5 Factors That Impact Your Writing Assignment Score

Good writing comes in many forms. There’s no perfect formula for becoming a good writer other than practicing it.

When it comes to assessing any of your writing assignments, several factors can influence your score.

Here are five noteworthy factors that typically impact the evaluation of your writing:

1. Table of Contents

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   Focus, Structure & Development

Many times, while writing, students lose the focus of their assignment or fail to establish it. Your focus is not the question or the title of the paper, it’s your response or opinion.

Separate the topic and the focus.

Once you’ve figured that out, map out the structure.

Whatever your assignment may be about, follow the general order of any write-up. Start with the introduction, follow with the main discussion, and end with a concise conclusion.

Another thing to pay attention to is how you develop your ideas and sentences. Don’t jump around with your concepts. That will just confuse the reader. 

Check out these strategies to help you find your focus and structure.

2. Cohesion & Clarity

Clarity and cohesion determine the quality of your writing.

It means presenting your ideas and information in a clear, understandable manner while ensuring that the piece flows fluently and logically.

Cohesion is allowing a rational and smooth connection and transition of ideas. Do your sentences make sense altogether?

Clarity refers to the readability of your assignment. Is it understandable and concise? Or is it ambiguous and vague?

Here are a few pointers to improve cohesion and clarity in your writing:

• Instead of creating complex sentences, use transitional words.
• Use plain language. You can improvise later.
• Organize your thoughts on paper.
• Avoid jargon.
• Always proofread before you finalize your submission. 

3. Relevance

Relevance in writing refers to the direct connection between your ideas, arguments, and the topic, purpose, or context of your paper.

It means ensuring that the content and information you present are appropriate, significant, and meaningful concerning the topic and the subject matter.

Understand and acknowledge the prompt or topic at hand. What is the objective of the task? See to it that you don’t lose focus.

Determine the purpose or goal of your writing. Are you providing information, justifying an argument, analyzing a concept, or expressing an opinion?

Consistently check the relevance of your content.

4. Originality & Critical Thinking

Your originality, creativity, and critical thinking skills are judged through your piece.

Practice researching, reading, and exploring news articles, encyclopedias, and online blogs frequently. Read up on anything and everything that’ll give a boost to your creativity – yes, even comic books!

This will help you understand different viewpoints and perspectives. 

Try to think independently. Form your own opinions through your research and find a way to express them.

Definitely avoid using AI and paraphrasing tools. Today, AI technology is being shoved down our throats, but we must resist it. The human touch in academic writing is essential for an unbiased and fair score.

There may be times when you find yourself experiencing a rut or writer’s block. Learn to come out of it organically. 

5. Grammar, Punctuation & Vocabulary 

The correctness of your paper is decided by the appropriate use of grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary.

Use proper grammar rules to construct sentences. Pay attention to subject-verb agreement, verb tense consistency, usage of pronouns, and voices.

Follow the rules of punctuation, including Oxford commas, periods, quotation marks, and capitalization, to ensure precision and legibility.

Use correct spelling and appropriate vocabulary to convey your ideas accurately. Expand your vocabulary by adopting a reading hobby.

Be mindful of commonly misspelled words (e.g., definitely not definitely) and homophones (e.g., bear and bare).

Conclusion

Never ignore the final steps of any writing assignment: citing your sources and proofreading. You wouldn’t want to plagiarize or miss silly errors.

Lastly, always review the assignment guidelines and rubrics provided to you to understand the specific criteria used for grading. Sticking to the rules is the surest way to maintain a high score.