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Watch the Vimeo 'Paraphrasing' teaching video (https://vimeo.com/54772017357b07159a0), reflect and comment on one key point from the video. In your reflection demonstrate that you watched the video, thought about the content, and are applying it to learning and using APA in writing essays or connect it to your prior knowledge about paraphrasing and academic tone. Then, using the course readings, choose a contemporary political issue and analyze how debates about federalism shape different understandings of that issue. Find a current news source that discusses that problem, summarize the source with a citation, and explain how it connects back to debates about federalism in one substantive paragraph.

Paper For Above Instructions

Reflection on the 'Paraphrasing' Teaching Video

After watching the "Paraphrasing" teaching video closely, one key point that stood out is the emphasis on preserving the original meaning while altering both language and sentence structure—rather than merely substituting synonyms or moving a few words (patchwriting). The video demonstrates that effective paraphrasing requires: (1) fully understanding the source text, (2) composing the idea in your own voice and structure, and (3) explicitly citing the original source to credit the author. This approach aligns with APA guidance that paraphrases must be accurate and accompanied by in-text citations (American Psychological Association, 2020). The video also highlights academic tone: paraphrases should blend smoothly into your writing, using neutral, formal vocabulary and clear attribution (e.g., “According to…,” or parenthetical citations) so that the reader can see how the paraphrase supports your argument without elevating the original voice above your own analysis (Purdue OWL, n.d.).

Applying Paraphrasing to APA Essay Writing

Practically, this means when I incorporate a news report or scholarly claim into an essay I first restate the idea in an independent sentence that fits my paragraph’s syntactic flow, then append an APA in-text citation (Author, Year). For example, instead of copying a sentence from a news article and changing a word or two, I reconstruct the claim with a different subject–verb structure and follow it with a parenthetical citation. The video’s guidance helps avoid inadvertent plagiarism and improves readability: paraphrases demonstrate comprehension and allow the student author to maintain an academic tone while giving accurate credit (Roig, 2015; APA, 2020). This practice is especially important in political science essays where nuanced distinctions (e.g., state versus federal authority) require careful translation of a source’s framing into the writer’s analytical narrative (Bednar, 2009).

Contemporary Political Issue: Federal and Local Policing

As a contemporary political issue, conflicts over federal deployment of law enforcement into cities during protests illuminate federalism tensions between national power and local autonomy. Arun Gupta’s article, "In Portland, Questions Swirl Around Local Police's Coordination with Federal Officers" (The Intercept, 2020), reports on disputes in Portland where federal agents from multiple agencies operated in the city amid protests. Gupta documents concerns by local officials and residents about the federal presence, debates over whether federal officers coordinated with municipal police, and public confusion about which authorities were responsible for certain actions (Gupta, 2020). The article provides eyewitness accounts, local official statements, and discussion of federal policy choices during unrest; it foregrounds the friction that emerges when federal interventions intersect with municipal law enforcement responsibilities.

Substantive Paragraph Summarizing the News Source and Connecting to Federalism

Gupta (2020) reports that in Portland, the arrival of federal officers—sometimes in unmarked vehicles and without clear identification—generated controversy among city leaders and residents who questioned both the legal basis and the coordination with local police (Gupta, 2020). The article summarizes claims that federal agents engaged in arrests and crowd control that local authorities had either not authorized or had limited information about, leading to legal challenges and public debate. This situation connects directly to debates about federalism: it raises the central question of how far the federal government may go in exercising policing powers inside a city without undermining local autonomy or violating constitutional constraints such as the anti-commandeering principle (Printz v. United States, 1997). Where proponents of robust federal intervention point to national interests in preserving order or enforcing federal statutes, defenders of local control stress the democratic accountability of municipal officials and the differing priorities of communities; thus, the Portland case exemplifies how federalism shapes both the practical distribution of policing authority and the public’s normative understanding of legitimate power (Kincaid, 2015; Bednar, 2009). The news account, when accurately paraphrased and cited per APA rules, becomes a source for analysis rather than a standalone claim, letting the writer situate empirical events within broader theoretical debates about the balance between national prerogatives and local governance.

How Paraphrasing Skills Improve the Federalism Analysis

Using the paraphrasing techniques from the video ensures that when I summarize Gupta’s reporting and legal sources I neither distort the original accounts nor rely on excessive direct quotation. An effective paraphrase lets me weave the facts from the article into a critical argument about federalism—for example, linking descriptions of federal tactics to doctrinal limits set by cases such as Printz v. United States (1997) and to scholarship on the institutional design of federations (Bednar, 2009). Paraphrasing also encourages precision: instead of overstating what a single article proves, I can accurately attribute claims and then compare them to other sources (Kettl, 2020; Ostrom, 1990). Finally, adhering to APA citation practices when paraphrasing reinforces academic tone and credibility, which is essential when discussing contested political subjects where misrepresentation can inflame partisan responses.

Conclusion

The "Paraphrasing" video’s central teaching—maintain meaning while recasting language and structure, then cite—directly supports the production of clear, credible academic writing in APA style. Applying that method to the Portland example shows how a careful paraphrase of a news report can serve as the factual foundation for a sustained federalism analysis: the writer accurately reports events (Gupta, 2020), cites legal constraints (Printz v. United States, 1997), and situates the empirical episode within academic debates about the division of authority across levels of government (Bednar, 2009; Kincaid, 2015). This combination of accurate paraphrase, proper citation, and analytic framing is the core skill the video aims to teach and that I will continue to practice in essay writing.

References

• American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association.
• Bednar, J. (2009). The Robust Federation: Principles of Design. Cambridge University Press.
• Gupta, A. (2020, July 24). In Portland, questions swirl around local police’s coordination with federal officers. The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2020/07/24/portland-police-federal-officers/
• Kettl, D. F. (2020). States, communities, and the coronavirus: Federalism and public administration in a pandemic. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/
• Kincaid, J. (2015). Federalism. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American Politics. Oxford University Press.
• Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (Purdue OWL). (n.d.). Paraphrase: Write it in your own words. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/
• Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997).
• Roig, M. (2015). Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide for students. Medical Ethics and Academic Writing Resources.
• U.S. Department of Justice & Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2020). Federal, state, and local cooperation in large-scale civil disturbances: Historical context and legal frameworks. https://www.justice.gov/