2015-08-21 College Prep: paraphrasing

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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p. 167 (299)
paraphrase (verb): restate something using different words (especially to explain it to someone who doesn’t understand, or to make sure you understand it yourself)
= restate in your own words

(summary = restate only the most important information, paraphrase = all the information)
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Example:
People who sign up for organ donation freely give their hearts and other organs, but this free system limits the number of available donors and makes it difficult for recipients to access lifesaving transplants. Thus, organ donors should be financially compensated to produce more available organs and, at the same time, to decrease profitable, illegal organ harvesting activities in the black market.

How can we paraphrase this thesis statement?
Paraphrase:
Voluntary organ donation results in a small supply of organs for transplant.
Organ donors should be paid if they agree to donate their organs, because this would increase the number of legally available organs and decrease the illegal organ trade.
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p. 167 example:
Are you among the millions of Americans who take vitamin supplements? If your answer is “yes”, why do you use them? Many people take multiple vitamin/mineral supplements as an “insurance policy” in case their diets are not nutritionally adequate. Other people use specific vitamin supplements because they think this practice will result in optimal health. Vitamin supplements are effective for treating people with specific vitamin deficiency diseases, metabolic defects that increase vitamin requirements, and a few other medical conditions. However, scientific evidence generally does not support claims that megadoses of vitamins can prevent or treat everything from gray hair to lung cancer.

- this begins with two rhetorical questions that the author answers herself. a paraphrase doesn’t need to include questions like this

Paraphrase:
Some people use vitamin supplements because they think the food they eat doesn’t have enough nutrients. Others think specific supplements will improve their health. Supplements can help with some specific medical conditions, but there is no evidence that large doses of vitamins prevent things like gray hair or cancer.
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If you paraphrase a specific source, you still need to cite the information in order to avoid plagiarism. (You could say something like, “According to Wendy J. Schiff, some people use vitamin supplements because they think the food they eat doesn’t have enough nutrients.”)