5.2: Climate Change and Paraphrasing Classroom Activity

Paraphrasing bad examples:

Sometimes when students are asked to paraphrase and integrate ideas from original texts into their own writing, they are not aware of how to do so properly. They know they must reword phrases, sentences, ideas, or groups of sentences, but without further direction, may be confused how to do so. Take our text from above and its first sentence as an example:

“The UN General Assembly in September 2021 will bring countries together at a critical time for marshalling collective action to tackle the global environmental crisis.”

What if one was told to reword this line and merely went to the thesaurus to find approximate words to replace the others?

“A United Nations Generic Meeting in September of 2021 must take nations combined at a very important hour to line up combined deeds to subdue this worldwide ecological emergency.”

These are all words, surely, but put together they don’t make sense, confuse the reader, and don’t really carry the meaning of the original text. Let’s look at another example, from the second paragraph:

“The science is unequivocal; a global increase of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse.”

A confused but dutiful thesaurusizing could lead to this result:

“Technology was indisputable; one international uptake of one and a half degrees Celsius over the before-manufacturing means along with the resumed lessening of variety chance fatal hurt to fitness this could be unable to go backwards.”

Again, all words, but meaning is lost and reading it is a chore.

Instead, think of paraphrasing as a translation. We don’t translate from Spanish to English, English to Arabic, Arabic to Chinese using word-for-word variations. Instead, we exchange meaning of ideas-to-ideas rather than word-for-word. Beyond the internal phrase, one must look at context as well. Even simple phrases and words like “love” and “I’m sorry” can mean different things in different contexts. “I’m sorry to inform you that you lost the bid” is different from “I’m sorry to hear about your loss” and certainly distinct from “I’m sorry I did that thing.”

Tips to paraphrase

Consider these following tips for your own paraphrases below. You will likely need to combine several of the steps. In all of them, you should begin by reading to understand. If you don’t understand the text, how can you explain it and simplify it for others? How can you integrate it into your writing? Know what it means in the sentence and in the broader scope.

Imagine you were explaining the text selection to a peer, in words they would understand. Better yet, try explaining it to a peer, like a relative, friend or classmate without looking at it. Then look back at the text to see if you got the gist of it and the major points.

Find the relevant information, pull it out, insert it (giving credit, of course) and make sure it’s translated correctly:

“Scientists say that a three degree rise in temperatures will make living on this planet increasingly worse.”

Reverse the order of the sentence or major ideas:

“It would be impossible to reverse the catastrophic damage done after temperatures rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial average and we continue to lose biodiversity.”

While considering the original in its context, use synonyms for some of the words:

“The science is clear…” “… 3 degrees Fahrenheit…”

Turn passive clauses into active and vice versa:

“Catastrophic harm is risked by…”

Change negative statements into positive ones and vice versa:

“… cannot be reversed.”

Combine elements of two sentences:

Global climate change has an adverse effect on human health as health professionals and the scientific community have warned that destroying natural biodiversity and increasing the world’s average temperature will cause irreversible catastrophe to human health.”

You try:

In groups of two-three, paraphrase one of the following sections based on the text selected for you:

1) “Health is already being harmed by global temperature increases and the destruction of the natural world, a state of affairs health professionals have been bringing attention to for decades. The science is unequivocal; a global increase of 1.5°C above the pre-industrial average and the continued loss of biodiversity risk catastrophic harm to health that will be impossible to reverse.”

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2) “Many countries are aiming to protect at least 30% of the world's land and oceans by 2030. These promises are not enough. Targets are easy to set and hard to achieve. They are yet to be matched with credible short- and longer-term plans to accelerate cleaner technologies and transform societies. Emissions reduction plans do not adequately incorporate health considerations.”

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3) “The consequences of the environmental crisis fall disproportionately on those countries and communities that have contributed least to the problem and are least able to mitigate the harms. Yet no country, no matter how wealthy, can shield itself from these impacts.”

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4) “Financing should be through grants rather than loans, building local capabilities and truly empowering communities, and should come alongside forgiving large debts, which constrain the agency of so many low-income countries. Additional funding must be marshalled to compensate for inevitable loss and damage caused by the consequences of the environmental crisis.”

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5) “Allowing the consequences to fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable will breed more conflict, food insecurity, forced displacement, and zoonotic disease--with severe implications for all countries and communities.”

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After ten minutes, converge as a class and share out your results.