From Inquiry to Academic Writing A Practical Guide, 3rd edition

152 CHAPTER 7 | FRom SummARy To SynTHESiS

Both paraphrasing and summarizing are means to inquiry. That is, the

act of recasting someone else’s words or ideas into your own language, to suit

your argument and reach your readers, forces you to think critically: What

does this passage really mean? What is most important about it for my argu-

ment? How can I best present it to my readers? It requires making choices,

not least of which is the best way to present the information — through para-

phrase, summary, or direct quotation. In general, the following rules apply:

•   ^ Paraphrase when all the information in the passage is important, but

the language may be difficult for your readers to understand.

•   ^ Summarize when you need to present only the key ideas of a passage

(or an essay or a book) to advance your argument.

•   ^ Quote when the passage is so^ effective^ —^ so clear, so concise, so authori-

tative, so memorable — that you would be hard-pressed to improve on it.

Writing a Paraphrase

A paraphrase is a restatement of all the information in a passage in your

own words, using your own sentence structure and composed with your

own audience in mind to advance your argument.

•   ^ When you paraphrase a passage, start by identifying key words and

phrases and substituting synonyms for them. A dictionary or thesaurus

can help, but you may also have to reread what led up to the passage to

remind yourself of the context. For example, did the writer define terms

earlier that he or she uses in the passage and now expects you to know?

•   ^ Continue by experimenting with word order and sentence structure,

combining and recombining phrases to convey what the writer says

without replicating his or her style, in the best sequence for your read-

ers. As you shuffle words and phrases, you should begin arriving at a

much better understanding of what the writer is saying. By thinking

critically, then, you are clarifying the passage for yourself as much as

for your readers.

Let’s look at a paraphrase of a passage from science fiction writer and

scholar James Gunn’s essay “Harry Potter as Schooldays Novel”*:

OrIGINAL PASSAGe

The situation and portrayal of Harry as an ordinary child with an extraordi-

nary talent make him interesting. He elicits our sympathy at every turn. He

plays a Cinderella- like role as the abused child of mean- spirited foster parents

*Gunn’s essay appears in Mapping the World of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized

Exploration of the Bestselling Fantasy Series of All Time, edited by Mercedes Lackey

(Dallas: BenBella, 2006).

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