Writers Notebook 2.3 and Writers notebook 2.4

PARAPHRASING How to avoid plagiarism and correctly paraphrase.

WHAT IS A PARAPHRASE?  It rephrases the original author’s words

using your own words.  It retains the original work’s meaning.  It uses your own sentence structure.  It should be equal in length or shorter

than the original text.  It is cited correctly!

WHY PARAPHRASE?

There are three main reasons why you might want to paraphrase:

 You want to retain your own writer’s voice.  The section is confusing or technical, and

you need to clarify what the author means.  You don’t need all the details, just the main

ideas.

THE QUOTE SANDWICH

COMMON KNOWLEDGE

 Common knowledge is information that does not need to be cited.

 Common knowledge is defined as words with no synonyms.

 It is information and ideas that you deem already known or understood by your audience and widely accepted by scholars, e.g.  It is common knowledge that Pearl Harbor was bombed

on December 7, 1941, so it does not need to be cited.  It can be found undocumented in many different

credible sources  It is listed in a general encyclopedia  It is considered factual and not controversial

COMMON KNOWLEDGE CONT.

 Common knowledge is influenced and changed by three things:  Age—Your common knowledge base increases as you get

more life experience  Education—Your common knowledge base increases as

you learn more  Field of study—If you are in an advanced course, your

instructor will expect you to know everything that came before that course. You will not need to cite it in a paper for that course. However, in another course, like English, you would need to cite much more!

 When in doubt, cite your source!

SHARED LANGUAGE  Shared language does not need to be cited.  Shared language is words with no synonyms.  It is a common vocabulary shared by a community of

scholars in specific disciplines.  It is not plagiarism to repeat these phrases, and they do not

require quotation marks.  They include the following types of terms:

 Conventional designations: research assistant, low-fat diet, upper respiratory infection, global warming

 Preferred bias-free language: physically impaired, postal worker

 Technical terms and phrases of a discipline or genre: cognitive domain, science fiction, modernist poetry

PARAPHRASING: A LEGITIMATE VERSION? Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

First Version In a recent speech, President Obama emphasized the extraordinary hardships that are endured by the uninsured, who are not primarily people on welfare but middle-class Americans.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

PLAGIARISM 2 Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

First Version In a recent speech, President Obama emphasized the extraordinary hardships that are endured by the uninsured, who are not primarily people on welfare but middle-class Americans.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

This is a very lazy attempt at "paraphrasing." This student just removed some words and squished the rest together. This attempt is definitely plagiarism.

PARAPHRASING: A LEGITIMATE VERSION? 3

Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Second Version President Obama identified the uninsured as a group represented primarily by middle-class Americans rather than by people on welfare. In making his argument, he spoke of how those without health insurance must confront extraordinary hardships.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

PLAGIARISM 3 Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Second Version President Obama identified the uninsured as a group represented primarily by middle-class Americans rather than by people on welfare. In making his argument, he spoke of how those without health insurance must confront extraordinary hardships.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

This student tried to paraphrase by moving the structure around, but she still uses many of the original words. This is definitely still plagiarism. It’s called patchwork plagiarism.

PARAPHRASING: A LEGITIMATE VERSION? 4

Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Third Version In a recent speech, President Obama remarked, most people know the surprising difficulties that are put on those without insurance, who are just one problem away from bankruptcy. These are not mainly citizens on benefits. These are average Americans.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

PLAGIARISM 4 Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Third Version In recent speech, President Obama remarked, most people know the surprising difficulties that are put on those without insurance, who are just one problem away from bankruptcy. These are not mainly citizens on benefits. These are average Americans.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

This is a very common problem when students try to paraphrase. Instead of putting it in his own words and structure, this student went line by line and just changed the words. This is called structural plagiarism.

PARAPHRASING: A LEGITIMATE VERSION? 5

Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Fourth Version In a recent speech, the President spoke of how millions of middle- class citizens suffer from the lack of health insurance, enduring “extraordinary hardships.”

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

PLAGIARISM 5 Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Fourth Version In a recent speech, the President spoke of how millions of middle- class citizens suffer from the lack of health insurance, enduring “extraordinary hardships” (Obama).

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

This example is almost a trick question. The student almost has a good paraphrase, but she forgot to cite who said it! If you don’t put the author’s name in the sentence, you must have a citation following your paraphrase.

PARAPHRASING: A LEGITIMATE VERSION? 6

Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

Fifth Version In a recent speech, President Obama characterized the situation of Americans without health insurance as a terrible predicament, one which is mainly experienced by those who belong to the middle class.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

A LEGITIMATE PARAPHRASE Original Text In a recent speech, President Obama declared, “Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans.”

A Fair Paraphrase In a recent speech, President Obama characterized the situation of Americans without health insurance as a terrible predicament, one which is mainly experienced by those who belong to the middle class.

Obama, Barack. "Remarks by the President to a Joint Session of Congress on Health Care." Presidential Address. US Capital, Washington, D.C. 9 Sept. 2009. Speech.

YAY!! Finally, this attempt is excellent!

PARAPHRASING TIPS 1. Read the material several times to be sure you

understand it. 2. Look away from the material (or turn it over) and

restate the passage in your own words. 3. Begin by writing the section in your own words in

the order of the original. Then check for matching words.

4. If you find any, consult a thesaurus to find words that have the same or similar meaning.

5. After all of the original words have been changed, change the structure and order of your paraphrase.

6. Finally, cite your paraphrase. If it is more than one line, you must introduce it and cite it at the end of the paraphrase.

A FAIR PARAPHRASE A fair paraphrase includes five qualities:

1. It retains the original meaning.

2. It uses different words.

3. It has a different structure.

4. It is the same length or shorter

5. It has a correct citation.