Take Notes and Paraphrase

Take Notes and Paraphrase

What students learn

Students learn how to capture the most important facts from a source and then restate those facts in their own words. Open with Take Notes: Capture the Key Takeaways to see that note-taking is about the useful ideas, not every word.

Why it matters

Good notes make research faster and clearer. Take Notes: Organize Facts by Source shows how a table or list can keep the source title, topic, and main findings together, so information stays organized instead of getting mixed up.

Learn the idea

Once students have notes, they need to say the idea in a new way. Paraphrase: Use Your Own Words in a Summary shows why a summary should use original wording, and Paraphrase: Rewrite the Idea Without Copying the Original shows how paraphrasing keeps the meaning while changing the structure and words.

Try it

Have the student read a short paragraph, write three key notes, and then turn those notes into one paraphrased sentence. If they copy too closely, ask them to look away from the original and say the idea out loud first.

Parent guide

Encourage short, focused practice. Let the child underline the source once, close it, and then speak the paraphrase from memory. If they get stuck, ask them to keep the meaning but change the words and sentence order.