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March 07, 2007, 02:53 PM ET
Personal but Plagiarized
Personal essays are supposed to give prospective college students a chance to liven up their applications with material more individualistic than transcripts. Plagiarizing one of those essays, then, defeats the purpose of the whole enterprise, it would seem.
Even so, some students are ripping personal statements straight off the Web, according to a study conducted by Britain's Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Most college applicants fill out the forms online these days, the service says, which has made it all too easy for some to cut and paste passages from model essays posted online.
Is personal-essay plagiarism a widespread problem? It depends on whom you ask. Among British newspapers, the Telegraph reports that "the number of cheating teenagers could be as high as 20,000." But The Guardian notes that just 5 percent of the essays examined for the study showed evidence of theft. --Brock Read
Categories: Leadership, Student-Life
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