Help with plagiarism?

College Essays
1

<p>Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, because I've gotten really upset over this, and no one I've asked has been able to give me any helpful advice.</p>

<p>We've been writing college essays in AP lang since we're done with AP prep stuff, and the teacher put us in groups to discuss our essays. I was in a group with these two people, neither of whom had written their essays. So of course, mine was thoroughly read and discussed. The next day, one of the people brought in an essay that was basically a copy of mine in structure and in style. Only the story and sophistication of the writing (basically the polish of it) was different. Stupidly, I still allowed the other person, who insisted that he'd forgotten his essay, to read mine again (he ended up reading it 5 times, all thoroughly) and I didn't get to read his essay until about a week later, and it was, once again, a complete copy of mine in structure and style. He even told me that he was proud of the structure, as if he'd come up with it all by himself. </p>

<p>My English teacher told me "imitation is the finest form of flattery", which really doesn't make me feel any better, and my friends at school have been telling me different versions of "oh that sucks, I would've just written some crap for the group discussions", which obviously makes me feel even worse.</p>

<p>The worst thing is- after reading other essays from other people in the class, I realized that my story structure was really unique to my own writing, since I'm pretty into creative writing, and that's reflected in the structure I chose for my essay (and it's the structure I use for most of my pieces of writings as it works best for me). I was also hoping that my essay would be the highlight of my application, as I'm a little weaker in the breadth of extracurriculars. Those people, too, are applying to almost all the schools I am (liberal arts colleges).</p>

<p>Is there anything I should say to them to dissaude them from using the structure and style further? I've tried to tell them to try to find their own style, and that it doesn't seem to work well for them in their essays, but they haven't heeded any of it at all.</p>

2

<p>I <em>do</em> know how you feel, but I agree with your teacher. You should be proud that you’ve written this well that others want to emulate your style and structure. If you publish your writing (in any form), you run this “risk.” But face it: Would you rather people ignore your writing? Good writing is fun to read. GREAT writing changes people. An if people want to copy your writing, bask in the success… even when THEY take credit.</p>

3

<p>I’m sorry that you’re going through this aureile42i6. The whole thing sucks and I disagree wtih your teacher’s cavalier attitude about the situation. That being said there is not much you can do except move on and figure you have learned an important lesson. </p>

<p>As far as your essay being used from others from your class who are applying to many of the same schools I would not worry too much about that. Your essay will be unique to your application as will theirs. Aside from them copying word for word (or style for style) it will still be different. Unfortunately when you put it out there it became somewhat free for the taking. To make a bigger deal by complaining to the guilty students will not change the outcome and will just magnify the situation. You need to move on and quit worrying. It sounds like you are a talented writer and that talent will shine through in your essay and application.</p>

<p>Your situation is the reason both my D’s have always hated group projects in school. The concept is always great but they never seem to work out and one person ends up doing all the work (usually my kids to hear them tell it -lol). Either that or they’ve discovered that they are not comfortable with the quality of work others do and they are stuck doing recreating the whole thing. Given the choice both my girls would choose to work on their own.</p>

<p>Good luck:)</p>