Comments on: Why you should paraphrase more https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/ & Gray-Grant Communications Fri, 28 May 2021 18:56:43 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 By: Daphne Gray-Grant https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3613 Fri, 23 May 2014 00:51:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3613 In reply to Jim Kersting.

Thanks for sharing your story, Jim. That quote from Joe is marvellous! I certainly wouldn’t want to paraphrase that one, either. It’s interesting. It sounds like the spoken (rather than written) word. And it’s charming. It already shines like a jewel. Keep it!

]]> By: Jim Kersting https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3612 Fri, 23 May 2014 00:44:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3612 I’m fascinated by your idea of copying other author’s writing word for word. In that practice, you end up immersing yourself in their words, image, structure, pace, rhythm, etc. As a result you discover how it “feels”. You literally compare their method of written expression to yours and, in doing so, stretch your boundaries of technique.
I write mostly letters (thank you letters for donations) and think that would be a very valuable habit for me.
I started (this afternoon) with the letter A. Lincoln wrote to a mother of 5 sons thought to have died in the Civil War. It really was a rich experience.
Regrading paraphrasing, itself, when I’m writing a letter of thanks I find quotes downright necessary. The people we work with are/were homeless and/or addicted. I don’t think I have the capacity to re-write a client’s explanation of their journey. I’ve never been there and never done that.
One fellow, Joe, at his program completion said, “A year ago I was looking at prison and tomorrow I may go to work!” (and he did) I loved how he captured a whole year’s journey in one sentence. (Imagine the story in those 365 days!)
Daphne, I’m sure there is a great place for paraphrasing and I’m sure I don’t know how to apply it here.
I greatly appreciate getting your thoughtful newsletters. They always make me think about what I am doing.

]]> By: Maren McConnell https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3609 Thu, 22 May 2014 12:38:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3609 Very timely for me. Just started reading Marcus Aurelius, and finding it useful to paraphrase him for my own notes, so I can try to figure out what it all means and if it’s relevant to a bigger writing project I’m working on.
Thank you.

]]> By: Daphne Gray-Grant https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3608 Thu, 22 May 2014 03:32:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3608 In reply to Kristie Francis.

Hi Kristie,

I think #2 is fine because “shocked” seems to me to be a reasonable paraphrasing of “I was like, really, really, really surprise, you know, in a bad way.” #3, however, is NOT okay, because it contains quote marks, and the person didn’t actually say that.

Option #2 is an example of good paraphrasing. Hope this helps!

]]> By: Kristie Francis https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3607 Thu, 22 May 2014 02:00:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3607 This is from Kristie Francis (who couldn’t get the comments to work):

Daphne:
In your paraphrasing email, I didn’t find clarification about using quotation marks. Are you saying it’s OK to present something as a direct, verbatim quote even if it isn’t, without getting the person’s approval?

Here’s an example: After the trial, a juror says “I was like, really, really, really surprised, you know, in a bad way, by what the witness said about the fight!”

You are a responsible journalist, and you’re writing an article. You don’t have the opportunity to contact the juror again. Which of these sentences is ethically acceptable?
1. The juror said “I was like, really, really, really surprised, you know, in a bad way, by what the witness said about the fight!”
2. The juror said she was shocked by the witnesses’s description of the fight.
3. The juror said “I was shocked by the witnesses’s description of the fight.”
4. The juror said that the witness was a stupid, evil liar who just wanted to get the defendant convicted.

I think we’d all agree that #1 is ethically OK (it’s the truth, though it’s journalistically a train wreck), and #4 isn’t ethical (it’s not true).

#2 seems OK to me (assuming the juror was obviously shocked), and I think you would agree. #3 doesn’t seem OK to me, but I’m not sure you would agree.

Please clarify: Which options are paraphrasing? And which ones are responsible?

]]> By: Daphne Gray-Grant https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3606 Wed, 21 May 2014 16:19:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3606 In reply to Mai Hoang.

You are so right!

]]> By: Mai Hoang https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3605 Wed, 21 May 2014 16:01:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3605 In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant.

That’s a good point! The more I think about it, I think sometimes we overuse quotes because it means we avoid having to go through the hard work of writing what that person was doing/saying/etc.

]]> By: Daphne Gray-Grant https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3604 Wed, 21 May 2014 14:45:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3604 In reply to Charli Mills.

Thanks for your kind words, Charli!

]]> By: Steve Wellmeier https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3603 Wed, 21 May 2014 14:19:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3603 In reply to Daphne Gray-Grant.

Go for it! Your columns always have great practical advice and I think it would be well received by your peeps!

]]> By: Charli Mills https://www.publicationcoach.com/why-paraphrase/#comment-3602 Wed, 21 May 2014 00:26:00 +0000 http://pubcoach2018.wpengine.com/?p=8338#comment-3602 Excellent post and your last line sums it up.

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