Speaker 1: Welcome to this online video tutorial brought to you by HELPS. It's designed to assist you in understanding the importance and techniques of paraphrasing skills that can be applied to your academic writing. A great deal of the work you produce at university will involve the important ideas, writings and discoveries of experts in your field of study. The work of other writers can provide you with information, evidence and ideas but must be incorporated into your work carefully. This can be done through quoting, summarising and paraphrasing. They're all different ways of including the works of others in your assignments. Your lecturers expect you to demonstrate an understanding of the major ideas or concepts in the discipline. Paraphrasing is one technique that enables you to develop and demonstrate your understanding and interpretation of a text, as well as to avoid plagiarism. It's an important tool for reshaping information to suit the many writing tasks that will be required of you at university. Paraphrasing is a way of presenting a text, retaining the original meaning but using your own way of expressing it, with different words and phrasing from the original. We generally use paraphrasing with short sections of text, such as phrases and sentences. Paraphrasing offers an alternative to using direct quotations and helps students to integrate evidence and source material into assignments in a similar style to the student's own writing. Before paraphrasing, ensure you read the source carefully. Make sure you understand it fully. Then identify the main points and keywords using bullet points to help you. Remember the original text and rewrite it in your own words, changing the vocabulary and sentence structure. Check that you've included the main points and essential information based on your notes. Don't forget you also need to cite the original using references. Here are some points to consider when paraphrasing. Write the paraphrase in your own style. Consider the meaning. Ensure that you keep the original meaning and maintain the same relationship between main ideas and supporting points. Think about words. Use synonyms where appropriate. Keywords that are specialised subject vocabulary do not need to be changed. You do, however, need to change the grammar and sentence structure. Make up a long sentence into two shorter ones or combine two short sentences into one. Change the voice or change the word forms. You also need to change the order in which information or ideas are presented. Try to identify the attitude of the authors to their subject and make sure your paraphrase reflects this. Finally, remember to use appropriate reporting verbs to show the attitudinal beliefs of the original author. Let's take a look at a real-life example. The extract on your screen is about the role of the English language globally. One student read the original text on your left and wanted to use the author's ideas in their assignment. The extract that you see on your right is what the student actually wrote in their essay. If you pause this video to compare the texts, you'll see that the student has indeed maintained the original meaning. They have also modified the word order and most of the vocabulary. They have also provided reference details. This could then be considered an acceptable paraphrase. For more details on avoiding plagiarism, go to this link and complete the quiz. The paraphrasing skills that you develop at university will support you now and in your future professional lives. It's a skill that will help you to write clearer and more efficient prose and to become a better communicator. If you need help with your academic studies or assistance at any stage of completing your assignments, you can access the services at the HELPS unit at UTS. For details on our location, operating hours, services and programs, including a wealth of self-help resources, visit us in person or online. We're at your service. Thanks for watching and thanks for listening.