Paraphrasing Practice

Paraphrasing Practice!

Read the following passage carefully. You will be asked to summarize it on the next slide.

"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera. "The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity." From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990):17.

Multiple Choice

Which is the best summary of the passage?

• The earth's temperature is kept in check by the cold Antarctic, which is being threatened by human behavior.

• Antarctica is very cold.

• Cold water mixes with warm water to keep the earth from getting too hot.

• Upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. The fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity.

We're going to paraphrase this text. Let's start with the first sentence.

"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera. "The cold ocean water around Antarctica flows north to mix with warmer water from the tropics, and its upwellings help to cool both the surface water and our atmosphere. Yet the fragility of this regulating system is now threatened by human activity." From "Captain Cousteau," Audubon (May 1990):17.

1. The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet

2. just as the sun is the source of our heat

3. it exerts tremendous control on our climate

4. Jacques Cousteau told the camera

The sentence has 4 big ideas. Let's tackle them one by one.

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet

If we break this down even further, we have four key details:

1. The Antarctic

2. the vast

3. source of cold

4. on our planet

​Let's make sure we understand what we need to about these details.

Multiple Choice

What is the Antarctic?

• A huge continent made of ice. The South Pole is there.

• A continent and a country. Kangaroos live there.

• One of the states in the US.

Multiple Choice

If something is a "source of cold," what does that mean?

• It's where the cold comes from.

• It's where the cold is going.

• It's too hot to live there.

Hotspot

Which word(s) can we NOT change when we paraphrase?

We can't change "Antarctic" because it's a name. Everything else, however, can be changed. Let's try!

The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet

Now, we can start exchanging ideas. Here's what we have so far:

1. The Antarctic is a continent made of ice

2. the vast extensive, expansive, enormous

3. source of cold where the cold comes from

4. on our planet on Earth.

Now, I've got to put those ideas into different words.

HOWEVER, a paraphrase shouldn't simply be trading out one word for its synonym. That's how you get weird stuff like this:

The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet

turns into...

The Antarctic is the enormous origin of chilly upon the Earth

​That's super awkward and makes you sound like an alien! Instead, try to translate the big ideas into words you know. You might try changing up the order in which the ideas are presented. For example...

The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet

1. The Antarctic is

2. the vast

3. source of cold

4. on our planet

Reorder

The picture shows the original order. For my paraphrase, I've re-phrased the original details and put them in reverse order. Put them in the order that makes sense below.

• On Earth,

• cool temperatures

• come from the enormous frozen

• Antarctic.

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

On Earth, cool temperatures come from the enormous frozen Antarctic

Paraphrase

The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet

Original

So, compare...

1. On Earth, cool temperatures come from the enormous frozen Antarctic,

2. just as the sun is the source of our heat

3. and it exerts tremendous control on our climate

4. Jacques Cousteau told the camera

Now let's go all the way back. I'm going to replace the original ideas with my paraphrase as we go.

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

Open Ended

Write a paraphrase for the next chunk:

just as the sun is the source of our heat

(Remember: Don't be afraid to add new words or take old ones away! Just don't add any new ideas. For instance, you wouldn't mention that the sun is yellow.)

1. On Earth, cool temperatures come from the enormous frozen Antarctic,

2. similar to how we get our heat from the sun,

3. and it exerts tremendous control on our climate

4. Jacques Cousteau told the camera

Here's what I wrote:

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

Multiple Choice

What would be the best paraphrase of "and it exerts tremendous control on our climate" ?

• and it has a huge effect on our climate

• it controls some of our weather

• it makes our climate

"Climate" is a word that has no really good synonyms. "Weather" is close, but it's not quite the same. So, we'll keep the word "climate" in our paraphrase.

1. On Earth, cool temperatures come from the enormous frozen Antarctic,

2. similar to how we get our heat from the sun,

3. and it has a huge effect on our climate

4. Jacques Cousteau told the camera

Here's what we have so far:

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

WHY you're paraphrasing makes a difference!

If I was going to use this information in a research paper, nobody really cares that Jacques Cousteau was talking to a camera.

BUT, I do still need to include where I got the information from. So, here's another situation where I can re-order one of my details.

​I'm going to take that detail from the END and move it to the BEGINNING...

1. On Earth, cool temperatures come from the enormous frozen Antarctic,

2. similar to how we get our heat from the sun,

3. and it has a huge effect on our climate

4. Jacques Cousteau told the camera

So, for the finishing touch...

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

​According to Jacques Cousteau,

According to Jacques Cousteau, on Earth, cool temperatures come from the enormous frozen Antarctic,

similar to how we get our heat from the sun, and it has a huge effect on our climate.

Paraphrase

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

Original

Now we have a paraphrase!

According to Jacques Cousteau, cool temperatures on Earth come from the enormous frozen Antarctic,

similar to how we get our heat from the sun. This has a huge effect on our climate.

Paraphrase

​"The Antarctic is the vast source of cold on our planet, just as the sun is the source of our heat, and it exerts tremendous control on our climate," [Jacques] Cousteau told the camera.

Original

My paraphrase is a bit of a run-on sentence, so I'm going to clean it up. It's okay to make changes!

Open Ended

Now you try! Paraphrase the following paragraph:

How much higher skyscrapers of the future will rise than the present world marvel, the Sears Tower, is unknown. However, the design of one twice as tall is already on the boards, and an architect, Robert Sobel, thinks we currently have sufficient know-how to build a skyscraper with over 500 stories.