Why should I?
Put simply, if you don’t you could be accused of an academic offence.
You are demonstrating your understanding of your reading by writing it in your own words.
There are a number of ways to paraphrase:
Read, take notes and then use the notes to write what you understand in your own words. The Cornell method & mindmapping is useful here.
Try to change the sentence, start from the end of the sentence and work backwards.
Use synonyms, change the class of words you are using (e.g. from assume to assumption/ assumed. Use this method with caution.
The safest way to paraphrase is to start with good notetaking.
Don’t be tempted to use paraphrasing tools.
Some tools such as Grammarly are fine to use if you are just employing them to check your spelling or grammar, however, these apps also offer paraphrasing via ai.
Using these paraphrasing devices is plagiarism, and will be detected.
Put the following passage into your own words.
Source: Sharma, A., Van Hoof, H. B. & Ramsay, C. (2019) ‘The influence of time on the decisions that students make about their academic reading’, Active Learning in Higher Education, 20(1), pp79-92. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787417731200
How did you do?
Take this section:
A survey of undergraduate students found that their self-reported allocation of time to academic activities other than reading was positively correlated to the reading that they did and that students’ reading was significantly correlated to their belief of being time constrained.
The study reported here investigated reading among students from the perspective of how students choose to use their time and whether they self-ration it. A survey of undergraduate students found that their self-reported allocation of time to academic activities other than reading was positively correlated to the reading that they did and that students’ reading was significantly correlated to their belief of being time constrained. Furthermore, the study found that students’ participation in nonacademic activities had a negative correlation to the reading they did for their courses. Finally, the study also found that students who allocated time for reading earlier than the day of class/lecture were more likely to complete these readings than those who allocated time closer to the day of class/lecture. This article argues that both students and faculty should have greater awareness of the choices students make in how they allocate their time and toward reading and other related activities.
The study reported here investigated reading among students from the perspective of how students choose to use their time and whether they self-ration it. A survey of undergraduate students found that their self-reported allocation of time to academic activities other than reading was positively correlated to the reading that they did and that students’ reading was significantly correlated to their belief of being time constrained. Furthermore, the study found that students’ participation in nonacademic activities had a negative correlation to the reading they did for their courses. Finally, the study also found that students who allocated time for reading earlier than the day of class/lecture were more likely to complete these readings than those who allocated time closer to the day of class/lecture. This article argues that both students and faculty should have greater awareness of the choices students make in how they allocate their time and toward reading and other related activities.
What do you understand from the text?
When students were asked about how they saw their use of time on academic tasks the researcher found that students who spend more time on study activities read more, they also discovered that students who felt they were time pressured did more reading.
Now write it up
Researchers who questioned students about their self perception of time usage on academic tasks would found that the students who spent more time on studying completed more reading than others, they also found that more reading was completed when the students felt pressured by time (Sharma, Van Hoof & Ramsay, 2019).
How not to do it
A survey of undergraduate students found that their self-reported allocation of time to academic activities other than reading was positively correlated to the reading that they did and that students’ reading was significantly correlated to their belief of being time constrained.
An investigation of students discovered that their subjective apportionment of time to educational actions further than reading was associated to the reading that they prepared and that undergraduates’ reading was meaningfully associated to their faith of being time limited.
What’s wrong?
Each word in the original sentence has been changed for a synonym, this means that:
- the meaning is not particularly clear
- no understanding of the text has been shown
- no citation