Practice writing paraphrases by pairing up with a classmate and choosing a full essay to paraphrase from Part 1 of this book.

Write your paraphrases of the agreed-upon essay separately, just as if you intended to cite the piece later in a report, research paper, or argument yourself. When both of you are done, compare your paraphrases. What did you identify as the main point(s) or thesis of the piece? What kind of structure did the article follow: for example, narrative, report, comparison/contrast, argument, and so on? What evidence or details from the article did you include in your paraphrases? How do your paraphrases compare in length?

Discuss the differences. How might you account for them?