Week 2 - Day 1

SESSION 3 - Synthesising Ideas: Summarising and Paraphrasing

Lesson Aims:

To take notes from a written and spoken academic text using a top-level structure
To use notes to synthesise (summarise and paraphrase) ideas from academic texts

Synthesising involves combining ideas in order to present a point or argument, and is an important academic skill. During your MSc studies, in academic writing (and to a lesser extent, academic speaking), you will need to synthesise ideas from a range of sources in order to present your own point or argument, while supporting everything you write (or say) with evidence from a range of sources. The real skill of synthesising ideas is to integrate and balance your ideas and your evidence so that they flow seamlessly and convincingly throughout your essay (or presentation).

In this session, we will look at two strategies for presenting a point or argument that require the synthesising of ideas: summarising; and paraphrasing.

Before the session, please watch the two videos and complete the four short activities from the University of New England by following the reading link marked *ESSENTIAL. This material has been selected to better prepare you to complete the tasks during the session.

Watch

You should watch these two videos before the lesson. *ESSENTIAL

The first video explains the process of synthesising information and how we do it everyday. The second video examines the difference between summarising and paraphrasing (both of which involve synthesising ideas).

Read

Take a look at some of these useful resources (click for link):

Synthesising evidence (Academic Skills, University of New England) *ESSENTIAL
Summarising (Skills Hub, The University of Sussex)
Paraphrasing (Study Skills, Oxford Brookes University)
Paraphrasing, summarising and quoting (Student Support, University of New South Wales)

Homework Task *OPTIONAL

If you want to practise your summarising and paraphrasing skills further, you can complete this optional homework task:

Watch this video, ‘How economic inequality harms society’ (see right)
Use a top-level structure to take notes from the video
Write a concise paragraph agreeing or disagreeing with the authors argument (this should involve both summarising and paraphrasing)
Post your paragraph on the course forum
Post your responses to your peers' paragraphs on the forum.

Downloads

ENGLISH

FOR MSc ECONOMICS

Week 2 - Day 1

SESSION 3 - Synthesising Ideas: Summarising and Paraphrasing

In this session, we will look at two strategies for presenting a point or argument that require the synthesising of ideas: summarising; and paraphrasing.

Watch

You should watch these two videos before the lesson. *ESSENTIAL

The first video explains the process of synthesising information and how we do it everyday. The second video examines the difference between summarising and paraphrasing (both of which involve synthesising ideas).

Week 2 - Day 1

SESSION 3 - Synthesising Ideas: Summarising and Paraphrasing

​

In this session, we will look at two strategies for presenting a point or argument that require the synthesising of ideas: summarising; and paraphrasing.

​

​

​

Watch

You should watch these two videos before the lesson. *ESSENTIAL

The first video explains the process of synthesising information and how we do it everyday. The second video examines the difference between summarising and paraphrasing (both of which involve synthesising ideas).