Paraphrasing & Summarizing Group Assignment

Paraphrasing and summarising exercises

DONE BY : JIE RUI, YE MIN, YU XI

1.       A3 Paraphrasing exercises

1.1   Exercise (1)

In this short excerpt from David Crystal’s English as a Global Language, take note of the way that power relationships rather than the number of speakers influenced Latin language use.

“Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful.”

Paraphrased sentence:

Inferring from David Crystal’s English as a Global Language, Latin had become an international language among the continents Romans had conquered not because of the higher amount of Romans ruling over the land; it is rather because the Romans hold greater power then.

1.2   Exercise (2)

As you paraphrase the following paragraph, present the “expected” general features of the nuclear reactors from Declan Butler’s “Nuclear power’s new dawn,” taken from Nature, 20 May, 2004 (Vol. 429, p. 238). “These new reactors would all operate at high temperatures, improving their efficiency. And they would include simplified safety features that do not rely on sophisticated backup experienced operators — all are, in principle, ‘meltdown proof’ and can cool themselves down in the event of an accident with minimal, if any, human intervention. . . . Experts agree that reactors will need to be a lot cheaper to run. And to sway a nuclear‐ averse public, the next generation of reactors will need to produce much less radioactive waste at terrorist‐proof facilities.”

Paraphrased sentence:

According to Nature (2004) (Vol.429, p.238), Declan Butler’s nuclear reactors may offer a greater performance as they operate at a higher temperature. In additional, requirement for skilled operators is eliminated as the reactors are expected to be able to cool down automatically, or with minimal human interference, in emergency situations. Lastly, the nuclear reactors can be expected to be cheaper and generate lesser radioactive wastes.

2.       B2 Examples of Summarized Texts

Example ii. Title: What do you think an appropriate title is for this paragraph?

Original Text: “Overall, the first two quarters have been profitable for the company. Nineteen of twenty departments report cutting costs at least twenty percent, and sales from fifteen departments have risen five percent, or about $5 million. Despite these positive developments, most department heads believe that they will not be able to maintain these levels for the remainder of the year.”

 Summary: While the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.

Source: Retrieved from Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2013). Paraphrasing and Summary. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/976/1/

 Appropriate title:  

Financial performance of ABC Company

3.       B3 Summarising Practice

3.1   Exercise (1)

Title: Social problems in a diverse society “In any one nation, there are both very wealthy and very poor individuals and families. When sociologists conduct research on these disparities, they frequently analyse secondary data that originally were collected by the World Bank and the United Nations. These data focus on quality‐of‐life indicators such as wealth; income; life expectancy; health; sanitation; the treatment of women; and education for high‐ income, middle‐income and low income nations.”

Source: Kendall, D. (2004). Social problems in a diverse society (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Summary:

All countries in the world are facing income inequality issue.

3.2   Exercise (2)

2. Title: English as a global language “Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power – the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism.”

Source: Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Summary:

Latin has become an international language to date as a reason of the influential power of Roman’s religious.

4.       Reporting

4.1   C1  Reporting Verbs

When incorporating information from an outside source, select verbs to convey your attitude towards the quotation and/or the author’s attitude towards the subject. The verbs in the list below can be classified according to their levels of certainty as certain, neutral or tentative. Some of them need to be followed by a “that (or noun) clause.” Here is one example: He implied that this work is not useful.

 Look at the list of reporting verbs. Do you know which verbs on the list below demonstrate certainty? Circle the verbs that should be followed by ‘that’.

 allege imply remark reject argue insist say examine assert discuss state propose believe mention suggest find claim note survey postulate comment observe write hypothesize

·         Verbs that demonstrate certainty are not highlighted

·         Verbs that should be followed by ‘that’ are the highlighted ones

4.2    Reporting exercise

Which of the verbs from the list above could be used to report the statement made by Tan in the excerpt below?

 Globalization has made an impact not only in business and politics, but also in people’s diet and the nature of food businesses. Large scale migration and foreign travel have been catalysts which have introduced new types of food and cuisines. According to Tan (2010), through travels abroad, Singaporeans have developed a liking for exotic and foreign cuisines and this has resulted in a wide range of restaurants being set up here to cater to their tastes.

·         Claim

·         Comment

·         Discuss

·         Observe

·         Remark

·         Say

·         Mention

·         State

4.3   C3 Reporting Information Practice

Example (1)

Title: Appropriate use of quotations in note‐taking

Original Text: “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.”

Source: Lester, J.D. (1976). Writing research papers (2nd ed.). pp. 46‐47.

 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, 1976).

Source: Retrieved from UEFAP. Academic Writing. http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

Summary: Students should only make a limited amount of notes in direct quotation in order to help minimize the amount of quotes used (Lester, 1976).

Lester (1076) asserts that students should only make a limited amount of notes in direct quotation in order to help minimize the amount of quotes used.

Example (2)

Example ii. Title: What do you think an appropriate title is for this paragraph? Original Text: “Overall, the first two quarters have been profitable for the company. Nineteen of twenty departments report cutting costs at least twenty percent, and sales from fifteen departments have risen five percent, or about $5 million. Despite these positive developments, most department heads believe that they will not be able to maintain these levels for the remainder of the year.”

 Summary: While the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.

 Source: Retrieved from Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2013). Paraphrasing and Summary. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/976/1/

Purdue Online Writing Lab (2013) concluded that although the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.