The lecture always challenges, qualifies, or casts doubt on the reading. Your job is to report the relationship — do not give your own opinion. Summarise all three lecture points.

• Reading a 250–300 word academic passage (3 min)
• Listening to a 1.5–2 min lecture on the same topic
• Writing a 150–225 word response summarising how the lecture relates to the reading

Replaced the old Independent Writing task in 2023. Responses must add something new — summarising what the two students already said earns no credit.

• Reading a short professor's question and two student responses
• Writing a 100+ word contribution that adds a new idea or builds on existing points
• Using specific evidence or reasoning to support your view

Direct copying of phrases from the reading is penalised. Paraphrase using synonyms and restructured sentences. Hedging is expected in academic writing — use it naturally.

• Hedging language (appears to, suggests that, may indicate)
• Academic connectives (however, in contrast, consequently, furthermore)
• Reporting verbs (the lecture argues, the author contends, the speaker claims)
• Paraphrasing without copying source language

Raters reward sentence variety — mix complex and simple sentences. One grammatical error per paragraph is acceptable; consistent errors lower the score significantly.

• Complex sentence structures (relative clauses, conditionals)
• Passive voice for academic tone
• Noun phrases and nominalisation
• Subject-verb agreement in complex sentences
• Punctuation (semicolons, colons, academic comma usage)