What Is Collusion? - Accessibility Document

Accessibility Document

Essential writing skills (Guide me)

Slide 1

Description:screenshot includes text and a six buttons.

“How do I…”

1. Incorporate my sources (button)
2. Paraphrase (button)
3. Summarise (button)
4. Synthesise (button)
5. Quote (button)
6. Reference (button)

Heading: Essential writing skills

Slide 2

Description:screenshot contains drag and drop/matching activity

Heading:Incorporating sources into your work

Text: Incorporating others’ ideas is essential for developing an argument.

Do you know what these terms mean? Drag and drop the correct definitions from the right to the left.

Actionable items:

Five draggable boxes to match to the following headings:

1. Incorporate my sources
2. Paraphrase
3. Summarise
4. Synthesise
5. Quote
6. Reference

Draggable boxes text (see Appendix A for answers):

1. Give a brief statement of the main points.
2. Repeat or copy out (words from a text or speech written or spoken by another person).
3. Express the meaning of (something written or spoken) using different words.
4. The use of a source of information to acknowledge others’ ideas, and to allow others to verify your research.
5. Combine (a number of things) into a coherent whole.

Slide 3

Description:screenshot includes an image of a person, text and drag and drop activity

Heading: Incorporating sources into your work

Text: Paraphrasing and summarising skills enable you to demonstrate understanding of your research sources. However, if you simply combine paraphrases, summaries and quotes from the work of others without considering how they fit together and apply to your argument, you fail to develop your own voice in your writing. It is important to synthesise the various sources to show your understanding and frame your discussion.

What should you do when including a summary, paraphrase or quote?

Drag and drop the steps below in the correct order from the right to the left.

Did you know? (Click on the lightbulb)

Actionable items:

Three drag and drop boxes:

1. Cite the original source using AGLC.
2. Accurately summarise, paraphrase or quote from the original source.
3. Discuss in your own words how the original source relates to your argument.

Feedback for drag and drop: There is actually no right or wrong order! As long as you do all these steps, you are on the right track.

If the lightbulb is clicked, the following text appears:

Avoiding plagiarism starts earlier than you might expect in the note taking process. Watch this video ( to explore note-taking techniques that will help you develop your own understanding of sources.

Slide 4

Description:screenshot includes text and text entry box

Heading: Paraphrasing - Think

Text: Paraphrasing is using your own words to express someone else’s idea without changing the original meaning. It’s not enough to change just the sentence structure or a few words of the original.

Use these steps to paraphrase the source below

1. Read the original source to understand its meaning.
2. Write down your own words of how you would express this idea.
3. Remember to cite the original source.

Actionable items:

Original Source:

Ronald Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs (Harvard University Press, 2013), 414.
“Once, in Coke’s time, the idea that individuals have rights as trumps over the collective good — natural rights—was very widely accepted. In the nineteenth century a different political morality was dominant. Jeremy Bentham declared natural rights nonsense on stilts and lawyers of that opinion created the idea of absolute parliamentary sovereignty. Now the wheel is turning again: Utilitarianism is giving way once again to a recognition of individual rights, now called human rights, and parliamentary sovereignty is no longer evidently just.”

Your summary: type here (text entry box)

Slide 5

Description: screenshot includes text with three clickable buttons and text entry box

Heading: Paraphrasing - Compare

Text: Click on the tabs to compare the original source and two attempts at paraphrasing. Which do you think is a better example?

How would you rate your attempt?

Actionable items:

Original Source:

Ronald Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs (Harvard University Press, 2013), 414.
“Once, in Coke’s time, the idea that individuals have rights as trumps over the collective good — natural rights—was very widely accepted. In the nineteenth century a different political morality was dominant. Jeremy Bentham declared natural rights nonsense on stilts and lawyers of that opinion created the idea of absolute parliamentary sovereignty. Now the wheel is turning again: Utilitarianism is giving way once again to a recognition of individual rights, now called human rights, and parliamentary sovereignty is no longer evidently just.”

Attempt 1:

The idea that people have rights as trumps over the good of all (natural rights) was widely accepted in Sir Edward Coke’s time, while Jeremy Bentham declared natural rights were nonsense on stilts and the idea of absolute parliamentary sovereignty gained favour with lawyers who had the same opinion. Utilitarianism is yielding once more to the recognition of individual rights, and parliamentary sovereignty does not have the same hold over justice as before. Philosophy is coming full circle.

Feedback: See Appendix A

Attempt 2:

The dominance of the idea of natural individual rights as trumps has ebbed and flowed over time. Dworkin argues it was dominant in Coke’s time, then receded from popularity with the influence of Bentham’s utilitarian philosophy, and it is again enjoying a surge in popularity in the form of the human rights [1]. This theme is also explored by Samuel Moyn [2].

1. Ronald Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs (Harvard University Press, 2013), 414.
2. Samuel Moyn, The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History (Harvard University Press, 2010).

Feedback: See Appendix A

Your summary: (your text as written on the previous slide will appear here)

Slide 6

Description: screenshot includes text

Heading: Paraphrasing – Review

Text: A good technique for effective paraphrasing is to make notes without looking at the original source. Try not to change any significant specialised or discipline-specific words, but make sure the sentence structure and general vocabulary is different. Frame your paraphrasing by explaining how it relates to your argument. This will help you demonstrate your own voice in your writing.

Click on the highlighted text in the student paraphrasing to see the comparison.

Actionable items:

Student Work:

The [highlight 1 start] dominance of the idea of natural individual [highlight 1 end][highlight 2 start] rights as trumps [highlight 2 end] has [highlight 1 start] ebbed and flowed [highlight 1 end] over time. Dworkin argues [highlight 3 start] it was dominant in Coke’s time, [highlight 3 end][highlight 4 start] then receded from popularity with the influence of Bentham’s [highlight 4 end] [highlight 2 start] utilitarian philosophy, [highlight 2 end] and it is [highlight 1 start] again enjoying a surge in popularity in the form of [highlight 1 end] [highlight 2 start]human rights[highlight 2 end][1].

Original Source:

“Once, in Coke’s time, the idea that individuals have rights as trumps over the collective good — natural rights—was very widely accepted. In the nineteenth century a different political morality was dominant. Jeremy Bentham declared natural rights nonsense on stilts and lawyers of that opinion created the idea of absolute parliamentary sovereignty. Now the wheel is turning again: utilitarianism is giving way once again to a recognition of individual rights, now called human rights, and parliamentary sovereignty is no longer evidently just.”

Ronald Dworkin, Justice for Hedgehogs (Harvard University Press, 2013), 414.

Slide 7

Description:screenshot includes text, image of person, and text entry box

Heading: Summarising - Think

Text: A summary is a condensed overview of an original text that highlights the main or key ideas in your own words.

Effective summaries are accurate and concise: they capture the general idea of the text without providing a lot of details.

Summarising is useful for providing a topic background, or pointing to material that supports or contradicts your argument.

Read the passage fromJustin Pen, ‘“Never Tweet?”: Social media and unfair dismissal’ (2016) 41(4) Alternative Law Journal 271, 274 by clicking here. How would you summarise it? What are the main points?

Actionable items:

Clicking ‘here’ the following passage pops up:

As it stands, there are no express protections available to workers whose employment is terminated due to their online speech or conduct. For example, the dismissal of a public servant who attempted to seek refuge under the implied freedom of political communication was held to be ‘fair’, after her employer (the then Department of Immigration and Citizenship) discovered she had been tweeting critical comments about the Minister for Immigration.63 To guard against employer overreach, we must remember that ‘our judges do not operate in a vacuum… [Their rulings] are in part shaped by our culture and by the collective values of our society.’ 64 We must reinforce our social awareness and understanding of privacy and the home space so that this becomes the milieu in which decision-makers read and interpret employment contracts, social media policies and codes of conduct.65 Commenting on the phenomenon of social media-driven sackings, writer Giovanni Tiso observed: We live in an age of precarity, which certainly contributes to viewing loss of employment as a grave existential threat; the growing tendency to equate all manners of workers with public relations professionals simply by virtue of their having a social media presence – hence the ubiquitous ‘opinions are my own’ disclaimer – will also fuel this anxiety.66 The issue of social media and unfair dismissal is a complex problem, one that requires a response with more nuance than ‘never tweet’. It requires a re-examination of our political, economic and cultural attitudes towards work and how we, as a society, wish to organise the bifurcation of our professional and private lives.

You summary: type here (text entry box)

Slide 9

Description:screenshot includestext, and text entry box

Heading:Summarising - Compare

Text: Click on the tabs to compare the original source and three attempts at summarising. Which do you think is a better example?

How would you rate your attempt?

Actionable items:

‘Original source’ is hyperlink to popup of Justin Pen’s article from previous slide.

Attempt 1: The problematic relationship between social media and unfair dismissal raises questions not only of the distinction between personal communication and professional conduct, but also the rights of employees and employer authority [1].

Feedback: see Appendix A

Attempt 2: Employees who use social media to criticise their employer have ignored codes of conduct but should not be fired [1].

Feedback: see Appendix A

Attempt 3: Employees should always check the privacy settings of their social media before posting about their employer [1].

Feedback: see Appendix A

Your summary: (your text as written on the previous slide will appear here)

Slide 10

Description: screenshot includes text, image of person, and four clickable buttons

Heading:Summarising - Review

Text: Let’s review what we’ve learnt. Click on the buttons on the left.

Actionable items:

Clicking on each numbered box the following text appears:

1. A good summary highlights facts that are useful for your topic.
2. You should fully understand the source material in order to present it accurately. The aim is to represent the author’s point of view, ideas, opinions or position as succinctly as possible.
3. Injecting your ideas about the author’s work within your summary may obscure the information from the original source.
4. Frame your summary by explaining how it relates to your argument. This will help you demonstrate your own voice in your writing.

Slide 11

Description: screenshot includes text and draggable boxes

Heading:Synthesising

Text: To synthesise you need the skills of paraphrasing (hyperlinks to paraphrasing section of tutorial – slide 4) and summarising (hyperlinks to summarising section of tutorial – slide 7). Unlike a paraphrase or a summary, which only use ONE author’s idea at a time, a synthesis uses two or more sources to produce a new, more complex discussion.

To do this, you need to:

• Separate facts from opinions
• Draw inferences or logical conclusions from the facts
• Think about the information and evaluate where it fits in with your argument

How do you synthesise effectively? Drag and drop the steps below in the correct order.

Actionable items:

For correct answers, see Appendix A

Draggable boxes:

1. Write a new synthesis of these sources in your own words.
2. Brainstorm your ideas on the topic.
3. Identify common ideas and differences between the texts.
4. Read relevant sources. Make notes on key points, but remember to always use your own voice and reference the ideas and words of others.

Slide 12

Description: screenshot includes text, image of person and clickable box

Heading:Quoting

Text: Quoting is using someone else’s words exactly as they appear in their work.

You might quote to:

show that an authority supports your point;

discuss details of legislation or judgments;

present a position or argument to critique or comment on; or

present a passage the meaning of which would be lost if paraphrased or summarised.

To use quotes effectively make sure to demonstrate how the quote relates to your ideas or argument, and not distort or change the author’s meaning.

Quotes should only be used where necessary, and kept as brief as possible.

To quote effectively in law assignments, always follow AGLC3, rule 1.5 (

For example… (click the speech icon)

Actionable items:

Clicking on the speech bubble in the box, the following text appears:

At the heart of practitioner decision-making is however the ethical duty to act in the best interest if each patient that walks in the consultation room, the Code of Conduct applying to doctors in Australia states very clearly that ‘the care of [the] patient is [the] primary concern’ [1]

1. Medical Board of Australia, Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia (28 March 2017), cl 2.1 <

Slide 13

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Heading:Referencing

Text: You must reference your sources whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarise someone else's ideas or words. Acknowledgment may be in the form of footnotes and/or a bibliography.

Use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation for your references.

Access the current edition online ( or use a print copy in the Law Library (

Take a look at the Law Library Guide on Citing and Referencing ( for a quick guide to common sources and further resources.

Check the citing FAQs ( available on the Law Library Guide for extra help on referencing.

Remember: your reference allows your reader to verify facts and locate the same information easily.

The AGLC can be tricky to interpret sometimes; you may need to think more broadly how to create a reference for your specific source. Use the citing FAQs ( for help here.

Slide 14

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Heading:Essential writing skills

Text: Well done!

You have reached the end of this activity.

Click on the REPLAY button if you wish to work through the tutorial again.

Appendix A

Slide 2

Drag and drop correct matches:

Slide 5

Attempt 1: Actually, the student has just replaced words or reordered the original sentences and hasn’t discussed the text using their own words. There is no attempt to apply the ideas further in their argument.

Attempt 2: Yes, the student has used their own words to express her position on the topic and has integrated it with another source. This demonstrates to a reader that the writer had understood this piece and how it links to their argument and more widely.

Slide 9

Attempt 1: Correct. Student condenses the source, frame with their focus.

Attempt 2: Incorrect. Summary misinterprets the original source.

Attempt 3: Incorrect. Writer presents own views, not the research of the original text.

Slide 11

Correct order is:

1. Brainstorm your ideas on the topic.
2. Read relevant sources. Make notes on key points, but remember to always use your own voice and reference the ideas and words of others.
3. Identify common ideas and differences between the texts.
4. Write a new synthesis of these sources in your own words.

Feedback: Great job!
Remember: Frame your synthesis by explaining how it relates to your argument. This will help you demonstrate your own voice in your writing.

Monash University Library

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