Annotating,

paraphrasing and
summarising
WEEK 05
Are you a passive or an active
reader?
What is the relationship among
these three skills?
 Annotating is the first step both to good comprehension
and to writing a successful summary;
 paraphrasing is a preliminary step necessary to produce
a good summary.
 Finally, both paraphrasing and summarizing show you
and your instructor how well you have understood what
you read and how accurately you can convey the ideas
in your own words.
How to annotate?
 Annotating is sometimes called reading with a pencil in your hand.
 Annotating is not the same as marking the words with a yellow or
pink highlighter
 Highlighting is a passive activity - it is not an efficient way to get and
to retain the main points
Keep your
annotations neat
and brief
Annotating exercise

 In this exercise you are asked to annotate the text that you have
chosen about ‘language and communication issues’
 Remember to keep your notes brief (don’t write in complete
sentences) and to circle unfamiliar words
Paraphrasing
Restating the writer’s words in your own words
It helps you to focus and to read accurately
Paraphrasing

A paraphrase is...
 your own rendition of essential information and
ideas expressed by someone else, presented in
a new form.
 one legitimate way (when accompanied by
accurate documentation) to borrow from a
source.
 a more detailed restatement than a summary,
which focuses concisely on a single main idea.
Why should I use quoting, paraphrasing,
and summarizing?
 provide support for claims or add credibility to your writing
 refer to work that leads up to the work you are now doing
 give examples of several points of view on a subject
 call attention to a position that you wish to agree or
disagree with
 highlight a particularly striking phrase, sentence, or passage
by quoting the original
 distance yourself from the original by quoting it in order to
cue readers that the words are not your own
 expand the breadth or depth of your writing
How do I start?

 Read the entire text, noting the key points and main
ideas.
 Summarize in your own words what the single main idea
of the essay is.
 Paraphrase important supporting points that come up in
the essay.
 Consider any words, phrases, or brief passages that you
believe should be quoted directly
STEPS FOR PARAPHRASING
 Read the text carefully. Underline, or note, any important
subject-specific words.
 Look up any difficult words, and try to find synonyms for them.
 Try to find different ways of expressing the information in the
groups of words (phrases)
 Rewrite each sentence. Try to simplify the sentence structure
and the vocabulary without changing the meaning.
 Put your text out of sight and write your paraphrase from
memory.
 Revise what you have written, comparing it to the original. Your
paraphrase should clarify the original, but be written clearly in
your own words.
 Do not forget to use an in-text reference at the start or end of
your paraphrase
ASSESS YOUR PARAPHRASE

 The MEANING is the same

 Most of the words have been changed.
 The sentences have been significantly
restructured.
 This is about the same length as the original
writing
 The information is correctly referenced.
Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is a valuable skill because...

 it is better than quoting information from an
undistinguished passage.
 it helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
 the mental process required for successful paraphrasing
helps you to grasp the full meaning of the original.
What’s plagiarism?

 Plagiarism is using others’ ideas and words without

clearly acknowledging the source of that information.

 To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit whenever you use:

 another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;
 any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings—any pieces of
information—that are not common knowledge;
 quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written
words; or
 paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.
 Good or Bad?
 Here’s the ORIGINAL text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family
and Crime in the 1890s by Joyce Williams et al.:
 The rise of industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population
were the three great developments of late nineteenth century American history.
As new, larger, steam-powered factories became a feature of the American
landscape in the East, they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and
provided jobs for a rising tide of immigrants. With industry came urbanization the
growth of large cities (like Fall River, Massachusetts, where the Bordens lived)
which became the centers of production as well as of commerce and trade.
 Here’s an UNACCEPTABLE paraphrase that is plagiarism:
 The increase of industry, the growth of cities, and the explosion of the
population were three large factors of nineteenth century America. As steam-
driven companies became more visible in the eastern part of the country, they
changed farm hands into factory workers and provided jobs for the large wave
of immigrants. With industry came the growth of large cities like Fall River where
the Bordens lived which turned into centers of commerce and trade as well as
production.
 Can you explain why it is plagiarism?
WHY????

The preceding passage is considered plagiarism for two

reasons:
 the writer has only changed around a few words and
phrases, or changed the order of the original’s
sentences.
 the writer has failed to cite a source for any of the ideas
or facts.
 If you do either or both of these things, you are
plagiarizing.
NOTE: This paragraph is also problematic because it
changes the sense of several sentences (for example,
"steam-driven companies" in sentence two misses the
original’s emphasis on factories).
Good or Bad?
 Here’s the ORIGINAL text, from page 1 of Lizzie Borden: A Case Book of Family and
Crime in the 1890s by Joyce Williams et al.:
 The rise of industry, the growth of cities, and the expansion of the population were the
three great developments of late nineteenth century American history. As new, larger,
steam-powered factories became a feature of the American landscape in the East,
they transformed farm hands into industrial laborers, and provided jobs for a rising tide
of immigrants. With industry came urbanization the growth of large cities (like Fall River,
Massachusetts, where the Bordens lived) which became the centers of production as
well as of commerce and trade
 Here’s an ACCEPTABLE paraphrase:
Fall River, where the Borden family lived, was typical of northeastern industrial cities of
the nineteenth century. Steam-powered production had shifted labor from agriculture
to manufacturing, and as immigrants arrived in the US, they found work in these new
factories. As a result, populations grew, and large urban areas arose. Fall River was
one of these manufacturing and commercial centers (Williams 1).
 Can you explain why it is acceptable?
WHY????

This is acceptable paraphrasing because the writer:

 accurately relays the information in the original uses her
own words.
 lets the reader know the source of his/her information.
Summarising
You convey only the most important information, so you have to
develop a feel for what to save and what to drop
a summary
should be about
25 percent of the
original length
Assess your summary

 The MEANING is the same.

 The summary keeps the degree of certainty of the writer.
 This is a much shorter version of the original writing.
 The source/s of information is/are clearly referenced.