Engl. 1109		PAPER #1:  PARAPHRASE
Flaherty						DUE DATE:__________________

For your first graded paper, you will be working with a small group to write the best paraphrase possible of a series of paragraphs.  From the drafting, peer review, and revisions of your paper, you will receive a group score.  Because of this, you will need to produce the best individual paraphrase possible, and be ready to take (and give) suggestions from other group members in the creation of their paraphrase paragraphs.  Please read the following tasks carefully:

Task A:  Paraphrase the Excerpts
The first important task is to read the essay  “Floppy Disk Fallacies,” by Elizabeth Bohnhorst, in its entirety.  The essay promotes discussion on the increased use of technology in elementary and middle schools.  Then, in your group of three, each person will pick one of the following series of paragraphs to paraphrase,:

Group member #1: Paragraphs    2 and 3
Group member #2: Paragraphs   5 and 7
Group member #3: Paragraphs   8 and 10 
*  If there are only two people in your group, the third series of paragraphs will have to be split between the two members.  

•	Before paraphrasing your series of paragraphs, discuss with your group members how you perceive the message and tone of the writing.  Then, read your own selection carefully until you fully understand it.  Take some time to develop your paraphrase, keeping in mind that all pertinent information from the original needs to be included in your writing, but with different vocabulary and sentence structure.  

Consider the following for successful paraphrasing:  
•	You need to determine if some or all of the numbers/statistics used in the original need to be included in your paraphrase to relay the information successfully to the reader – but in a different form. For instance, instead of using a direct number like 3.7 million, change it to over 3.6 million, or nearly 3.8 million.
•	At this point, quotes are NOT going to be allowed in the paraphrases.  There are a lot of quotes in the original essay, but for our purposes, we are just strictly paraphrasing right now.  Feel free to use the information from the original quotes in the essay, but as you are only paraphrasing, do not worry about putting quotation marks around anything.
•	Do not hesitate to put the information from your paragraphs in a different order – even mixing up the information within your two paragraphs; “shaking up” the information helps to avoid plagiarism.
•	For this first assignment, the paper will not include parenthetical documentation or a Works Cited page, so don’t worry about that right now.

Finally, for the purposes of this assignment, you will combine the information from your two paragraphs into only one paragraph (so it will be a long paragraph), as will your partners.  The finished draft will then be three paragraphs long, with a length of 2 – 3 pages for the final product.

										over
Task B:  Peer Review your Group Members’ Paraphrases
Bring the draft (and your text!) of your paraphrases to our next class period.  We will spend class time discussing what constitutes good peer review and what to consider when critiquing others’ paraphrases.  It is paramount to bring your paraphrase to class; many of the points of this assignment depend on the time spent analyzing and revising the paraphrases, so your group is counting on you.  During class, be sure to get the emails of your group members so the final paper with all three paragraphs can be assembled by the due date.

Task C:  Preparing the Final Draft of your Paraphrase
Once you have received the feedback from your group members, you will revise your paraphrase paragraph to prepare it for final printing. Besides the individual revising, group members need to discuss the following:

•	The member who paraphrases paragraphs 2 and 3 will need to add an introductory statement to the paragraph to introduce the topic for the reader – this can be original writing.
•	The member who paraphrases paragraphs 8 and 10 will need to add an original conclusion statement to wrap up the paper, and give it a sense of “finality.”
•	The member who paraphrases paragraphs 5 and 7 needs to put together the paper with a proper heading and an original title (NOT Paraphrase Paper).  The heading will appear as such in the upper left hand corner of the paper:

Group members’ names, separated by commas
English 1109
Instructor Gretchen Flaherty
Day Month Year (No commas on this line.  For an example of this, look at the text pg. 142)

The other group members have the responsibility of emailing their final draft to this person in a timely manner.  Also, keep in mind that if you are unsure of your final draft, you could email it to your group members for a second viewing, take it to the tutors Learning Resources Center, or ask me, your instructor.  

The final copy will be a three paragraph paper with a header and a title.  The first paragraph will have an introductory sentence and the paraphrase of paragraphs 2 and 3.  The second paragraph will be the paraphrase of paragraphs 5and 7.  The last paragraph will paraphrase paragraphs 8and 10, and end with a concluding sentence.

When the final copy is due, place the following items in one of the group member’s folder:

~ score sheet (on top)
~ final copy of paper (stapled)
~ rough draft and 2 peer reviews of each group member (stapled together separately)