Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words

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Paraphrase Write it in Your Own Words
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Sowhat is paraphrasing?

• Paraphrasing is rewriting a passage in your own
  words.
• Paraphrasing is similar to writing a summary,
  with one major difference
• While a summary is a shortened version of the
  original passage, a paraphrase should be
  approximately the same length as the original
  passage.

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Why write a paraphrase when you can quote the
original?

• Paraphrasing is most useful when quoting dense,
  abstract, archaic, or confusing material.
• Sowhat does that mean?
• Paraphrasing is taking something complicated and
  confusing and restating it in simpler, more
  understandable terms.

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How to Write Paraphrases

• Make sure that you understand the passage.
• Look up words you dont know.
• Do some research to get a clear understanding of
  the topic.
• Substitute your own words for those in the
  passage look for synonyms with the same
  connotation as the original word.
• Rearrange your sentences so that they read
  smoothly. Your paraphrase doesnt have to be in
  the exact same order as the original passage.

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Practice On a sheet of paper, paraphrase
the following passage.

• The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our
  planet, just as the sun is the source of our
  heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our
  climate, Jacques Cousteau told the camera.
  The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows
  north to mix with warmer water from the tropics,
  and its upwellings help to cool both the surface
  water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of
  this regulating system is now threatened by human
  activity. From Captain Cousteau, Audubon (May
  1990)17.
• Practice examples from owl.english.purdue.edu

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Sample Paraphrase

• According to Jacques Cousteau, the activity of
  people in Antarctica is jeopardizing a delicate
  natural mechanism that controls the earths
  climate. He fears that human activity could
  interfere with the balance between the sun, the
  source of the earths heat, and the important
  source of cold from Antarctic waters that flow
  north and cool the oceans and atmosphere
  (Captain Cousteau 17).

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Practice, continued

• Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year,
  three-fourths are caused by head injuries. Half
  of those killed are school-age children. One
  study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can
  reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In
  an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and
  cushions the head. From Bike Helmets Unused
  Lifesavers, Consumer Reports (May 1990) 348.

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Sample Paraphrase

1. The use of a helmet is the key to reducing
   bicycling fatalities, which are due to head
   injuries 75 of the time. By cushioning the head
   upon impact, a helmet can reduce accidental
   injury by as much as 85, saving the lives of
   hundreds of victims annually, half of whom are
   school children (Bike Helmets 348).

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How to Write Paraphrases (continued)

• OWL (Online Writing Lab Purdue University)
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_
  paraphr.html
• http//www.grad.english.ttu.edu/harvey/Docs/Paraph
  rasing.ppt258,1,Paraphrase Write it in Your
  Own Words

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Summarize the Following Quotations Remember a
good summarizer does not alter the meaning of
what was said in the original text.

• Tobey Maguire
• I like to be very active. I cant say there is
  anything that quite compares to swinging around
  like Spider-Man does. I like to ride bikes and
  run and scuba dive. I would consider skydiving,
  but now my fiancé is like You are not sky
  diving. And it would be a shame if something
  happened and I missed my daughters life. That
  would be a drag.

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• Jennifer Lopez
• I grew up in the inner city, but to me it was
  safe. It was all I knew. My mother would send me
  to the store, and Id go, when I was like eight
  years old. I only found out about gangs and
  gunshots when I was in my 20s and dated a cop who
  worked in my neighborhood. I told him I grew up
  in Castle Hill, and he said, Thats the worst
  crime area. I knew nothing of it. My parents had
  three girls and raised us to do the right things
  go to school, get good grades, try to get into
  college. It was about trying to have a better
  life. We werent allowed to hang out on the
  streets. Parties God forbid! Id beg for weeks
  to go, then have to be home by 11 p.m., when
  everybody else was just getting there.

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• Johnny Depp
• I was definitely never a crowd pleaser. May not
  be after this one, you never know. I was very
  surprised, incredibly surprised, still am that
  Pirates of the Caribbean did as well as it did
  and that the character Jack Sparrow made some
  friends out there. I am still surprised and
  touched.