Paraphrase Meditation Three
Humanities
Paraphrasing will help you read this way. After you completely read the assigned text once, go back through the pages assigned for this exercise and paraphrase each paragraph in those pages (not the whole reading assignment for that week) in about one to four sentences (as a general rule of thumb). Read a paragraph over a couple of times and then pretend that you are explaining it to a friend who hasn’t read it. Don’t put everything sentence-by-sentence into your paragraph; identify each paragraph’s central idea and put it in your own words. Use an informal, straightforward tone rather than a stilted or stiffly academic one, but make sure your writing has correct spelling and grammar throughout. Be as explicit and concrete as possible; don’t rely on vague phrases or metaphors. Don’t quote—that defeats the purpose. Put the page number in the margin beside the first paragraph of each new page in the text, to make it easier for me to follow. At the end of the assignment, write and explain a question or objection. It can be a request for further clarification of an idea you didn’t understand (be specific about what you didn’t understand about it—you can’t just write “I didn’t get X”) or, preferably, an analysis or challenge of the validity of an idea covered. You are welcome to disagree with the author, but be sure to give her the best possible interpretation of the argument consistent with the text.
