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- Written by Brent A Duncan, PhD
![Similarity reports highlight areas to review—not verdicts to judge. Focus on understanding, explanation, and your own analysis [Image: Copilot]](/images/Images/similarity-report-check250.png "Similarity reports highlight areas to review—not verdicts to judge. Focus on understanding, explanation, and your own analysis [Image: Copilot]")
Summary. Seeing a similarity score after submitting a paper can be confusing and stressful. This article explains what similarity reports really mean—and what they don’t. Rather than treating the percentage as a measure of plagiarism, it shows students how to focus on substance: their own thinking, analysis, and use of sources. You’ll learn why professors allow zero plagiarism, how similarity tools work, and why both high and low scores can raise questions. The article also clarifies common items that get flagged but aren’t necessarily plagiarism, such as references, templates, and scaffolded assignments. It addresses important gray areas, including retaking courses, reusing prior work, excessive quotation, and AI‑generated content. Most importantly, it helps students understand how instructors read similarity reports and how to revise responsibly. With practical guidance and a clear checklist, this resource encourages students to focus less on “hitting a number” and more on submitting work that genuinely reflects learning and originality.
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- Written by Brent A Duncan, PhD
![Using quotes strategically can strengthen arguments, showcase expertise, and engage your audience. [Image: Copilot]](/images/Images/quotations250.png "Using quotes strategically can strengthen arguments, showcase expertise, and engage your audience. [Image: Copilot]")
Effective quoting can elevate your academic and business documents, adding credibility and depth to your arguments on your website. However, improper use—such as excessive or unexplained quotes—can weaken your message, confuse readers, and suggest a lack of original thought, potentially undermining your professional or academic credibility. This guide targets students and professionals crafting documents for business and academic settings. By using quotes strategically, you can strengthen arguments, showcase expertise, and engage your audience. Below, we outline pitfalls to avoid and best practices to ensure quotes enhance your work.
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- Written by Brent A Duncan, PhD
SUMMARY: Discover why the 5x5 PowerPoint training wheels (five words per line, five lines per slide) fall short of engaging, professional presentations. The approach works to help beginners avoid text-heavy slides and learn the basics of PowerPoint design and operations. However, the results lack depth for complex topics, leading to monotony, oversimplification, and speaker dependence. Throw off the training wheels and learn how to use PowerPoint to develop powerful presentations that inform and persuade your audience. Learn tips for standalone slides to reach audiences who miss your talk: clear ideas, balanced visuals, and descriptive headings. Optimize Speaker’s Notes as your secret weapon for scripts, cues, FAQs, and notes--not for writing papers. Elevate your presentation skills within the PowerPoint design framework to blend text, visuals, multimedia, and data to ensure clarity, impact, and adaptability for diverse learning styles and communication goals.
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- Written by Brent A Duncan, PhD
I’ve noticed a lot of AI-generated content in the classroom and student assignments. While the university encourages us to explore AI as a tool to support our work, using AI to do our work violates the student code of conduct and makes us stupider. I asked Grok (xAI) to prepare a coaching script to help us understand how to use AI in a college classroom.
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- Written by Brent A Duncan, PhD
After chatting with Grok (xAI) about students using AI to do their homework, I recalled the storyline in Wall-e with humans who’ve become incompetent blobs [https://youtu.be/s-kdRdzxdZQ?si=W0fKhYyre0hIuzGU] after decades of AI-dependence. I asked, "Is it cool to say that students who use AI to do their homework are stealing from themselves by paying for an education that they're not getting while making themselves stupider?"