Locke's prose can feel like a foreign language to modern students. His sentences are long, filled with clauses, and use words like commonwealth, prerogative, and trust in ways that do not match everyday usage. When students try to paraphrase him, they often copy phrases too closely or drift away from his meaning. Feedback that targets paraphrasing can improve both their understanding and their writing.

Two paraphrasing errors show up most often. The first is patchwriting, in which the student swaps a few words but keeps Locke's sentence structure, producing something that is neither a quotation nor a real paraphrase. The second is distortion, in which the student simplifies so much that the meaning changes. Feedback should identify which problem is present, since the fix is different for each.

For patchwriting, ask the student to put the passage away, explain it aloud or in a few plain sentences, and then compare it with the original. This forces them to reconstruct the meaning instead of rearranging words. For distortion, ask them to reread the passage and identify what Locke says about each part of the sentence. Both exercises train close reading.

Breaking Down a Difficult Sentence

Teach students a simple process for tackling dense sentences. First, find the main subject and verb, then identify the qualifying clauses, and finally restate the idea in modern English. Practicing this in class with a passage from the chapter on property can make the technique concrete. Once students see that a long sentence has an underlying structure, they become less intimidated.

• Find the main subject and verb before reading the qualifying clauses
• Underline unfamiliar terms and look up their seventeenth-century meanings
• Restate the sentence in plain modern English without looking at the original
• Compare the paraphrase with the passage to check for lost or added meaning
• Decide whether the idea needs a direct quotation or is better paraphrased

Giving Feedback on Paraphrase Quality

When marking a paraphrase, avoid simply writing unclear. Instead, show the student the specific gap, such as noting that the paraphrase leaves out Locke's condition that enough and as good be left for others. Ask them to add it. This kind of feedback teaches them what to look for in a passage.

Also distinguish between paraphrase and interpretation. A paraphrase restates what Locke says, while an interpretation explains what it means or why it matters. Students often blend the two without realizing it. A comment pointing out where the paraphrase ends and interpretation begins helps them separate summary from analysis.

Academic Integrity and Attribution

Paraphrasing without attribution is still plagiarism, and students need to understand this. Teach them to cite the section number even when they are not quoting directly. Explain that the idea belongs to Locke even if the words are their own. Clear expectations prevent accidental violations.

Patchwriting is often unintentional, and treating it as a teaching issue rather than misconduct is usually more productive. Provide examples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrases so students can see the difference. Many will improve quickly once they know what to avoid. Save disciplinary procedures for clear, deliberate cases.

Scaling Feedback on Paraphrase

Paraphrase feedback can be time-consuming because it requires comparing the student's words with the original. One approach is to require students to include the original passage alongside their paraphrase in a short exercise, making comparison easier. Another is to sample a few paraphrases per student and give feedback on those. Both methods reduce the load.

AI feedback tools like GraideMind can flag paraphrases that stay very close to a quoted passage or that lack a citation, based on your rubric. You can then focus on the meaning and accuracy of the paraphrase. As with any tool, treat the results as a starting point and verify them yourself. Together, these strategies help students learn to read and write about difficult texts.