5 Expert Tips to Ensure Originality in Your Essays

Writing is common in academic, and admission processes, and when you start work, it is part of your career as well. So, it’s prudent to start early on and learn how to craft a well-written, original essay.

One of the most common forms is essay writing, not the grade level, but more studied and researched essay writing. As you mature in your career, essay writing becomes complex with many rules and guidelines to follow, especially at the university level. The most important of all rules is—originality. But what do you mean by originality in the first place? Let’s dig deeper with the following tips.

1. When your idea is not yours

When you apply for admissions, you must have come across many college preparation resources, or university guidelines that emphasize the originality of your essay. This is because often you may have an idea but it does not mean that you are the “owner of the original idea”; someone else may have thought of the idea before you. So, how do you tackle this situation?

To avoid getting caught copying someone else’s idea, concept, or original work, research. It is simple as that. Read about the topic or idea that you want to write about. You want to thoroughly do research, cross-check references, and make sure to refer to these sources before writing your essay.

2. Coming up with an original idea

It’s hard to come up with an original idea but it is possible. According to an Oxford-Royale article, going for a niche topic, referring to minority issues, and including your own opinion, among other means, are the best ways to come up with original ideas for your essay.

When you write, add your own blend of the concepts you are writing about. For instance, no one will have the same childhood or experience that is uniquely yours. Narrating your own experience will not only engage your readers but also show the authenticity of your idea.

Another way of developing an original idea is voicing your opinion about a particular subject or topic. However, don’t get caught up in voicing the opinions of others, which is as good as plagiarizing.

3. The facets of plagiarism

Plagiarism is a nightmare for academics, professionals, editors, as well as those who deal with content. With the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools, it is even more difficult to filter out plagiarized works from the original ones.

So, the first rule of thumb is, don’t use these tools even if you have an original idea and struggle with writing. This is because you can take help from colleagues about the writing and present your idea but it is bad ethics to use AI tools to help you write. Besides, at this point in time, these tools are unreliable.

Another rule is, to learn all the rules of plagiarism—let’s list a few basic ones here.

• When it’s not your idea, you pass it on as your own.
• When you don’t own the copyright.
• When you haven’t taken permission from the owner, and use it without crediting.
• When you use a verbatim quote, content, or part of an article without credit or reference.
• When you use facts, and statistics researched by others without credits.
• And when opinions, thought leadership, and editorials belong to someone else.

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to find out what is considered plagiarism and understand how to avoid it when you are writing your essay.

4. Research is the standard

One of the most important aspects of essay writing, especially when you are writing an academic essay, it is important to do extensive research. It is given that a research essay should credit documents, research work, and essays by others. However, referencing may be the best way to avoid violations but it does not make up for an original essay write-up. So, how do you write an original research essay?

Taking your stance in the thesis statement. From there, work your way through your academic essay by giving evidence with researched references. But don’t just list references and quotes from there. Add in your argument and prove that your opinion is based on the evidence you have provided. When you add in arguments and opinions you are giving unique views of an established study, fact, or idea.

5. Original creatives as ideas

Some writing platforms, publishers, universities, and journals allow writers to add imagery or artwork. This opens up a whole new avenue for adding originality to your writing. In journalistic essays, this means throwing in your own photos taken of the events. In creative essay writing, you can use artwork or photos (again) to enforce your concept and present it in an original manner. And in academics, illustrations, tabulated graphs, and charts from your own researched data help in making your essay original.

There is no limitation in today’s digital world to add creatives to make your writing more authentic, personalized, and original. From presentations to interview podcasts, YouTube tutorials, and similar media are rich forms of creatives that you can use in your writing to make up for original ideas.

Wrap up

It’s not hard to ensure originality in your essay if you put in the effort. The above are just some ways to do so but you don’t have to limit yourself to them. The best way to go about originality is to read up, research, and concentrate on the idea that you want to present in your essay.

Whether it is a short admission essay or a lengthy research thesis, you don’t want to be caught in a plagiarism dispute. Not only will this be detrimental to your academic journey but also to your work career. So, go for the original; it needs a bit of hard work but it’s there in your head.

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