L185_2 English for academic purposes online

Paraphrasing text

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This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course L185 English for academic purposes online http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/l185.htm.

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Contents

- Introduction

- Learning outcomes

- 1 Activity 1

- 2 Activity 2

- 3 Activity 3

- 4 Activity 4

- 5 Activity 5

- 6 Activity 6

- Conclusion

- Keep on learning

- Acknowledgements

Introduction

Reading at university usually leads to writing: for example, an essay, notes for a seminar, or ideas for a presentation. This
is really a process of turning reading into ‘your own words’. The two main ways of doing this are paraphrasing and summarising.

In this course you will practise strategies for paraphrasing sentences.

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course L185 English for academic purposes online.

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

- understand the process of paraphrasing

- practise paraphrasing strategies.

1 Activity 1

The following activity uses the text A force in human history. Take a moment to read it now.

View document

Activity 1 Finding and paraphrasing the main point in a sentence

Much academic study can be seen as a process of turning reading into writing:

Turning reading into ‘your own words’ is called paraphrasing.

In order to paraphrase a sentence, it is important to recognise the main point of the sentence. Look at the following three
sentences and identify the main point in each one. Type your answers into the text box below.

1. AIDS has claimed many lives.

2. By the year 2001, AIDS had claimed over 21 million lives.

3. By the year 2001, AIDS had claimed over 21 million lives, in spite of medical inventions, such as antibiotic therapy and mass
vaccination, introduced after World War 2.

Provide your answer...

View answer - Activity 1 Finding and paraphrasing the main point in a sentence

2 Activity 2

Activity 2 Finding the main point in a sentence

Using your mouse, highlight the main point in each of the following sets of three sentences.

Interactive content is not available in this format.

Activity 2

View answer - Activity 2 Finding the main point in a sentence

View comment - Activity 2 Finding the main point in a sentence

3 Activity 3

Activity 3 Paraphrasing the main point in a sentence

Identifying the part of a sentence you want to paraphrase may be the first step. The second step is to put it in your own
words.

In Activity 2, the main part AIDS has claimed many lives was paraphrased as Many people have died of AIDS.

Paraphrase the following sentences by changing the words in any way.

Activity 3.1

1 HIV has been growing fastest in Europe.

Provide your answer...

Activity 3.2

2 The number of new infections in Western Europe doubled to more than 365,000.

Provide your answer...

Activity 3.3

3 Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also tackle health issues around the world.

Provide your answer...

Activity 3.4

4 UNAIDS launched the ‘3 by 5’ initiative.

Provide your answer...

View answer - Activity 3.4

View comment - Activity 3.4

4 Activity 4

Activity 4 Paraphrasing strategies: synonyms

In this activity you will practise showing your understanding of a word or concept by using a synonym.

Match the meaning of the original word in italics below by selecting the right synonym. When you are working with a text,
the synonym you choose will depend on the context. Just looking up words in your dictionary might not work.

Question 1

The impact

force

effect

shock

View answer - Question 1

Question 2

of HIV/AIDS on the economies and hence the political stability

balance

tendency

strength

View answer - Question 2

Question 3

of heavily affected countries is a major cause for international concern

business

interest

worry

View answer - Question 3

Question 4

and is a reminder that an infectious disease still has the potential

capability

amount

impact

View answer - Question 4

Question 5

to alter the course of a country’s history. Past epidemics and the long-term impact of diseases have been among the most potent
forces shaping the current global

local

national

worldwide

View answer - Question 5

Question 6

distribution of population and cultures. Their influence can be seen

watched

looked at

observed

View answer - Question 6

Question 7

in the balance of political and economic power in the modern world.

View answer - Question 7

View comment - Question 7

5 Activity 5

Activity 5 Paraphrasing strategies: using logical connectors and reordering sentences

Another way to show your understanding of the original text is to reorder the information in the sentences while still keeping
the original meaning. To do this, you may have to use a different type of connector (such as although, because of, as a consequence of) from the original, to convey the same meaning and reword parts of the sentence.

Look at the following pairs of sentences and note how different logical connectors have been used without disturbing the meaning.
Note changes in the order and wording.

A Even though people in Europe are aware of the need for safer sexual practices to protect against STDs, the evidence shows these are not
always followed.

B In Europe, people do not always follow safe sexual practices, in spite of their awareness of the risks to health.

A In some countries, deaths through HIV/AIDS are having a negative effect on the economy because of the loss of young people from the labour market.

B The economies of some countries are damaged by the loss of young workers through AIDS.

Now look at sentences A and B below which are from the original text. Which one of the three alternative sentences is an accurate
rewording in each case?

Question 1

ASince the 1980s, infectious disease has re-emerged at the top of the global health agenda, destroying the optimism following
World War 2 that modern medical interventions, such as antibiotic therapy and mass vaccination programmes, could eliminate
deaths from infection.

1 Because of new medical interventions in developing countries since the 1980s, diseases such as HIV/AIDS have become much
more important as a global medical issue.

2 In spite of the expectation that medical intervention would solve the problem of infectious disease, in recent decades new
diseases such as HIV/AIDS have shown that this is again an important global health issue.

3 Although there have been new medical interventions since the 1980s, people still hope that diseases such as HIV AIDS will
be eradicated and improve global health.

View answer - Question 1

Question 2

BPast epidemics and the long-term impact of diseases have been among the most potent forces shaping the current global distribution
of population and cultures.

1 As a consequence of global distribution, people live in different parts of the world.

2 Because disease has affected many people in the world, their numbers are fewer.

3 The effects of disease around the globe have resulted in changes to where people live.

View answer - Question 2

6 Activity 6

Activity 6 Paraphrasing

Question 1

Paraphrase the following extracts from A force in human history, using the techniques you have explored in this learning bite

1 Acquired immune deficiency syndrome had already claimed over 21 million lives by the start of 2001, including 4.5 million
children.

Provide your answer...

Question 2

2 The impact of HIV/AIDS on the economies and hence the political stability of heavily affected countries is a major cause
for international concern, and is a reminder that an infectious disease still has the potential to alter the course of a country’s
history.

Provide your answer...

Question 3

3 Past epidemics and the long-term impact of diseases have been among the most potent forces shaping the current global distribution
of population and cultures.

Provide your answer...

View answer - Question 3

Conclusion

How you paraphrase text, and the main points you choose, depends on what your task is and the kind of information you need.

Keep on learning

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Acknowledgements

Course image: Quinn Dombrowski in Flickr made available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.

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Activity 1 Finding and paraphrasing the main point in a sentence

Answer

In the first sentence, only one point is made: that many people have died of AIDS.

In the second sentence, there is information about time (by the year 2001) and about the number of deaths (over 21million).The main point is still that many people have died of AIDS but, depending on what information you need for the task you are
doing, the other details may also be important.

In the third sentence, the original main point:

AIDS had claimed (many) lives

is now surrounded by extra detail, such as time:

By the year 2001, after World War 2

the number of deaths:

over 21 million lives

and information regarding types of medical intervention which have not managed to deal with the problem:

in spite of medical inventions, such as antibiotic therapy and mass vaccination

Back

Activity 2 Finding the main point in a sentence

Answer

Back

Activity 3.4

Answer

Compare your answers with these possible paraphrases.

1. The fastest growth of HIV has been in Europe.

2. There has been a doubling of new infections to over 365,000.

3. Globally, health problems are handled by many NGOs.

4. The ‘3 by 5’ initiative was started by UNAIDS.

Back

Untitled activity

Question 1

Answer

Correct:

effect

Wrong:

force

shock

effect

Back

Untitled activity

Question 2

Answer

Correct:

balance

Wrong:

tendency

strength

balance

Back

Untitled activity

Question 3

Answer

Correct:

worry

Wrong:

business

interest

worry

Back

Untitled activity

Question 4

Answer

Correct:

capability

Wrong:

amount

impact

capability

Back

Untitled activity

Question 5

Answer

Correct:

worldwide

Wrong:

local

national

worldwide

Back

Untitled activity

Question 6

Answer

Correct:

observed

Wrong:

watched

looked at

observed

Back

Untitled activity

Question 7

Answer

Here you can see the complete text with the correct synonyms inserted.

- The effect of HIV/AIDS on the economies and hence the political balance of heavily affected countries is a major cause for international worry and is a reminder that an infectious disease still has the capability to alter the course of a country’s history. Past epidemics and the long-term impact of diseases have been among the most
potent forces shaping the current worldwide distribution of population and cultures. Their influence can be observed in the balance of political and economic power in the modern world.

Back

Activity 5 Paraphrasing strategies: using logical connectors and reordering sentences

Question 1

Answer

Correct:

2 In spite of the expectation that medical intervention would solve the problem of infectious disease, in recent decades new
diseases such as HIV/AIDS have shown that this is again an important global health issue.

Wrong:

1 Because of new medical interventions in developing countries since the 1980s, diseases such as HIV/AIDS have become much
more important as a global medical issue.

3 Although there have been new medical interventions since the 1980s, people still hope that diseases such as HIV AIDS will
be eradicated and improve global health.

A2The original sentence says thatinfectious disease has … destroyed the optimism that modern medical interventions could eliminate death from infection. This is a cause–effect relationship. The paraphrasing changes the order. It would be possible to say: The optimism has been destroyed because of infectious disease. Instead, in spite of is used.

Back

Activity 5 Paraphrasing strategies: using logical connectors and reordering sentences

Question 2

Answer

Correct:

3 The effects of disease around the globe have resulted in changes to where people live.

Wrong:

1 As a consequence of global distribution, people live in different parts of the world.

2 Because disease has affected many people in the world, their numbers are fewer.

B3The original sentence says that disease has been one of the most potent forces shaping …distribution of population. This makes a cause–effect connection between disease and where people live.

Back

Activity 6 Paraphrasing

Question 3

Answer

Compare your paraphrases with the examples below. Did you select the same main points? Did you use more or fewer synonyms?
Did you reorder the information more or less? Do you prefer your paraphrases or the ones below? Why?

1. Over 21 million people had died from AIDS by 2001. This paraphrase does not include the reference to children. Whether you need to include it will depend on the purpose of
the paraphrase you are writing.

2. There is global concern about the effect of HIV/AIDS on both the economies and the balance of power in the most affected countries.

3. Today, the spread of peoples and cultures around the world is largely the result of the effect of epidemics and disease.

Back

Activity 2 Finding the main point in a sentence

Comment

This activity shows that sentences can be made up of parts. If a sentence has only one part, it is usually clear what the
main point is. If there are more parts, it may not be so clear what the main point is. The main point might be in one of the
parts, or it might be in two or more parts combined. If you are paraphrasing, you may have to decide what the main point is
depending on why you are paraphrasing.

Back

Activity 3.4

Comment

There are different ways of turning sentences into your own words. Three main ways are using different words that mean the
same thing (a synonym), changing the order of the words, or changing the form of the word (for example, growing to growth).

Back

Untitled activity

Question 7

Comment

When you are looking for a synonym, you make decisions about the best choice for the context: for example, using worry is more appropriate than interest. Although both are synonyms for concern, worry fits better with the negative tone of the text.

Back