and identify the original source page(s).  This must be handed in with your paraphrases. Identification of a source for the purposes of this class means citing the author, publication, date, and page number.  However, for extra practice, you may wish to use formal citations (APA or MLA) that you would use in a research paper.
4. Read and understand each source.  This is essential.  You cannot paraphrase accurately without understanding what the author is saying.
5. Make notes, paying special attention to key words
6. Paraphrase each source from your notes. You may not use simple sentences when paraphrasing.
7. Compare the meaning of your paraphrase with the meaning of your source. Be sure that you do not change the meaning.
8. Hand in your paraphrases, stapled to the photocopies of your sources and source identification, on Wednesday each week.

You can find sources in several different places:  textbooks, newspapers, magazines, and the internet.  However, they must be in an academic style.

If you are not sure, ask your teacher.  Be sure to do this well in advance of the due date, in case the source is not acceptable.

Starting in Week 2, assignments will be due every Wednesday, unless announced otherwise.

Each paraphrase will be graded according to the following criteria.  If you are completely successful in all four areas, you will receive full points (20 or 25, depending on the number of paraphrases that week).  However, errors in grammatical accuracy, style, and quality of paraphrasing will have points deducted according to the relative severity of the error.

1. Accuracy of the paraphrase overall (0% or 100%):  This is an "all or nothing" evaluation:  either you have retained the meaning of the original source, or you haven't.  If you haven't, I stop grading the paraphrase at this point, and you receive zero points for that paraphrase.
2. Accuracy of grammar:  Be sure that there are no grammatical errors in your paraphrase. Also, be sure that each paraphrase is a compound or complex statement.
3. Academic style: Use an academic style.  See Section 3, Part C of the textbook (Writing Clearly) for clarification of this, if necessary.
4. Divergence from the original in vocabulary, grammar, and order of information (is it a true paraphrase?):  At times, you must retain some key words in your paraphrase (e.g. "paraphrase"); however, you should make every attempt to change the grammar, as well as the  order of idea or /information when it does not change the meaning of the original source.

WEEK 1-2: No paraphrase homework due--practice in class.
WEEK 2-3:  Subordination
WEEK 3-4:  Subject-verb agreement, articles
WEEK 4-5:  Nouns and conditionals
WEEK 5-6: Verb tenses
WEEK 6-7: Verb forms
WEEK 7-8: Relative clauses and noun clauses
WEEK 8-9: Word order

Explanations of paraphrasing:

http://www.researchpaper.com/writing_center/30.html
http://www.asu.edu/duas/wcenter/paraphrasing.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_quotprsum.html
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuoSuccessfulSummary.html
http://www.ship.edu/~lac/paraphrasing.html

Practice and examples of paraphrasing:

http://www.researchpaper.com/writing_center/30E.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_paraphr.html
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QuoSampleParaphrases.html
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/Englishworks/writing/paraphrasing.html