Strategies for Enhancing Academic Originality and Precision

Increase Originality Scores (unlisted)Increase Originality Scores (unlisted) - Notes

Increase originality score
Increase originality score - Notes

The provided video outlines practical strategies for students to improve their academic originality scores while simultaneously enhancing the overall quality and clarity of their Writing I, Writing II, and Thesis Seminar. By carefully analyzing an originality report, writers can identify opportunities to make their text more descriptive, specific, and structurally sound.

The strategies can be logically organized into four main areas:

1. Paragraph Structure and Component Sentences

   1. Introduction Paragraphs: An introduction should ideally be 5 to 8 sentences (about 140-180 words) and contain three specific components: a hook, the context of the problem (addressing questions like who, what, when, where, and why), and a concluding thesis statement.

   2. Body Paragraphs: These should also be 5 to 8 sentences, beginning with a strong topic sentence and concluding with a linking or summarizing sentence.
      Topic Sentences: Topic sentences must provide the main gist of the paragraph without being overly general or too specific 8, 9. Writers should avoid using the verb “to be,” the passive voice, specific examples, or lists of three or more items in the topic sentence.

   3. Evidence Sentences: The second sentence of a body paragraph should typically introduce evidence, such as facts, details, or statistics, accompanied by a citation 6, 12. Providing highly specific evidence makes writing the subsequent analysis much easier. Instead of using long lists of examples, it is better to focus deeply on one specific detail.

   4. Analysis Sentences: The role of an analysis sentence is to explain, comment on, and connect the evidence back to the topic sentence or the broader argument using the writer’s own words. Writers must be careful not to accidentally introduce additional evidence when they intend to write an analysis.

2. Citation Practices and Claim Attribution

   1. Check for Unsupported Claims: Writers must review their text sentence-by-sentence to ensure that every outside idea has a citation 19. A common cause of low originality scores is making strong claims immediately before a citation that actually stem from that source without proper attribution.

   2. Prefer Parenthetical Citations (Parenthetical Vs. Narrative Citations): To keep the focus on the academic concepts rather than the researchers, the speaker highly recommends using parenthetical citations at the ends of sentences rather than naming the authors directly in the text 22-25.

   3. Minimize Direct Quotes: Always paraphrase sources in your own words instead of using direct quotes, as direct quotes often act as “red flags” on originality reports.

3. Refining Grammar and Vocabulary

   1. Replace Demonstratives: Using standalone demonstrative pronouns (like “this,” “that,” or “these”) can easily trigger low originality flags 6, 22, 28. Instead, replace them with descriptive nouns, relative clauses (e.g., “technologies that…”), or paraphrase the previously mentioned idea using synonyms, hypernyms (broader terms), or hyponyms (more specific terms).

   2. Avoid “Trigger Words”: Words like “essential,” “important,” “vital,” “better,” or “best” tell the reader instead of showing them 32. Writers should remove these words and instead show why an idea is important through descriptive analysis.

   3. Additionally, avoid the pronoun “one” or the phrase “one of the most”.

   4. Strengthen Verbs: Avoid using the verbs “to be” (is/are) or “to have.” Instead, try converting nouns into active verbs to make the writing more dynamic and descriptive.

   5. Sentence Complexity: Be mindful of comma splices, run-on sentences, and packing too many ideas into a single sentence. Instead of using common conversational phrases (e.g., “A reason for this is that”), utilize subordinating clauses and transitional phrases to improve flow.

4. The Authentic Drafting Process

   1. Avoid Tech Assistance on Drafts: Students should not use translation software, grammar checkers, or other technology to write their drafts.

   2. Embrace Errors: It is much better to have grammatical errors in a first draft and maintain your authentic voice than to use technology that arbitrarily changes the text 21, 35. Students should work directly with instructors to genuinely understand their structural errors and learn how to fix them manually.

How_to_increase_your_originality_score
How_to_increase_your_originality_score - Notes