Engineering: Summarising, Paraphrasing and Quoting Academic Language and Learning Success Program (ALLSP)

Explain this equation

Overview

• Identify strategies to avoid plagiarism

• Determine the meaning of summarise, paraphrase, quote

• Develop skills to integrate sources

Test yourself on plagiarism

How can we avoid plagiarism

Quoting

• Exact reproduction

• Brief extract of text

• Short quote quotation marks – “…”

• Longer quote - block quote

(indent single line spacing)

• Attribute to original source

• Give page number

How to quote

• Use only when necessary

• Use sparingly

• Avoid overuse of secondary citations

• Make point in your own words then support

• Integrate short quotes into sentences

Example

A short quote:

According to Varney, Fernández-Gómez, Garber, Ghannoum & Bayrak (2015, p. 147), “Significant diagonal web shear cracking of inverted-T bent caps may represent a risk both in terms of strength and serviceability” which provides considerable difficulty when….

Example long quote

Although it is often thought that engineering designs are infallible:

Guarantees and warranties are acknowledgements of the central role that failure plays in the minds of manufacturers and consumers alike. What is being guaranteed against is of course the possibility of failure. The Zippo cigar and cigarette lighter was long advertised to light “first time every time”, an implied guarantee against its failing to produce a flame, even in the wind. ( Petroski, 2013, p. 77)

Quote activity

Paraphrase

• Keep same meaning

• Change substantially

• Use different words and phrases

• Could be same length

• Useful for note-taking

• Useful for explaining information on charts and diagrams

How to paraphrase

• Read the text a few times

• Identify main points and key words

• Re-write in your own words

• Check meaning against original text

– Do not change meaning

– Use different words when you can

– If using a special term or phrase use “”

– Change sentence structure

– Change word types

When to paraphrase

• Paraphrase whole paragraphs

• Re-write ideas without changing meaning

• Expressing ideas in your own words

• Help understand the meaning

• Provide evidence for writing

Paraphrase activity

Paraphrasing

The new Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles is a striking piece of architectural and engineering design. Frank Gehry’s imagination has given the hard stainless steel façade the appearance of soft and pliable flower petals. Shortly after completion of the building, however, an unexpected problem arose (Petroski, 2013, p. 52).

Example of paraphrasing

One building that was considered an architectural and building success is the Gehry designed new Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. This architect has created a building that gave the illusion of petals that were malleable. Once completed it became evident that there were design flaws(Petroski, 2013).

Summarising

• Overview of text

• Main ideas

• Reduce to most important ideas

• Best for incorporating ideas into assignments

How to summarise

• Read text a few times

• Identify main points as you read

• Re-write the text from notes

• Keep to main points

When to summarise

• Most of paper will be summarising

• Use for longer chapters or paragraphs

• Outline main points

• Authors’ ideas

• Different views

• Support your argument

• Always reference

Summarising Activity

Summarising

The reliability of conventionally powered “old style” automobiles has already become remarkably high, as is evident every time we drive hundreds of miles along an interstate highway without seeing a single disabled vehicle by the side of the road. When we do see a car with its hood raised it is typically an older model, reminding us of how common it was just decades ago for a fan belt to break, a hose to spring a leak, or an engine to overheat. Reliability (the opposite of failure rate), as expressed through warranties, has become an essential marketing tool for winning customers over to automobile brands (Petroski, 2013 p. 78).

Possible summary

1. Modern cars are built more reliably than cars in the past. This is often used as a marketing tool by car companies (Petroski, 2013).

2. In the past cars broke down often, nowadays, one marketing tool used by car manufacturers is warranties that assure reliability (Petroski, 2013).

References

• Bailey, S. (2011). Academic writing for International studies of business. Oxon: Routledge

• Brick, J. (2010). Academic Culture: A student’s guide to studying at university. South Yarra: McMillan Education Australia

ALLSP Team Casuarina

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