Confucius learnt a great deal about human nature, studying people's actions. - Studying people's actions, Confucius learnt a great deal about human nature. | 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. 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. 6 Steps to Effective Paraphrasing 1. Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning. 2. Set the original aside and write your paraphrase on a note card. 3. Jot down a few words below your paraphrase to remind you later how you envision using this material. At the top of the note card write a key word or phrase to indicate the subject of your paraphrase. 4. Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form. 5. Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source. 6. Record the source including the page on your note card so that you can credit it easily if you decide to incorporate the material into your paper. Some examples to compare. The original passage Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper. Probably only about 10 of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes. Lester James D. Writing Research Papers. 2nd ed. 1976 46-47. 81 A legitamate paraphrase In research papers students often quote excessively failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim Lester 46-47 An acceptable summary Students should take just a few notes in .
