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Assignment skills: Paraphrasing

Assessment Skills subject guide

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is when you rewrite an existing piece of information in your own words, while making sure that the meaning stays the same. When you paraphrase, the length of what you write should be similar to the original work. You must reference when paraphrasing. 

 

Summarising

A summary is different to paraphrasing because, typically, the original piece that you are reading and referring to is much longer than what you write. For example, a chapter or a book can be summarised into one or two paragraphs.
 
A summary should include the main ideas, facts and statements of the original. You might summarise in the brainstorming phase of your assessment by identifying and condensing the main points of what you have just read or listened to.

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Direct quotes

Direct Quoting is when you take an exact piece of writing from a source and put it in your assignment. You should try not to use too many direct quotes in your assignments. If you are unsure, talk to your teacher about whether you can use direct quotes in your assignments. 

Short quotes are part of a sentence you are writing. If you are using the APA referencing style, they should be forty words or less. If you are using the Harvard referencing style, they should be thirty words or less. You should use quotation marks around the quote. 

Long quotes are separated from the main text. You should create a new paragraph, indent the writing, and make the font two points smaller. You do not need to use quotation marks for long quotes.

An example is below:

Image with example of paraphrasing and using a direct quote.

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