Learning objectives:
1. The students will understand the importance of paraphrasing in academic setting.
2. The students will learn about the difference between paraphrasing and quoting.
3. The students will master the key skills of paraphrasing and be able to paraphrase the given materials on their own.
Materials:
1. Handout 1: Developing Paraphrasing Skills
2. Handout 2: Exercise Sheet
Procedure:
1. Brainstorming: the teacher will introduce the topic and ask the students to brainstorming about “what is paraphrasing” and “why is paraphrasing important in academic setting”. Then the teacher will define the concept of “paraphrase” and emphasize the importance of learning to paraphrase in academic setting. (10 minutes)
2. Lecturing: the teacher will give specific examples and explain to the students that paraphrasing means not only substituting vocabularies in the original sentences but also changing sentence structure. (15 minutes)
3. In-class exercise: the teacher will model one exercise first and then have the students do two paraphrasing tasks. The two tasks will follow a from-easy-to-hard” order. The first one will only focus on substituting the vocabularies. The second one will require them to change both vocabularies and sentence structures. (15 minutes)

Handout 1 Developing Paraphrasing Skills
Paraphrase is…
• a restatement of a text or passage, using other words
• to express the same message in different words
• restating the meaning in your own words, retaining all of the ideas without making an interpretation or evaluation
• to restate a statement using different words and/or grammar while keeping the same meaning
• to use the ideas or words of another person, but stating them in your own words

Why is paraphrasing important?
• Helps you truly understand what the author has said (It is easy to quote without understanding)
• Prevents you from running into problems with plagiarism (even when paraphrasing, you have to state whose ideas you are using)
• Helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
• Builds and reinforces vocabulary
• Provides support for claims or add credibility to your writing
Modeling Example http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/1/
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.
A legitimate 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 direct quotation from sources to help minimize the amount of quoted material in a research paper (Lester 46-47).
A plagiarized version:
Students often use too many direct quotations when they take notes, resulting in too many of them in the final research paper. In fact, probably only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material. So it is important to limit the amount of source material copied while taking notes.
In-class Exercise: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/02/
1. Of the more than 1000 bicycling deaths each year, three-fourths are caused by head injuries. Half of those killed are school-age children. One study concluded that wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent. In an accident, a bike helmet absorbs the shock and cushions the head. From "Bike Helmets: Unused Lifesavers," Consumer Reports (May 1990): 348

2. While the Sears Tower is arguably the greatest achievement in skyscraper engineering so far, it's unlikely that architects and engineers have abandoned the quest for the world's tallest building. The question is: Just how high can a building go? Structural engineer William LeMessurier has designed a skyscraper nearly one-half mile high, twice as tall as the Sears Tower. And architect Robert Sobel claims that existing technology could produce a 500-story building. From Ron Bachman, "Reaching for the Sky." Dial (May 1990): 15.