Final answer:
Restating or paraphrasing is a method to improve active listening skills, engaging you actively with the material and helping to maintain your own academic voice while understanding and relaying complex ideas more clearly.
Step-by-step explanation:
Restating or paraphrasing what the speaker says is a method to improve your active listening skills. When you paraphrase, you're actively engaging with the information presented, which requires a deeper level of processing than passive listening. This technique not only helps with comprehension but also allows you to maintain an academic voice and synthesize information from multiple sources.
Paraphrasing is beneficial in situations where direct quotations may disrupt the flow of your paper, when statistics need to be communicated more fluidly, or when the source's ideas are essential but you want to avoid borrowing the exact language. Additionally, it aids in clarifying complex or jargon-filled material, ensuring that the original meaning is preserved while the content is conveyed in your own style.