To transform information is to take a fact from the source and use it for your own purpose in your own words, order and voice, without changing what it says. It appears in every directed writing task, because the reader of your piece is not the reader of the source.
Start with selecting source material for a stated audience. This lesson shows what to do with the details once you have chosen them.
What is the difference between retelling and transforming?
Retelling follows the source. It keeps the same order, the same sentence shape and the same voice, perhaps with a few words replaced.
Transforming changes the job the fact does. It answers the question, “What is this fact for, in my piece, for this reader?” That usually changes where the fact sits, how it is phrased and what you say about it.
Ways to transform, step by step
- Decide the fact’s job. Is it evidence, a reason to worry, a call to action, a contrast?
- Change the voice. Move from reporting (“the council announced”) to speaking (“they have decided”).
- Change the order. Put the fact where your argument needs it, not where the source had it.
- Add the link. Say what the fact means for your reader in one short clause.
- Keep the facts exact. Numbers, names and claims must match the source.
Worked example
Source sentence: “Library visits have fallen by 18% over three years, although Saturday is still the busiest day.”
Task: a speech to fellow students against the library closures.
Retelling (weak): “Library visits have dropped by 18% in three years, but Saturday is still the busiest day.”
This is the source with “fallen” changed to “dropped”. It does nothing for the audience yet.
Transformed:
“Yes, fewer people walk through those doors than three years ago. But go there on a Saturday and you will struggle to find a seat, which tells me the library still does its job whenever people are free to use it.”
What changed.
- The fall is turned into a fair opening concession. You could keep the figure by writing “an 18% fall”.
- The busy Saturday becomes evidence for your argument.
- The voice is first person, spoken and direct to the audience.
- “Struggle to find a seat” is an inference from “busiest”, not a new fact. See Distinguish invented support from a permitted inference.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is lifting whole phrases and replacing only a few words.
Mistaken version: “The Harbour Youth Forum says the library is the only quiet place in the district where students can study and use free internet.”
Student’s rewrite: “The Harbour Youth Forum states the library is the sole quiet place in the district where students can study and use free internet.”
Only “says” and “only” changed. The sentence is the same, and it is still in a reporter’s voice.
Correction: “If you have ever tried to revise at home with a sibling shouting and a slow connection, you know why. The Youth Forum calls the library the only quiet place in the district with free internet”. The claim stays attributed and accurate, but the reader meets it through their own experience.
Check yourself
1. Source: “The council says the reading rooms will stay open from Tuesday to Friday.” Rewrite it for a letter to the council that opposes the closures, without copying the wording.
Show answer
One good version: “I understand that the reading rooms will be available from Tuesday to Friday, but that leaves students with nowhere to go on the two days when most of us are free.” It keeps the fact exact, changes the voice and uses it as a starting point for the argument. Check that “Tuesday to Friday” is preserved. Different wording is fine.
2. Is this a transformation? “The library will close on Sundays and Mondays from January, which is the plan that the council announced.” Explain.
Show answer
No. It is the source fact in a slightly different arrangement, with no audience, purpose or voice. To transform it, decide what the fact is for, for example: “From January, two of the days you might choose for a long study session will be gone.”
3. A student writes “the council will save RM90,000 every year, meaning the library will earn more.” Which part breaks the rule about keeping facts exact?
Show answer
“The library will earn more” is not in the source. The source says the change is expected to save money, not raise income. The figure is correct, but the added claim changes the meaning.
Where this leads next
Once you can reshape facts, your writing needs a clear position to shape them towards: see Develop an appropriate stance from given material. The summary selection and paraphrase studio is a good place to practise restating a fact without losing its meaning.
If your drafts keep sliding back into the source’s voice, our teachers can work on that habit in online one-to-one English First Language tuition.