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Meh, I think using Sparknotes as a reading "aid" is just as bad as using it for an essay. You are getting info from/about the text through other people's work. You use that info in a reading quiz, class discussion, future essay, etc....so it's plagiarizing.
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<p>I'm not going to contest your morals, but that IMO is a narrow-minded view of cheating.
Look at the world. People see an easier way to do something. They copy it. They save time and effort to do something else. A company sees that another company is using new methods to boost output. They copy that method. They stay competitive with the rest of the market.
I am part of my school newspaper. We see what kinds of designs nationally recognized newspapers use and we implement those kinds of designs into our own issues. We now have the best newspaper in the state. </p>
<p>Copying others' works is how the world works. And like it or not, things will stay that way.</p>
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stuck on, he meant how did you arrive at the number 580 for how many people cheat at your school. get it?
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<p>oh! I thought s/he meant the number 1700. I'm more used to people calling me 'stuck'.
Anyway, it may not be accurate. Just give or take 5. But I know that an overwhelming majority of people at school cheat.</p>
<p>Meh. I say do whatever you want, just be prepared to suffer the consequences. And like someone mentioned, don't put on airs about being some supersmart whiz kid.
Most successful people often cheat anyways, so whatever.</p>
<p>And regarding SparkNotes, I don't think it's cheating. Heck, my AP English Lit. teacher recommends it.</p>
<p>If Sparknotes were cheating then that's totally unreasonable and you could say that any other supplementary readings that weren't assigned by the teacher is cheating. That's ridiculous.
So if I am required to study off of one chem book and I decide to buy a small pocket guide that's cheating because I'm not sticking to what the teacher assigned? So I suppose the dictionary is cheating since I'm supposed to figure out the meaning of the words I don't know by context?
Hmm something sounds awfully off here.</p>
<p>I see Sparknotes as reinforcement/emphasis/review.</p>
<p>Psycho, you miss the point. English class is not analogous to chem class. The whole POINT of English class is for you to comprehend texts and develop literary criticism skills. If you let someone else interpret the text for you, you're totally missing the point of the whole assignment. It's akin to not doing the reading because you're not developing your own reading comprehension.
On the contrary, in chem class, there will always be different problems for you to solve. If you have a guidebook that tells you how to solve certain types of problems, you still have to apply that knowledge from the guidebook to the specific problem you were given. But in Sparknotes, the exact text is right there, interpreted for you. You don't even have to read. That is the difference. IT IS CHEATING.
Looking in the dictionary isn't cheating because you have to take the dictionary meaning and then put it into the context of the text yourself, in order to understand it holistically. But if you use Sparknotes to tell you, it's like looking up the whole book in a dictionary--you've skipped work.</p>
<p>Well then, MallomarCookie, I respect your opinion though we might not agree. I guess it depends on one's interpretation of "cheating."
Cheers. I have nothing against you, just to clarify. :P</p>
<p>I don't want to fuel the argument but I just want to put in my two cents. </p>
<p>I agree almost entirely with MallomarCookie but I think all of us are making too many generalizations. I think Sparknotes is cheating because I've seen way too many students, upon presented with a literary analysis prompt, "Analyze the use of symbolism and theme in (some novel),' jump on to Sparknotes and leave their minds at the door. Sparknotes (although helpful in providing summaries and, like Psycho and many others pointed out, helping to 'guide' one's thinking) is ultimately doing more harm than good for those students. If a student completely relies on Sparknotes for a literary analysis paper, is that still 'using resources' or is that more like 'plagarism?' If you personally think that you go on to Sparknotes to structure your thinking, then props to you; but the point that I want to emphasize is that there is a great majority of students that are NOT like you. I, personally, find no need for Sparknotes because I think one should be able to arrive to the same conclusions as Sparknotes if one carefully structures his/her thinking. I rather increase my analytical abilities through the process of doing the work. I can read about the opinions and the analysis of others after I reach my own conclusions and then compare them -- it's a better method of learning, anyway.</p>
<p>would storing math rules on one's scientific calculator count as cheating...I know lots of people who do it on math tests. But they still do bad on them; I don't get it.</p>
<p>as competitive as most high schools are now, there's no way to cheat without harming somebody else anymore. If you cheat, and it bumps you up on the class ranks, you've just screwed the person behind you whose spot you've taken.</p>
<p>There is no excuse for cheating. Once you're in college, that kind of garbage can get you expelled, and your entire life will be wrecked. Success isn't as important as the means by which you got it.</p>
<p>How is it only cheating if you get caught? That's like saying it's okay to kill someone if the police don't find you. It's an absurd statement that could only come from cheaters wishing to justify their immoral actions. If you cheat, it will affect someone else, if not yourself, and will weigh on your conscience (if you have one). Is it worth it? I don't think so. </p>
<p>To stuck: I'm not exactly sure about my claim. I think that I saw it somewhere, and it was certainly on all of the other big exams that I've taken.</p>
<p>i guess cheating in high school is a norm. think about it. Think of those tedious vocab tests, and that your teacher is a old man who can barely see through his glasses (pity him)..... obviously, the whole class (except the one who thinks he/she will get his/her eyes melted out for cheating) would cheat everytime. Cheating, don't really want to say this but, cheating is an academic strategy. Everyone in this forum has cheated atleast once in their highschool life (besides you EXTREME christian/religion people). If i was asked whether or not i cheat, my answer would be "N/A". :)</p>