Class Location: The Internet.

Description: This class will inform you of the dangers of plagiarism.

Objective: To make sure students clearly understand the consequences of plagiarism and the self pride of your hard work.

 

"Just Don't Do It"

We often come across applicants who really, really don't want to use their original content for admission essays and plagiarize someone else's. We know it is hard to write a good admissions essay, but colleges and graduate schools want to know what you are about as a person. If you read through this web site and take time to organize your essay content, you will quickly realize you don't need to plagiarize.

We hope your ethics alone would convince you not to plagiarize; but unfortunately, those don't always carry enough persuasive power. As a result, we are going to focus on the reasons more near and dear to those who would be tempted to plagiarize. Here are two strong arguments against plagiarism.

1. You probably won't get away with it. The admissions staff reads a lot of essays. They are also very familiar with essay examples available in various college admission guides. The admissions committee will quickly realize that the essay does not "fit" the rest of the personality you are projecting in your application.

2. Have confidence in your writing ability. Don't be afraid to let your individual spirit shine. If you spend all of your free time working at a soup kitchen, an essay about how hard you study for finals will not fit your story.

The Difference between Recycling and Plagiarism

Occasionally college students want to know if it is okay to recycle content they already used in a previous admissions essay for a different college. This answer is an unequivocal "yes." Recycling essays can be effective and efficient. It is also completely ethical. As long as you wrote the essay, there is no reason why you can't use it in multiple applications. Just make sure the schools are similar and specify what makes you a right fit for them.