Paraphrasing and Reporting the Work of Others

Whilst we are waiting…

Can anyone give me a definition of paraphrasing before we start?

What?

You are explaining their ideas not yours so don’t give your opinions yet…

Reporting somebody else’s words IN YOUR OWN

What else must I do?

YOU MUST REFERENCE ALL PARAPHRASES

Tasks

Pick up an academic article/book chapter and scan it. How much direct quotation do you see? How much paraphrase do you see? Can you draw any conclusions about academic writing?

Look at the excerpt form the final year dissertation and explain when and why the student has needed to paraphrase.

Edited extract from MCS dissertation

Beverly Skeggs’ study has similar traits and strategies to my study of these women. Skeggs’ work focuses on the ways in which working class people have elected to go to University in order to move away from their working class environment. Skeggs notes that, for some women in her study, completing college courses was an attempt ‘to escape’ (Skeggs, 1997: 76) the working class predicament and its association with ‘low level skills’ (Walkerdine, 1993: 165). This desire to escape working class roots was particularly poignant in this case study. Hannh has always found University difficult and is unhappy with her degree course in primary school teaching. She has often stated that she would rather be doing hairdressing but, when questioned, says that being a primary school teacher is ‘better’.

When?

• To integrate the ideas of someone else into your own essay

• To state somebody else’s theory so you can use it for your own purposes

• When the original language is too difficult to understand (don’t hide behind quotations/don’t quote if you don’t understand the quote…)

• Paraphrase rather than quoting when it’s the IDEA you are interested in rather than the language used to express it

When else?

• In exams – you can’t remember loads of quotes!

• In presentations – for smooth delivery

Why paraphrase?

• To show that your work is well founded/well evidenced and therefore of academic interest

• In the interests of analysis and critical analysis.

Task

Does the dissertation extract above follow the principles of paraphrase we have spoken about so far? Look at it again and discuss whether the referencing is successful.

Task: Basic Principles of Paraphrase

Read the following examples of successful and unsuccessful paraphrase and explain the differences between the two.

Original Text

The cause of autism has also been a matter of dispute. Its incidence is about one in a thousand, and it occurs throughout the world, its features remarkably consistent even in extremely different cultures. It is often not recognized in the first year of life, but tends to become obvious in the second or third year. (…)– The original passage is from Oliver Sacks' essay ‘An Anthropologist on

Mars’. From: http://www.utoronto.ca/ucwriting/paraphrase.html

Successful

In ‘An Anthropologist on Mars’, Sacks (1995) lists some of the known facts about autism. We know, for example, that the condition occurs in roughly one out of every thousand children. We also know that the characteristics of autism do not vary from one culture to the next. And we know that the condition is difficult to diagnose until the child has entered its second or third year of life. As Sacks points out, often a child who goes on to develop autism will still appear perfectly normal at the age of one (1995, 247).

Unsuccessful

The cause of the condition autism has been disputed. It occurs in approximately one in a thousand children, and it exists in all parts of the world, its characteristics strikingly similar in vastly differing cultures. The condition is often not noticeable in the child's first year, yet it becomes more apparent as the child reaches the ages of two or three. (…)

From: http://www.utoronto.ca/ucwriting/paraphrase.html

How do you do it then?

• Read the whole idea first and try to understand it

• Make sure you know why you are paraphrasing – which part of this text fits in with your argument?

• Look away from the original, then write

• Take notes, then paraphrase from them the next day

Some Principles

Completely alter:

1. the sentence structure

2. the words

Change the structure

• Break up long sentences

• Combine short ones

• Expand or shorten phrases

Change the words

• Look for the important ideas and words

• Use synonyms for them

• See: http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/report/repfram.htm for a more detailed discussion.

• NB IF YOU ONLY ALTER THE WORDS YOUR WORK WILL COUNT AS PLAGIARISM!

Change the grammar of the text

• Nouns to Verbs – This rewriting of history was not so much a matter of a

new start.

– This rewriting of history was not so much a matter of starting again.

• Verbs to Nouns – The Normans invaded in 1066.

– The Norman invasion took place in 1066.

• See: http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/report/repfram.htm

Now it’s your turn…

But a few words before we start..

Suspect consider hypothesise question believe feel

demonstrate prove point out note conclude deduce

argue assert contend claim suggest recommend complain

accept concede reflect insist

From: http://www.amw.editing.care4free.net/faw/54.html

From: http://www.amw.editing.care4free.net/faw/54.html

• ‘Many students, who otherwise have a wide vocabulary, lose all imagination and precision here, thoughtlessly repeating 'points out' and 'argues‘’. http://www.amw.editing.care4free.net/faw/54.html

• Each verb should be selected carefully to convey any or all of the following elements:

• your attitude towards the quotation you are including

• the author's attitude towards the subject • the academic community's attitude towards the

author's views

Task

Paraphrase the argument of the student dissertation writer in the extract above.

Paraphrase this sentence

Later sources represent Felix and Sigebert as having met in Gaul and travelled to England together, but this is contrary to Bede's narrative which seems to imply that Felix's journey to East Anglia had been made at the prompting of the archbishop in Canterbury. (Blair 1970: 108)

One Possible Paraphrase

Whereas later sources claim that Felix met Sigebert in Gaul and accompanied him to England, the implications of Bede's narrative are that it was the archbishop in Canterbury who prompted his journey to East Anglia. (Blair 1970http://www.amw.editing.care4free.net/faw/paraphrase4.html

• Can you make this shorter?

Summary

• Paraphrasing is about capturing other people’s ideas in your words

• You need to provide references when you are paraphrasing

• Many things need changing in the original, not just a few words

Further Reading

• A very useful site dealing with when and how to do it, successful vs unsuccessful paraphrases:

http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase.html

For lots of practice exercises: http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/report/repfram.htm

• This gives an eg of a successful and unsuccessful paraphrase: http://www.utoronto.ca/ucwriting/paraphrase.html

This Lecture is Dedicated to John Peel