Avril Trudeau

1
Paraphrasing for Academic Success

• Avril Trudeau Marti Sevier
• English Bridge Program
• Simon Fraser University

2
Overview

• 1. Warm up Try your hand at paraphrase
• 2. AYK (activate your knowledge) and define
  paraphrase
• 3. Review current research on L1 L2
  paraphrasing
• 4. Agree on acceptable paraphrase
• 5. Explore L2 learners cultural
  perceptions regarding plagiarism and
  paraphrase
• 6. Share effective strategies to enable
  L2s to produce comprehensible
  paraphrase for academic success 7. Q A

3
Paraphrase in French Putting yourself in your
students shoes  

• Le français québécois
• On parle français à Paris et à Québec,
  mais avec des accents différents et certaines
  variations de vocabulaire et de grammaire. Les
  particularités du français québécois reflètent
  lhistoire de la région ou il sest développé.
• 
  (see handout)

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ACTIVATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

• What is Paraphrase?
• Definition paraphrase (par'? fraz') noun
• a rewording of something spoken or written,
  usually for the purpose of making its meaning
  clearer
• the use of this as a literary or teaching device
• an approximate rendering of a quotation, saying,
  etc. whose exact words cannot be cited or
  recalled
• Source http//www.yourdictionary.com/paraphrase

5

• a restatement
• the same or different length as original
• written with different words
• often reorganized
• faithful to the authors intended meaning
• reader-friendly

• A paraphrase is

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Why is paraphrase necessary?

• As a learning strategy
• B. To demonstrate understanding of the source
  text

7

• C. To avoid academic dishonesty

http//www.associatedcontent.com/article/417143/
how_to_avoid_unintentional_plagiarism.html?cat2
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SFU Code of Academic Honesty

• Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty in
  which an individual submits or presents the work
  of another person as his or her own. Scholarship
  quite properly rests upon examining and referring
  to the thoughts and writings of others. However,
  when excerpts are used in paragraphs or essays,
  the author must be acknowledged using an accepted
  format for the underlying discipline. Footnotes,
  endnotes, references and bibliographies must be
  complete.

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Plagiarism exists when all or part of an
essay is copied from an author, or composed by
another person, and presented as original work.
Plagiarism also exists when there is inadequate
recognition given to the author for phrases,
sentences, or ideas of the author incorporated
into an essay. Source www.sfu.ca/policies
/teaching/t10-02.htm
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Culture and Copying

• Increasing number of foreign students in western
  universities
• Chinese Students Re-wording/paraphrase
  disrespectful to the masters.
• Middle Eastern students confused by the Western
  notion that one can 'own' ideas
• Japanese students group supersedes individual
  effort (Sowden, 2005)

Both
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The problem of acceptable and unacceptable
paraphrase for L2s No standard agreement

Transgressive Intertextuality Non-Transgressive Intertextuality
- Negative/punitive stance you copy, you lose - Academic literacy vs. academic dishonesty
- Ignorance is no excuse - Teach conventions, then apply strictures
- Textual ownership originality autonomy , independence analysis - Intertextuality community cooperation interdependence synthesis
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CURRENT RESEARCH

• Keck The Taxonomy of Paraphrase Types
• Near copy 50 or more words
  contained within unique links
• Minimal revision 2049 words contained
• in unique links
• Moderate revision 119 words contained
• in unique links
• Substantial revision no unique links
  Keck, C. ( 2006). Journal of
  Second Language Writing
• 
  

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Example of unique link

• Original
• We should never lose sight of the fact that,
  despite the power of culture, we are still
  limited by our biological structure, function and
  needs. 25 words
• Attempted Paraphrase
• We must not lose sight of the fact that,
  regardless of the power of culture, we are Ø
• restricted by our biological structure,
  function and needs. 14/25 Near Copy
• (Excerpt from Exploring
  Content , Smith, 2005)

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L1 L2 Paraphrase

• Both copy from source texts without attribution.
  
• Both use approximately the same number of
  paraphrases but
• L2s use more near copying than L1s.
• 
  ( Keck, 2006)

15
Shi close paraphrase and total paraphrase
reformulating syntax or changing wording of the original text no trace of direct borrowing of two or three consecutive words from source texts.
Shi, L. (2004) Written Communication
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The task at hand
http//www.nu.edu/assets/img/NU/w3/peoGroup001.jpg
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Ultimate goals?

• Beyond the concerns about plagiarism, ELTs need
  to focus on
• growth in language competence
• increased understanding of
• - complex academic texts
• - new/unfamiliar concepts
• movement towards
• - synthesis of information
• - practical skills building
• - application of appropriate citing practices

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Beyond avoiding plagiarism why cite?

• To strengthen writing
• To practice synthesis
• To develop voice
• To strengthen argument
• To participate in the academy
• Harris, R.
  (2004). Anti-plagiarism strategies for research
  papers.
  Retrieved March 2009, from w w w . v i r t u a l
  s a l t . c o m

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How can students prepare for paraphrase?

• Read extensively (Frodesen, 2002 )
• Increase general knowledge base
• Develop general academic vocabulary
• Learn and practice micro-skills of using sources
  (Pecorari, 1998)
• - quoting, citing, paraphrasing, using
  reporting verbs

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How to paraphrase

• When paraphrasing, there are some basic steps to
  follow
• Underline.
• Highlight.
• Rephrase.
• Review.

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How to paraphrase (contd.)

• 5. Keep the meaning.
• 6. Re-structure.
• 7. Provide synonyms.
• 8. Always cite.

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The English Bridge Program at SFU

• /-150 Ss/year - East Asian majority
• Entry level IELTS 5.5 6
• Concerns with paraphrase
• Experience with plagiarism here

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Academic Skills in the English Bridge Program

• Aims
• Develop academic reading skills
• Teach research and citation skills
• IELTS examination preparation

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The Independent Research Project
Academic Culture and Communication 10 minute
Powerpoint presentation based on IRP
Academic Skills Annotated Bibliography based on
four source texts

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(No Transcript)
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Paraphrasing in Academic Skills

• Stand-alone tasks
• Process-based
• Skills-focused
• Integrated into assignments
• Deconstructing texts in daily work
• Summary writing
• IRP support/Annotated bibliography

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Mixed results
Original
Unfortunately, most resource-rich countries do not see economic development follow their natural wealth. Rather, relatively resource-poor regions such as East Asia have grown much faster than countries in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East that have considerable deposits of oil, natural gas, and minerals.
Student paraphrase
The countries which have poor resource have a depressed economic development of abundance resource, but they have grown slower than the resource rich countries such as East Asia.
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An analysis using Text-Lex Compare

• TOKENS Recycle Index (18 repeated tokens 28
  tokens in new text) 64.29
• Of these, unique links (lexical words occurring
  only once in the original text) are highlighted
  in yellow, while general links (lexical words
  occurring more than once) are highlighted in
  yellow and italicized.
• Shared18 tokens13 types
• 001.  have 3002.  resource 3003.  countries
  2004.  as 1005.  development 1006.  east
  1007.  economic 1008.  grown 1009.  of 1010. 
  poor 1011.  rich 1012.  such 1013.  than 1

Cobb, T. (2000) Text Lex compare, The compleat
lexical tutor, http//www.lextutor.ca/text_lex
_compare/
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• A way forward ? Avoid penalties or develop
  language skills?
• Make explicit academic honesty policy
• Sequence tasks carefully
• __________________________________________
• Guided ? Less guided ?
  Independence
• activities activities
  synthesizing
• 
  information
• 
  from sources
• 
  

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A Sequence of Paraphrase Tasks

• Phase 1 Deconstructing the text
• A. Looking at the source
• B. Looking at main idea and support
• information

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A Sequence of Paraphrase tasks, contd

Phase 2 Citing conventions A. Identify
purpose B. Focus on reporting verbs
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A sequence of paraphrasing tasks, contd

• Phase 3 Vocabulary synonyms substitutes
• Identify technical terms
• Underline key words or phrases
• C. Find synonyms/substitute words

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A Sequence of Paraphrasing tasks, contd

• Phase 3 Vocabulary word families

Verb Noun Adjective Adverb
acknowledge --
assignment
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A sequence of paraphrasing tasks, contd

• Phase 4 Guided rewriting changing sentence
• structure
• OriginalPlagiarism is a form of academic
  dishonesty in which an individual submits or
  presents the work of another person as his or her
  own. (has committed)
• Rewritten When someone submits or presents the
  work of another as their own s/he has committed
  plagiarism.

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Conclusion push pull?

• Push NO CHOICE
• - Avoid the risks of plagiarism

• Pull COMPELLING
• REASONS
• - Build reading and writing skills
• - Expand critical thinking/ability to synthesize
• - Develop voice as a writer
• - Participate in academic community

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Links for Paraphrase practice

• Acceptable, not acceptable
• Teaching Guide for graduate student instructors
• Paraphrase Write it in Your Own Words
• Summarising and note-taking
• University of Houston Victoria

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Links for Citation
General Academic writing Citing sources
Citation builder Son of Citation Machine The
automatic bibliography and citation maker Knight
Cite Citation Styles 21st Century Information
fluency For Books Only Free automatic
bibliography generator
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Links to Paraphrase, Summary and Synthesis The
links below offer interesting interactive
exercises to try out with students during lab
time or for online HW Reporting - paraphrase,
summary synthesis More resources for you and
your students Paraphrase and Summary
Paraphrase Write it in Your Own Words
Reporting Verbs
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REFERENCES

• Angélil-Carter, S. (2000). Stolen Language?
  Plagiarism in Writing. Essex Pearson Education
  Limited.
• Chandrasoma, R., Thompson, C., Pennycook, A.
  (2004). Beyond plagiarism Transgressive and
  non-transgressive intertextuality. Journal of
  Language, Identity Education, 3(3). Retrieved
  February 20, 2009, from http//dx.doi.org/10.1207
  /s15327701jlie0303_1
• Flowerdew, J. Li, Y. (2007). Plagiarism and
  second language writing in an electronic age.
  Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 27
• Frodesen, J. (n.d.). Developing paraphrasing
  skills A pre-paraphrasing
• mini-lesson. Retrieved March 10, 2009 from
  www.ucop.edu/dws/lounge/dws_ml_pre_paraphrasing.pd
  f.
• Frodesen, J. (2004). Developing paraphrasing
  skills through
• vocabulary knowledge and control

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References, contd

• Introna, L., Hayes, N. , Blair, L. Wood, E.
  (2003). Cultural attitudes towards
  plagiarism. Lancaster University. Retrieved
  February 2009, from www.plagiarismadvice.
  org/images/bin/lancsplagiarismreport.pdf
• Keck, C. (2006). The use of paraphrase in
  summary writing A comparison
• of L1 and L2 writers. Journal of Second
  Language Writing, 15. Retrieved
• February 22, 2009, from
  www.sciencedirect.com
• Pecorari, D. (1998). Process citing avoiding
  plagiarism in student writing
• Retrieved March 12, 2009, from
  www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/education/
• eal/jl-archive/jl-bestof/31.pdf
• Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and original.
  Plagiarism and patch-writing in second language
  writing. Journal of Second Language Writing,
  12(4) 317- 345. Retrieved March 12, 2009 from
  www.sciencedirect.com
• Pennycook, A . (1996). Borrowing others'
  words Text, ownership, memory, and plagiarism.
  TESOL Quarterly, 30(2). Retrieved March 14,
  2009, from http//www.ingentaconnect.com.proxy.li
  b.sfu.ca/content/tesol/tq/1996
•  

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References, contd

• Phan Le Ha, (2006). Plagiarism and overseas
  students stereotypes again? English Language
  Teaching Journal, 60(1). Retrieved March 15,
  2009 from
• http//eltj.oxfordjournals.org
• Pincas, A. (2001). Culture, cognition and
  communication in global education. Distance
  Education, 22(1). Retrieved February 2009, from
  http//www.informaworld.com
• Liu, D. (2005). Plagiarism in ESOL students is
  cultural conditioning truly the major culprit?
  English Language Teaching Journal, 59(3),
  234-241. Retrieved March 15, 2009 from
   http//eltj.oxfordjournals.org
• Shi, L. (2004). Textual borrowing in
  second-language writing. Written Communication,
  21(2). Retrieved February 2009, from
• http//wcx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/
  21/2/171
• Shi, L. (2006). Cultural backgrounds and
  textual appropriation.
• Language Awareness, 15 (4). Retrieved February
  2009,
• from www.informaworld.com

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References, contd Shi, L. (2008). Textual
appropriation and citing behaviors of university
undergraduates. Applied Linguistics 1
(24). Retrieved January 2009,from Oxford
University Press 2008 . Shirley, S.
(2004). The art of paraphrase. Teaching English
in the Two Year College, 32(2), 186-188.
Retrieved March 2009, from
www.ncte.org Sowden, C. (2005). Plagiarism and
the culture of multilingual students in higher
education abroad . English Language Teaching
Journal, 59(3) 226-233. Retrieved March 15,
2009, from http//eltj.oxfordjournals.org