Plagiarizing... someone's college essay

Applying to College
1

<p>OK, this has been bothering me so much all last week; I need confide in my fellow CC-ers. </p>

<p>There is this guy whom I'm not really friends with but we've had several AP classes together last year and say hi to each other at school. In AP Lit, we turned in college essays for a grade. I happened to see him rushing to print out his essay at the last minute in the media center. His essay looked VERY familiar; in fact, I immediately recognized it as my friend's essay from last year (a stellar essay that got him into an elite school). I joked, "Hey, I was going to turn in that essay too!" The kid FREAKED OUT, and I assured him I was only kidding.</p>

<p>Now that I think of it, that guy has cheated his way through all his classes, and THIS ISN'T RIGHT. But then, whenever someone came to me to ask whether they should turn in another person or not, I advised them not to do anything about it. I even criticized a girl for turning my friend in last year! </p>

<p>Maybe I can tell my teacher, and the guy will get like suspended and fail the class.. I don't want something that horrible to happen to him, even though he may deserve it. I talked to my parents, and they were just like, don't make a big deal out of it; that kid probably won't survive much longer anyway. </p>

<p>What to do.</p>

2

<p>Of course it's easy for me to say, since I don't know this guy at all and don't particularly care, but I would tell the teacher. You could even say that "someone" in the class plagarized, but say that you feel it is not your place to specify who or what. Just make the teacher aware of what's happening!</p>

<p>OR-- talk to the plagarizer at hand! Tell him you find it very unfair that you are working so hard while he is turning in the work of others. Also remind him that the essay came from (I'm assuming) a student at the same school, and that if you recognize it, it is likely that others will too. He's setting himself up for failure...</p>

3

<p>tell the teacher, not the plagiarizer. but make sure it's all confidential. maybe even leave an anonymous note or something. but seriously, don't let him get away with it. that's just unfair. he may get his comeuppance sooner or later, but it should be sooner.</p>

4

<p>I suggest that you tell the teacher, and give specifics. When cheaters are allowed to get away with cheating, everyone loses.</p>

<p>The cheater sounds pretty stupid. There's a good chance that the teacher may also recognize the essay. </p>

<p>It is unbelievable how lazy and stupid some people are. When I taught college, a student plagiarized a column from the school newspaper and then handed it in to the editor of the school newspaper to be published in the paper so that the student could get extra credit. The editor was the person who'd written the original column.</p>

5

<p>ITS NOT YOUR BUSINESS... This kid WILL get caught cheating in college and he will be expelled from that school...</p>

<p>I hate cheaters as much as the next kid, but it is not your place to get involved in this kid's academic life... If it were YOUR essay that he copied, it would be a different story... But you are in no way involved in the situation and you should keep it that way...</p>

<p>Honestly, this kid will get caught... The later in life he gets caught, the more severe the punishment is... Just leave him alone...your parents are right!</p>

6

<p>I don’t agree with toffee! If you decide to tell the teacher have the gut to be yourself. Anonymous letter? Yuck ! You are not in kindergarten anymore, you can take responsibility for your actions!
If I were you I would talk to the kid and tell him that he might get caught eventually and cheating and lying is not the way to go through life.</p>

7

<p>If your school has an honor code, take a good look at it. It may say as many schools' codes do that if you have knowledge of cheating, you need to let the school administration know. </p>

<p>As the old saying goes, in order for evil to flourish all that's needed is for the good people to do nothing.</p>

8

<p>everybody cheats and over cheaters will usually get caught or get away with it. It's sad, but it's life. Nothing's fair and everybody cheats their way through every now and then. I say leave the poor kid alone for he'll probably fail on his own anyways... Just because you tattletale on him won't change him and people will just think you are a "tattle" or something stupid like that...</p>

9

<p>If this kid was stealing your friend's calculator, lunch money or jacket, would you say nothing?</p>

<p>He's stealing your friend's ideas, his hard work and sacrifice. How will you feel , with what you know, when the kid starts flashing his acceptance to Fabulous U? </p>

<p>First, decide if you are going to do the brave (and unpopular) thing, and let the school staff know what's going on. Then you can decide on a course of action. An anonymous letter isn't a great way to go about it; better to tell the dean what you know, and let him/her handle it.</p>

10

<p>Still doesn't seem like a good idea to get the guy expelled. How would you feel if that happened to you? (although I'm pretty sure you don't cheat, huh) I guess you should tell on the guy, but probably talk to him first or just tell the teacher.. or you can even ask your friend who originally wrote the essay and how he feels about this (this seems like a good idea since the person who wrote the essay would care..)</p>

11

<p>I agree with those who say you should say something. This would reflect really poorly on the quality of applicants from your school if the colleges recognized it from a previous year, and don't think that's not gonna happen. It is not your concern what the punishment is, really, that's another matter. But I do see it as your obligation to bring it to your teacher's attention. Copying essays is pretty clearly out of line and the guy knows better. Best to catch it before it is sent off, so do it right away.</p>

12

<p>How did he get the essay?</p>

13

<p>"a leader must be prepared to make an unpopular decision" - Winston Churchill.</p>

14

<p>He's not going to get expelled.. maybe suspended for a day or get a 0 for the assignment. </p>

<p>The kid asked my friend for his essay because he wanted an "example." The original writer had no idea that he'd actually copy the essay. Also, the orginal writer only applied to one school, so there wouldn't be any risk of the adcoms recognizing the essay. OK, the original writer- my "friend"- is actually my older brother. That's a big part of the reason why this whole situation bothers me. I helped him proof-read it many times and saw him work hard on it. It's a PERSONAL statement about my friggin family.</p>

<p>Anyway, I talked to the copier about how it's not right and that he should write his own and turn it in. I thought I should let him confess, but he denied the fact he copied the entire essay. He said he copied a few paragraphs and the rest is all his work and effort. According to him, he wrote other essays on his own, which he's going to send to colleges. I don't know if that makes any sense because it doesn't really to me.</p>

15

<p>before you tell the teacher and screw the kids life up. I'd say talk to him.</p>

<p>Ive had problems with chronic plagerizers too. There this girl in by ap bio class who just helps herself to my answers. I sometimes give my answers away but helping yourself to them is another matter. I almost wanted to bust her for cheating on a test. But I realized that doing so would be just a immature as cheating off another person. You are going to ruin this kids life, just cuz he is being immature!?</p>

<p>So I ended up talking to her about the problem. We dont really like each other and we both know it so its kinda a "cold war" now in class. But I still think thats preferable to ruining his college app.</p>

16

<p>awww...I'm sorry that it was your brother's essay. I would have suggested that you stay anonymous, but the cheater will know it is you now that you have talked to him. I would just confront the teacher about what you saw, but ask if you could remain anonymous to everyone else. If the cheater confronts you, deny deny deny. Just tell him that he would have eventually gotten caught, and better now then later.</p>

17

<p>Why deny if confronted by the cheater? Heck, it was the OP's brother's essay. The cheater would be incredibly stupid or narcissistic to assume that the student wouldn't tell the teacher. </p>

<p>Frankly, I'm surprised that the OP even bothered to post about this. Wouldn't the OP turn a classmate in if the OP saw them stealing their brother's wallet or other belongings? Doesn't family loyalty count for anything.</p>

<p>So what if the cheater figures out that the OP told? Also, frankly, teachers are not stupid. The teacher may very well recognize the essay. And if the essay was extremely good, even if it wasn't turned into that particular teacher, the teacher who assigned it may have shown it to other teachers. </p>

<p>Meanwhile, I highly doubt that the cheater used only a few paragraphs (which still is plagiarizing -- big time). A person who'd do that certainly would lie to save their skin. More than likely the cheater is using the whole essay and is planning to send the essay to colleges, too.</p>

<p>The assignment clearly is to help students create excellent college essays that they can use as they apply. The school is going out of its way to help students do good college apps. Neither of my sons' schools did things like that, so the OP and the cheater are very lucky people.</p>

<p>Since the cheater is taking the lazy, unethical way on this kind of assignment that has a clear benefit to himself, one can only assume that when teachers' backs are turned, he is doing even worse. I would bet money that unless the OP speaks up, he will be sending that essay word for word to the places he's applying to. </p>

<p>And so what if the cheater gets mad if he's turned in. He is the one who's at fault. He should be ashamed, not blaming others for problems he's causing himself.</p>

<p>Also by turning him in, you might be preventing even worse from happening to him. A person who'd cheat on something like this might cheat on other very important things. Better to learn in h.s. about how cheating can hurt than to learn that lesson in college by being expelled.</p>

18

<p>otherwise dont tell on the kid, hes just trying to play the system, dont be a rat</p>

<p>but since its your big bro, then tell him and let him decide how to deal with it</p>

19

<p>if you really want to not hurt him that badly but embarrass him or make him seriously rethink his morals, maybe write a letter to college(s) he is applying to letting them know about the issue and the contacts for your friend (the real writer of the essay), so that they can confirm it. </p>

<p>i dunno.....northstarmom is right...he should be ashamed.
to steal someone else's ideas adn moreover someone else's personality and character is completely wrong. horrible thing to do. </p>

<p>whatever you choose to do, he has to be punished for this.</p>

20

<p>I think that you should confront the cheater first and let him know that you don't appreciate him stealing you brothers hard earned essay ( and not just a regular essay, a college entrance one, I KNOW your brother really worked for it as I am currently doing my own common application essay). Let him know that you are going to report him to the teacher. Whatever punishment he gets, he deserves it. It was stupid of him to take your brother's essay ( What an idiot).
ANd... He misused your brother's kindness. Your brother was trying to help him out by giving letting him read it.</p>