paraphrasing
In academic writing and research you need to be able to paraphrase - write other people's word in your own expression - WITHOUT copying! You can do this successfully!
HOW TO PARAPHRASE - click here for a video explanation
HOW TO PARAPHRASE - click here for a video explanation
- Read and understand the text - if you can't understand it, you will NOT be able to paraphrase it properly.
- To do this, ask yourself questions about the text
- What is the purpose of the text?
- What is the message the author wants to get across to the readers?
- What is the main idea? and what are the details you need to include in your own text?
- Which section is useful for my own task at university?
- To do this, ask yourself questions about the text
- Identify all the points in succession and decide which ones are relevant for inclusion in your text. This depends on your essay/project/report that you need to do at university.
- Write them down in your own words - DO NOT COPY! There are several ways to do this successfully.
- use synonyms or parallel expressions
- change active to passive voice and vice versa
- change the order of ideas
- swap clauses around
- change the word form e.g. nominalisation
- Do NOT change the meaning of the original text, but incorporate it into your own purpose, again depending on your essayproject/report for university.
- Be objective - don't distort any points, or make it personal or emotive!
- Compare your text to the section in the original.
- Reference the original text appropriately - both as an in-text citation AND in your reference list. Click here for a more detailed explanation of how to reference.
the original textThe practice of yoga appears to have an anti-inflammatory effect on the endocrine system. Links have been found to higher cortisol levels, but lower catecholamine levels, in people who engage in regular yoga practice (Daruna 2004). The body appears to view exercise as self-imposed stress, leading to transient modifications in immune function. However, this does not lead to disease but to a reduction in morbidity along with advanced longevity (Daruna 2004). In states of stress, white blood cell counts are affected adversely; chronic stress and depression lead to the production of higher neutrophil counts, while a person's inability to cope with anxiety can cause an increase in monocyte and eosinophil counts (Daruna 2004). Given the importance of the body's ability to use its natural killer (NK) cells in antigen production and disease prevention, Daruna (2004) postulated that managing stress is paramount to achieving an overall state of wellness. NK cells increase after exercise, giving the body an immune function boost to ward off invaders and enhance the search and destroy mission of these vital white blood cells (Daruna 2004). Individuals who experience chronic stress are shown to have not only a reduction in their NK cells, but also an alteration in their cytotoxicity (Daruna 2004). Daruna found that people experiencing stress who did not perceive it as high, did not have a reduction in their NK cells' ability to do their job properly. Instead, their NK cells are enhanced (Daruna 2004). Ross and Thomas (2010) found that people who reported being lonely or depressed had a reduction in their NK cells, while people who described themselves as social introverts had an increase in NK cells. This suggests that it is the perception of state of mind that affects how well our immune system functions. Studies suggest that yoga can reverse the negative impact on our immune system by increasing levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and NK cells (Ross and Thomas 2010). Although the exact mechanism of action that yoga prompts is yet to be determined, it is hypothesised that it has an immediate effect on the sympathetic nervous system along with the hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis (Ross and Thomas 2010). Yoga has been shown 'to have immediate psychological effects by decreasing anxiety along with increasing feelings of emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing' (Ross and Thomas 2010). The body's physiological response to stress includes the activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) along with the endocrine system (Kerr 2000). The sympathetic component of the ANS activates the fight or flight mechanism, preparing the body for survival by increasing heart and respiratory rate, increasing blood sugar levels, shunting blood to the periphery for use by the muscles, and an increased ability of the blood to coagulate (Kerr 2000). The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is activated at the same time but its job is to counteract the ANS back to its resting state. The endocrine system responds to stressors by activating the adrenals to release cortisol, epinepherine and norepinepherine, and glucocorticoids, maintaining blood sugar to the muscles. These mechanisms work to enhance the fight or flight response (Kerr 2000). Our emotions play a large part in the stress response and can activate the ANS with physiological stress much like physical stress. Short-term stress is designed to allow the individual to learn coping mechanisms for future use. However, if the physiological stressors become chronic, it can result in physical and mental illness. Our ability to engage the relaxation response is believed to come from the limbic system, particularly the hypothalamus - our pleasure centre in the brain. It is here that most research on relaxation is done to determine a person's psychological health in outcome measures such as mood, anger, fatigue and anxiety (Kerr 2000). Between 75 and 90 per cent of visits to primary care services are related to stress (Seaward 2009). It has been linked to nearly every major cause of death, such as heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide (Seaward 2009). Many of these can be related to lifestyle. The implications for primary care and mental health practitioners are many. Having knowledge of complementary alternative medicine (CAM ) to provide patients with the ability to increase their own self-care can be helpful. Diamond, L. (2012). the benefits of yoga in improving health.Primary Health Care (through 2013), 22(2), 16. |
the student's paraphraseIn terms of inflammation, yoga seems to have a positive effect. Even though cortisol levels might increase, catecholamine levels go down for regular yoga users. Yoga as a form of 'self-imposed stress' causes short term changes in how the body's immune system works, but instead of disease resulting, longer life span has been reported (Daruna, 2004). It appears that how we perceive our own state of mind has an impact on the proper functioning of our immune system. This is supported by research conducted by Ross and Thomas (2010) in which the NK cells reduced in people who were feeling loneliness or going through a period of depression. In contrast, these cells increased in self-described 'social introverts'.
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summarising
Here is a summary of the text above - notice how short it is compared to the original
Research has shown that yoga has powerful health benefits including the ability to lower inflammation and increase life expectancy. The key is in the body's use of stress, and exercise is a form of self-imposed stress. Natural killer (NK) cells are produced after exercise and these prompt the immune system to go to work and fight against 'invaders', thereby helping to prevent disease. In people who experience chronic stress, the NK cells' ability was reduced (Daruna 2004). Yoga indirectly reverses this impact by affecting the immune system. The mix of hormones released and its effect on the adrenal and nervous systems trigger the relaxation response. As a result, the yoga participant's anxiety goes down and their well-being goes up (Ross and Thomas 2010). These findings are significant considering the fact that a large percentage of health conditions can be attributed to or made worse by stress.
Similar to paraphrasing, summarising is so important. You need to be able to read huge texts/journal articles/book chapters and find main ideas to put together in your own writing.
HOW TO SUMMARISE
HOW TO SUMMARISE
- Read and understand the text - if you can't understand it, you will NOT be able to paraphrase it properly.
- To do this, ask yourself questions about the text
- What is the purpose of the text?
- What is the main idea?
- What is the message the author wants to get across to the readers?
- To do this, ask yourself questions about the text
- Take notes on the main idea in your own words and connect these notes to your own essay's purpose. Do NOT COPY.
- Be objective - don't distort any points, or make it personal or emotive!
- Compare your text to the original - also comparing to the purpose of the original - remember this is a summary, the ideas you include from the original are global, not specific.
- Remember the summary should be shorter than the original, because you are only taking the main idea/s