Re-interpreting others' work
When you re-interpret other people's work you are not directly replicating their words, images, or sounds. However you are still making use of their ideas and creations, and therefore must give credit.
Re-interpreting others' work can include modifying, redesigning, re-mixing or rephrasing the original work.
The main ways of re-interpreting others' work include:
- adapting images, graphs, data and tables
- paraphrasing words or text
- summarising large sections of text or words
Examples of reinterpreting others' work
Example
Original statement: In order to be successful in their studies, it is essential that students are able to plan their essays effectively, as this has a significant impact on the structure of the piece of academic writing.
Paraphrased statement: Planning what to write in an essay is important to ensure that the writing has a clear structure (Lopez, 2019).
The example paraphrase includes the following elements:
- The meaning of the sentence is the same but the words are significantly different
- There is a citation included which credits the original text source.
Example
Although some studies suggest that willpower is a fixed trait (Jones et al., 1989; Wang & Lee, 1994), more recent research suggests that willpower is largely dependent on the context (Jamison, 2022).
This summary has the following elements:
- different perspectives from different scholars on a particular issue have been presented accurately
- it credits the different perspectives through references
- it is written using original words, not copied from other sources.
Example
Note. Adapted from A non-linear model of information seeking behaviour by Allen Foster, 2005.
Original
Note. From A non-linear model of information seeking behaviour by Allen Foster, 2005.
The adaptation has the following elements:
- The work is a modified but is still recognisable to the original
- A citation/reference is provided crediting the creator of the original work
- It has been indicated that the work has been modified.