I hope everyone is still warm and cozy. Mrs. Liedtke and I have been looking at your Research Reports that will go in to the Progress Report #1 and we've noticed that some of you are struggling with taking your notes and turning them in to the body paragraphs of your report. One of the things we talked about is paraphrasing and it seems that some of you are struggling with this. I would like you to do several activities that will help you to better paraphrase and summarize (see learning activities below). After that, please return to your Google Docs and look back and forth between your notes and Research Reports to fix anything that may not look right. The final thing you should do is to look at your reports through the lens of your expository checklist, edit for any errors and lastly, remove any names you have used to indicate which team member wrote each paragraph.
Step 1: Watch the Brainpop video about paraphrasing.
username: acsamman password: jordan
https://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/paraphrasing/preview.weml
Step 2: Read over the tips and example below:
One approach to paraphrasing is the Four R's:
- Reword - replace words and phrases with synonyms whenever you can.
- Rearrange - rearrange words within sentences to make new sentences. You can even rearrange the ideas presented within the paragraph.
- Realize that some words and phrases cannot be changed - names, dates, titles etc. cannot be replaced, but you can present them differently in your paraphrase.
- Recheck - make sure that your paraphrase conveys the same meaning as the original text.
Here is an example:
Original Text (this would be your notes or the text you found on a website or in a book):
At just 8.5 square miles, thePacific island country of Nauru is one ofthe smallest countries in the world. Theisland was once rich in phosphate, butmost of the resource has been minedleaving damage to the environmentbehind. Nauru has a population of about10,000 people.
Paraphrased Text (this would be the finished
paragraph in the body of your piece):
Step 3: Take a look at the graphic below containing an acronym to help you remember how to paraphrase.
Nauru is a Pacific island country that is only 8.5 square miles in area. It is one of the smallestcountries on the planet and only about 10,000
people live there. Nauru has mined its once
plentiful supplies of phosphate. This has damaged the environment on the island.
Step 3: Take a look at the graphic below containing an acronym to help you remember how to paraphrase.
Step 4: Go back to your team's Google Doc and check to be sure you've paraphrased your notes in the Research Report (rather than plagerizing or stealing the author's words). Remember, the report is only to give background information about 3 (or more) specific topics that will help you and your reader better understand the subject of your question. You can look back at the example questions I gave on the step by step guide. It is not to tell us about your project, experiment, thoughts, ideas about what you think will happen, etc. In other words, it's job is to teach the reader some facts about your topic, so they can understand the rest.
Step 5: After you are sure you have paraphrased properly, use the checklist to make certain your writing meets Grade 5 expository standards. It looks like the image below. I will include it and a copy of the other documents in the e-mail I send.
Ms. Lidtke and I will be online to support you throughout the day. It's ok that this report has been a bit of a struggle; that is how you get into the habit of being persistant. You can do it, if you carefully review our notes and resourses and collaborate with you teammates. This is the kind of thing that pushes you to learn and grow. It's not always supposed to be easy.
