Paraphrasing Exercise - Assignment Example

Running head: Paraphrasing Exercise Assignment one The paraphrased sentence According to Harris, some alter several words in their writings to resemble their individual terminologies hence, hide the reality that they are lifting from other sources (Harris, 2001, p. 17). Description of how the above paraphrase was developed To start with, I read the quote very carefully and severally so that I could be in a position to analyze it and identify the key points and set them aside, as they would help me arrange the words to mean the same as the original sentence using my own understanding. After analyzing the quotation, I removed the unnecessary words in the sentence as the unnecessary words would have made the write up appear wordy. As a result, I got rid of the wordiness in the phrase by using a stronger word. For example, the phrase in the original quote “here and there, either better to match” were left out and the re-rewritten sentence means the same. In the process of paraphrasing the sentence, I analyzed whether my writing skills matched with the paraphrasing skills. This is because the more I linked my writing skills with the paraphrasing skills needed in this task, the more I came up with a stronger paraphrase. This is because the write up of the sentence should display my writing skills instead of that of the original author. While coming up with the paraphrase, I wanted to translate the quote into my own voice but not just changing the look of the source while still replicating its fundamental structures (Deakin University, 2011). In the process of coming up with the new sentence, I looked at the original sentence. This helped me revise and polish my draft. Furthermore, it helped me identify my own diction in the writing process. After undertaking the editing and the revision of my paraphrase, I compared it with the original quote sentence. After my analysis I realized that the words I used accurately communicate the original context despite being sufficiently different from the one used by Harris. Assignment 2 Posner (2007), while discussing student plagiarism and detection found out that student plagiarism is becoming less common as more and more colleges and universities adopt plagiarism-detection softwares, such as Turnitin, a product of a company named paradigms. “Thousands of colleges both in the United States and abroad have acquired licenses, at an annual cost of about 80 cents per enrolled student, to use the program” (p. 81). In Posner’s view, the Turnitin systems used to check plagiarism make a digital copy of every coursework or assignment uploaded by students and stores them in its database. The copies stored are compared with the new work uploaded to check if they resemble any work archived on the database of Turnitin. Posner compares the Turnitin database with that of Google, since both are collections of materials uploaded. The similarities is that both Google and Turnitin are constantly being updated, with prints of archived materials emanating from the World Wide Web, and other contents of other freely accessible electronic databases (Posner, 2007, p.81). A description of what I found difficult in the task above Paraphrasing a long sentence or a whole paragraph is never easy. I witnessed this in this assignment. What was challenging was that some sentences could not be put into writing differently from the original as they contained key words. Furthermore, the use of different words while paraphrasing distorted the meaning of the sentence. Moreover, putting together the original information and understanding the information and ideas challenged my reading and comprehension skills hence making paraphrasing a complex task. What was challenging about paraphrasing and not plagiarizing The challenge of paraphrasing and not plagiarizing was that while avoiding plagiarism some meanings of the original text were lost in the paraphrases. Paraphrasing introduced another viewpoint different from that of the original author, and the process of paraphrasing entailed summarizing hence some key words may have been lost in the summary, hence it is difficult to maintain all the keywords. Strategies used to succeed Strategies to succeed in paraphrasing included reading the passage carefully and several times to conceptualize the key elements being highlighted by the author and putting them into my own words while referencing the original work. The other strategy was writing a draft prior to the final paraphrasing to ensure that I captured all key words and the theme of the passage in my own words. Successful paraphrasing tips and avoiding plagiarism One successful tip that can be used while paraphrasing in order to avoid plagiarism is understanding what the passage is communicating. By so doing, one can gain his own understanding of the theme and the key words used. Another tip is to summarize while using one’s own diction where possible without losing the meaning of the original work. Another tip is following paraphrasing guidelines depending on the referencing style used. Finally, placing quotation marks on direct quotes used and at the end to acknowledge the original author of the text is important (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011). Assignment 3 Zinsser (2006) found out that “most writers dont initially say what they want to say, or say it as well as they could. The newly hatched sentence almost always has something wrong with it. It is not clear. It is not logical. Its verbose” (p. 85). This can be interpreted in dissimilar ways. One of the interpretations is that comprehensive writing is as a result of a tedious process, which a writer must go through to produce quality work. It is in the assumption of many, that a seasoned writer need not re-write his work and that the words he uses in his masterpiece just come about (Zinsser, 2006). Zinsser, (2006) never considered rephrasing as an unjust trouble, as rephrasing gave him the chance to improve on his work. Zinsser (2006) found out that “writing is like a good watch, it should run smoothly and have no extra parts” (p. 85). In view of this, a student should not think that he is being punished when asked to re-do his work or when given additional homework. Instead, he should consider the extra practice as a gift. In Zinsser’s opinion, writers cannot write down well until they appreciate that the art of writing is a developing course, and not a result. Therefore, writers should not be worried if they do not succeed at their first or second attempt at writing (Zinsser, 2006). Zinsser’s (2006) while investigating what makes a good writer found out that most rewriting consists of reshaping, tightening, and refining the raw material written on the first try. Much of it consists of making sure one has given the reader a narrative flow he [she] can follow with no trouble from beginning to end. (p. 85) Assignment 4 Zinsser (2006) established that “most writers dont initially say what they want to say, or say it as well as they could. The newly hatched sentence almost always has something wrong with it. Its not clear. Its not logical or Its verbose” (p. 85). The meaning in this phrase is that writing entails a lot of fiddling to come up with better results. The public thinks seasoned writer has his way with words and that he does not have trouble putting his thoughts into paper. However, this is not true, as writers have to re-write their content several times to come up with better drafts. On this opinion, Zinsser believes re-writing one’s work is not unjust and troubling; rather it is an opportunity for writers to improve on their work. Zinsser therefore advices young students to take the additional homework as practice (Zinsser, 2006). Zinsser believes a writer does not have to get his writing right at the first attempt rather; it is a practice which takes time and failures. Zinsser explains rewriting as the process of reshaping and close knitting a writer’s previous material, which he had experimented with before, rather than discarding the original draft and initiating a different version. As a result, writing should give the reader a narrative flow, which he can follow with no difficulties from opening to closing stages (Zinsser, 2006). References Deakin University. (2011). Summarizing, paraphrasing and quoting. Retrieved from http://www.deakin.edu.au/current-students/study-support/study-skills/handouts/ideas.php Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2011). Avoiding Plagiarism. Retrieved from http://writing.mit.edu/wcc/avoidingplagiarism Posner, R. A. (2007). The little book of plagiarism. New York: Pantheon Books. Zinsser, W. K. (2006). On writing well: the classic guide to writing nonfiction. New York: HarperCollins. Read More