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Colleen M. Richardson
Week 4: Taking a
Position
Paraphrasing is useful for studying and necessary for
research. This technique will be required when you cite general information found in a
source and when you write the research paper in Eng. 102. Read these pages in the
textbook, paying careful attention to the examples. Just for practice, try paraphrasing
the original paragraph provided and compare your work to the paraphrase in the book. When
you feel comfortable, complete the following exercises.
Assignment: Paraphrase Following are a passage from the Declaration of
Independence and the text of the Gettysburg Address, two of our nationšs most important
documents. Read each carefully, looking up any unfamiliar expressions, to get the general
sense of the text. Then paraphrase each passage by grammatical units, clauses perhaps, or
one or two sentences at a time. Rewrite your work into a coherent paraphrased passage.
Remember that the vocabulary of a paraphrase should be substantially different
from that of the original, and the organization of the ideas in the rewritten
passage should be different. Just substituting different words does not constitute an
adequate paraphrase. A paraphrase does not omit any information and is approximately
the same length as the original. A good paraphrase also retains the same concepts and
emphasis as the original.
Declaration of Independence (opening paragraphs)
- When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of
the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Naturešs God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That
whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government, laying its foundation of
such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Gettysburg Address
- Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new
nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation
so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that
war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those
who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper
that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not
consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will
little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which
they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here
dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of
devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Paraphrasing Sentences pp. 453, 601-602. Reread these pages about paraphrasing
in the textbook, paying careful attention to the examples. Then look at the following
passages, reading each one carefully and checking any unfamiliar expressions to get the
general sense of the text. You can write a good paraphrase only if you understand the
meaning of the original! Then paraphrase each passage in a coherent sentence(s).
Remember that the vocabulary of a paraphrase should be substantially different
from that of the original, and the organization of the ideas in the rewritten
passage should be different. Just substituting different words does not constitute an
adequate paraphrase. A paraphrase does not omit any information and is approximately
the same length as the original. A good paraphrase also retains the same concepts and
emphasis as the original.
Assignment Sentences
- Given the economic success of most refugees coming to the United States, Congress should
stop treating new Americans as welfare recipients and should consider converting federal
refugee resettlement aid programs into a loan program.
- There is strong evidence today that nurture--in the role of parents, teachers and a
society still influenced by sex stereotypes--plays an important part in determining how
and what boys and girls learn.
- If there is no mystery about the sympathetic attention paid to the problem of
homelessness in America over the past decade, there certainly is a mystery concerning why
comparable attention and sympathy were not extended to the homeless in the past.
- Despite the important role they played in constructing the infrastructure of late
nineteenth-century industrial development, the transient homeless scarcely had any
respected place in American society.
- Are we being good caretakers by holding a dolphin or a sea lion in a tank? Yes, if two
conditions are met: that they're given the best treatment possible and, no less important,
that they're displayed in a way that educates and inform us. Captive animals must be
allowed to serve as ambassadors for their species.
- Animal liberation will require greater altruism on the part of mankind than any other
liberation movement, since animals are incapable of demanding it for themselves, or of
protesting against their exploitation by votes, demonstrations, or bombs. Man does have
within himself the potential for more than cruelty and selfishness.
- It is astonishing that a man of Trotsky's intelligence should not be able to understand
the well-marked dislike of civilized governments for the leading exponents of Communism.
He writes as if it were due to mere narrow-minded prejudice against new ideas and rival
political theories. Communism is not only a creed but a campaign.
Definition
as a Writing Strategy: Definition is one of the important strategies that can be
use in college writing, whether in writing assignments or essay tests. It may be the
central approach in a paper when the primary purpose is to help the reader understand a
term, or it may be used in combination with other strategies. Read the following material,
thinking about the ways you might incorporate definition in your own writing.
Definition is a way to help the reader understand the essential qualities of a term,
those qualities which distinguish it from other similar items. A definition may be as
brief as a sentence (a formal definition) or much longer, perhaps an entire essay or even
a whole book!
Extended definition: An extended definition is a complete essay which gives
information beyond stating the essence or primary characteristic of a term. The extended
definition gives enough information to the audience in multiple paragraphs to form a
thorough understanding of the term.
Probably one of the most common ways of defining a term is to provide specific examples
or illustrations of the term and then to discuss those examples in some detail. Following
is a long list of additional information which may be included in an extended definition
essay: sentence or formal definition; etymology or origin of the term or item; synonyms
and antonyms; denotations; comparisons and contrasts; different styles, sizes, or methods;
data concerning its discovery and development; analysis of its parts; physical
description; necessary conditions, materials, or equipment; description of how it
functions; uses; instructions for operating or using; and data concerning its manufacture
or sale.
As you can see, the extended definition paper is related to other forms of informative
writing such as instructions and process, comparison/contrast, and examples. However, the
central focus is on defining the term.
Comments to C. Richardson
Last Revised 12/06/98
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