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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, do colleges check for plagiarism in our application essays.

I'm curious, do colleges actually check our application essays for plagiarism? I'm not planning on plagiarizing, but I want to make sure I don't accidentally include anything that might be flagged as plagiarism. How careful should I be when writing my essay?

Yes, colleges do check for plagiarism in application essays. Many colleges use software like Turnitin or other plagiarism detection tools to ensure the originality of the essays submitted. It's essential to submit an original essay, as plagiarism can lead to severe consequences, including rescinded admission offers and damaged reputation.

To avoid accidental plagiarism, it's crucial to be mindful when writing your essay. Here are some tips to help you:

1. Always give proper credit to sources you have used or cited, whether they are quotes, statistics, or ideas. This can be done through in-text citations or footnotes.

2. Paraphrase and summarize carefully. When you rephrase someone else's work, ensure that you maintain the original meaning but use your own words and writing style.

3. Use online tools like Grammarly or Plagscan to check for unintentional plagiarism before submitting your essay. These tools can help you identify any sections that may be flagged as plagiarized and give you the opportunity to revise them.

4. Finally, always proofread your essay and make sure it reflects your own thoughts, experiences, and voice. A well-written, personal essay will most likely be free of plagiarism.

By being diligent with these steps, you should be able to submit an essay that is authentic and original. Best of luck with your application process!

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It’s a point of pride for many institutions to view their applicant pool as the cream of the crop, obviously untainted by plagiarism or cheating. It’s also the purpose of an admissions committee to peruse applications without suspicion or bias. Therefore, it’s easiest to assume that applications are honest representations of student potential.

But are they?

If students who engage in plagiarism are the most vulnerable and desperate students—why wouldn’t those behaviors cross over into the world of higher education admissions?

The realm of admissions is fraught for students. Competition is fierce . Students may feel desperate. The stakes are very, very high; students feel their entire future is based on which university they attend. For so many, their entire remembering lives focus on this very moment.

Even decades later, every moment of my own college applications process remains vivid in my memory. I still have nightmares (along with the one about missing a final exam) about the admissions process. I remember reading samples of successful college essays and yearning to write such winning statements. I remember aching over every word as I wrote my own essay. I remember the feeling of being judged. Of not being “enough.” I remember running to the mailbox for months, dreaming of big envelopes. I remember cohorts at school sharing to which universities they’d been accepted. I remember the counseling center holding Ivy League acceptances in the spotlight.

This emotional battleground may sound familiar—these are all the components that put students at risk of plagiarism. These are factors that leave students, not to mention their parents, vulnerable to plagiarism and dishonesty.

So what happens under temptation? When one makes decisions under stress, one thinks about what one can live with. One wonders if what one is doing is legal.

Is lying on your application essay against the law ? So far, none of the students in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal have been charged—the charges have instead named parents and largely focused on money laundering, mail fraud, and racketeering . So while lying on your application essay is clearly an act of misconduct, the message is that it may not be “against the law.”

So what’s the message here? Just don’t get caught? The act of cheating fades into the background in the world of legal ramifications, and in the foreground are consequences for the ways in which payment was made. Also in the foreground are the universities themselves, whose reputations are on the line. So who’ s at risk?

When firms exist to coach students through the application process, sometimes crossing over into essay mill territory , they take control of the narrative and make this territory morally ambiguous. As a result, “getting help” on college applications isn’ t presented with moral clarity to students.

Another moral litmus test is the question, “What would your mother think?” If you felt your parents wanted you to go to an elite college, above all else—it’s logical to think your mom would approve, let alone participate in misconduct .

Are we making clear how vulnerable college applications are to cheating? And how cheating is tempting? And the ways in which one can justify dishonesty?

It’s common for institutions to say they don’t have a problem with plagiarized application essays. To say, “No way would anyone who applies to our institution plagiarize.” Or to say, “There’s no way to plagiarize a personal statement because it’s so personal.”

Janet D. Stemwedel, notes in her article, “ When Applicants for Medical Residencies Plagiarize ,” that 5.2% of 4,975 medical residency personal statements contained evidence of plagiarism.

When you admit someone who’s plagiarized or outsourced their application essay into your institution, you’re poisoning your culture. How can you expect someone who’s plagiarized their way through admissions to embrace an ethical culture on campus? How can you expect someone who’s plagiarized their application essay to uphold academic integrity?

The studies are only now being conducted on links between plagiarized application essays and subsequent instances of plagiarism on campus. The preliminary anecdotes make clear the possibility of a connection.

So the short answer is that you cannot expect someone who’s plagiarized their application essay to uphold academic integrity on campus. You must make plagiarism detection a part of your institution’s admissions process. You must free up your admissions committee to read applications without suspicion.

We’ve already seen through various admissions scandals the stain they leave on an institution’s reputation . We’ve already seen through various admissions scandals the short cuts and side doors people are willing to take to enter higher education. What’s stopping students who got away with cheating on their applications from continuing this pattern of misconduct once on campus?

As we stated earlier, earlier academic dishonesty leads to later workplace deviance .

And yes—the majority of students don’t cheat on their applications. The majority of students don’t outsource their application essays. The majority of students don’t plagiarize. But are you comfortable with even 1% acceptance of students who cheated on their applications? Of students for whom “short-cut” answers are an acceptable component of their playbook?

In a 2012 Insider Higher Education article entitled, “ Dishonorable Conduct? ” written in response to a cheating scandal at Harvard University , Allie Grasgreen states, “Perhaps the main culprit in such behavior, experts say, one that is ingrained deeply in college students today—particularly at elite universities like Harvard—is the idea that the main objective should be to pass, not to learn.”

In the same article, Teddi Fishman, director of Clemson University’s International Center for Academic Integrity , says:

“The students who make it to us (and especially the ones who end up in schools like Harvard) have learned exactly what they have to do to succeed, and sadly, that often has very little to do with becoming educated….Instead, it’s almost solely about figuring out what will be asked (in papers, tests, and other assessments), learning that material long enough to produce it when necessary, and then moving on to the next thing.”

Fishman says that for many students, the educational process “is simply a means to an end.”

This on-campus cheating and short-cut mentality could just as easily be applied to application essays, with the singular objective being “get accepted.” It goes to follow that such a person would bring that short-cut mentality with them onto your campus. It’s endemic to the environment, and while it shouldn’t exist at all, you must make sure they do not enter your gates.

And vice versa—someone who has the basis for academic honesty going in will be way more likely to uphold academic integrity. And we can surmise that ensuring the admission of honest students would then decrease plagiarism cases and scandals, thereby upholding an institution’s academic reputation. Who would you bet on to represent you throughout the course of a lifetime?

Want to uphold academic integrity in your admissions process? Learn more about iThenticate .

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College Essay Plagiarism and the Use of A.I.

Previously Published on March 2, 2011:

What do President Joe Biden, poet T. S. Eliot, and historian Stephen Ambrose all have in common? They have all, at some point, been accused of plagiarism. While Eliot’s plagiarism would be discovered posthumously, President Biden and Ambrose would live to regret their lapses in judgment.

The Consequences of Plagiarism in College Essays

The consequences of plagiarism on a college essay , in particular, can reverberate for a lifetime. It can very well result in one’s admission being rescinded, or, if one’s already enrolled, their expulsion. In fact, degrees can even be revoked. And then there’s the embarrassment it would bring to the student and their family, school, and community.

Getting Help with College Essays: Is It Okay?

Now, is it okay to get help with a college essay? You bet! To not brainstorm college essay topics with someone well versed in highly selective college admissions, and to not have someone review and critique those essays can put an applicant at a significant disadvantage.

Novelists don’t publish books without the help of their editors. Television writers don’t see their scripts go into production without notes from production company, studio, and streaming executives. It’s all part of the creative process.  Good  writing is about rewriting.

But notice we referenced  human  editors and  human  film and television executives. We didn’t reference ChatGPT because any college applicant who uses ChatGPT to help formulate their college essays is making a grave mistake. Not only will their admissions essays turn out poorly written and formulaic, but they run the risk — a risk surely not worth taking — that an admissions committee will use AI detection software to determine if a student’s writing is strictly their own. Do you really think they haven’t thought of that?

Artificial Intelligence Should Not Be Used for College Essays

Even students who use Chat GPT or some other form of AI in only the brainstorming or outlining process of college essays rather than the writing process are making an error in judgment since the outlines for the essays themselves will turn out formulaic. Indeed, even when students think they’re not plagiarizing from a source, they often do unknowingly. Admissions officers at America’s elite universities won’t care if an applicant did so knowingly or unknowingly. Their fate will be sealed — their application will end up in the pile of rejections.

Do Colleges Check for Plagiarism and AI in Admission Essays?

At present,  The Common Application — shockingly — doesn’t yet have AI detection software built into its platform for colleges. As such, it will be up to individual colleges to run essays through the software. But this software exists , and it’s already  quite accessible  — even to individual admissions officers who suspect an essay might have been written with the aid of AI. And as AI evolves in the coming years, we suspect  every  elite college will run essays through such software. 

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The Perils of Plagiarizing Your College Application Essay

Kate Sliunkova

AdmitYogi, Stanford MBA & MA in Education

Applying to college can be a daunting task, with many moving parts to keep in mind. Amongst the most critical is an application essay, often viewed as the most personal part of the admissions process. This essay is supposed to give admissions officers an insight into who you are as a person, your passions, and your goals. However, many students make the grave mistake of plagiarizing their application essays, which can have severe consequences. In this article, we'll discuss the perils of plagiarism in college application essays and what you can do to avoid it.

Understanding Plagiarism in College Applications

Before we get started, it's essential to understand what plagiarism is and why it is such a significant issue in college application essays. At its core, plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else's ideas or words as your own, without giving them proper credit. In other words, it's cheating and is taken very seriously in academic settings.

Plagiarism is not only unethical but can also have severe consequences for students. It can lead to a loss of credibility, academic sanctions, and even expulsion from school. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it in your college application essays.

What Constitutes Plagiarism

Plagiarism can take many forms but is most commonly found in the following examples:

• Copying and pasting content from another website or source without proper citation.
• Paraphrasing someone else's words too closely and not giving them credit.
• Using someone else's ideas or arguments without acknowledging them.
• Having someone else write your essay for you and passing it off as your own work.

It is essential to understand that plagiarism is not limited to written content. It can also occur in images, graphs, and other forms of media. Therefore, it is crucial to give proper credit to the original source in all aspects of your college application.

Common Types of Plagiarism in Application Essays

The pressure to create a perfect application can lead to plagiarism in several ways. Some common types of plagiarism found in college application essays include:

• Using essays from other applications or online sources and changing a few words to make it "yours."
• Copying and pasting from your previous work without proper citation.
• Copying from other people's essays or buying essays online and submitting them as your own.

It is crucial to remember that college application essays are an opportunity for you to showcase your unique perspective and personality. Admissions officers want to hear your voice and your story, not someone else's. Therefore, it is essential to avoid plagiarism and write original content that reflects who you are as a person.

Additionally, many colleges now use plagiarism detection software to ensure the authenticity of application essays. Therefore, even if you think you can get away with plagiarism, the risk of getting caught is high, and the consequences can be severe.

In conclusion, plagiarism is a serious issue in college application essays that can have severe consequences for students. It is essential to understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it in your writing. Remember, your college application essay is an opportunity to showcase your unique perspective and personality, so be authentic and write from the heart.

The consequences of plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense that can have severe consequences, both academically and personally. It is a breach of academic integrity and can lead to numerous negative outcomes.

Rejection from Colleges and Universities

One of the most significant consequences of plagiarism is the rejection of college and university applications. Admissions officers are experienced in identifying copied content, and if they catch you plagiarizing, your application is unlikely to make it past the initial screening process. This can severely impact your academic and career prospects, as you may miss out on the opportunity to attend your desired institution.

Moreover, colleges and universities have strict plagiarism policies, and if caught, you may face disciplinary action, including failing classes or even being expelled from school.

Damage to Academic Reputation

Being caught plagiarizing can damage your academic reputation, and it may also affect your future applications to graduate school or jobs. In academic and professional settings, integrity is highly valued, and being caught plagiarizing can lead to a loss of trust and respect from peers and colleagues. This can have long-term negative impacts on your career prospects and personal life.

Legal and Financial Ramifications

Plagiarism is not only an ethical violation but also an illegal act. It can result in legal action taken against you, including copyright infringement charges. This can lead to financial issues due to loss of scholarships and grants, legal fees, and a tarnished reputation that can impact future employability.

In addition, plagiarism can also have personal consequences, such as guilt, shame, and a loss of self-esteem. It is essential to understand the severity of plagiarism and its potential consequences to avoid making such a mistake.

Therefore, it is crucial to always give credit where credit is due and to use proper citation methods to avoid plagiarism. It is better to put in the extra effort to create original content than to risk the severe consequences of plagiarism.

How Colleges Detect Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a serious offense in academic writing and can lead to severe consequences, including expulsion from college. As a result, colleges and universities have developed various tools and techniques to detect plagiarism in students' essays and other academic works.

Plagiarism Detection Software

One of the most common tools used by college admission officers to detect plagiarism is plagiarism detection software. These programs, such as Turnitin and SafeAssign, are designed to scan essays and other academic works for any copied content from other sources. The software compares the submitted work against a vast database of existing works to identify any similarities and flag them as potential instances of plagiarism.

While plagiarism detection software is not foolproof and can sometimes produce false positives, it is still an effective tool that has helped colleges and universities to catch many instances of plagiarism.

Expert Admissions Officers

Experienced admissions officers are another valuable resource in detecting plagiarism. These professionals have read countless essays and application materials and can often spot plagiarized content simply by reviewing your application essay alongside other application materials. They have a keen eye for identifying inconsistencies in writing style, language, and tone that may suggest plagiarism.

Additionally, admissions officers may ask follow-up questions during the interview process to clarify any inconsistencies or discrepancies they may have noticed in your application materials. These questions can help them to spot potential instances of plagiarism and ensure that the application materials are entirely original.

Cross-Checking with Other Application Materials

Admissions officers have access to a wealth of information about applicants, including academic transcripts and essays from past coursework. They can use this information to cross-check your current application materials for any similarities in writing style or language that may suggest plagiarism.

For example, if you submit an essay that uses the same sentence structure and vocabulary as an essay you wrote for a previous class, it may raise red flags for the admissions officers. They may investigate further to determine if the content is original or plagiarized.

Overall, colleges and universities take plagiarism very seriously and have developed various tools and techniques to detect it. By using a combination of plagiarism detection software, expert admissions officers, and cross-checking with other application materials, they can ensure that the application materials are entirely original and free from plagiarism.

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism in Your Essay

Avoiding plagiarism is vital. Here are some tips to help you develop an original and authentic essay:

Start Early and Plan Your Essay

The earlier you start, the better your chances of avoiding plagiarism. Starting early allows you to have enough time to research and gather information from different sources. You can also create an outline, brainstorm, and create a rough draft, which will help you to see what tasks must be done ahead of schedule. This will also give you enough time to review your work and make necessary changes.

Use Your Own Voice and Experiences

Admissions officers are interested in getting to know you as a person. Share experiences and thoughts that have shaped who you are and make it your own. Remember that this essay is your story, and no one can tell it better than you! Use your own words and avoid copying content from other sources. You can also add personal anecdotes and examples to make your essay more engaging.

Properly Cite Sources and Quotations

If you need to include information from other sources, make sure to cite them in your essay properly. Failure to do so is considered plagiarism, even in the case of unintentional plagiarism. Make use of the correct citation format for the source. This not only helps you avoid plagiarism but also shows that you have done thorough research and can back up your arguments with credible sources.

Seek Feedback from Trusted Sources

Before submitting your application essay, ask trusted sources to review your essay for content or plagiarism. Family members, friends, and teachers can provide you with constructive criticism and spot mistakes that you may have missed. You can also seek help from professional editors who can help you polish your essay and ensure that it is free from plagiarism.

Remember that plagiarism is a serious offense that can have severe consequences. It can damage your academic and professional reputation and even lead to legal issues. By following these tips, you can avoid plagiarism and create an original and authentic essay that showcases your skills and personality.

In conclusion, plagiarism is never worth the risk. The consequences can be severe and may damage your academic record for many years. You can avoid plagiarism in your college application essay by starting early, creating a plan, sharing personal experiences, properly citing sources and quotations, and getting feedback from trusted sources. Remember, it's your story, and no one can tell it better than you!

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What Are the Consequences of Plagiarism in College Applications?

• September 14, 2021

Most students dream of joining a good college, and of course, it is their top priority. They are busy filling out applications, writing essays , and a statement of purpose, which can help them set themselves apart from tons of university applications. In this effort, several students try to cheat by copying content from the Internet, which will rob their chance of getting into a top college. The consequences of plagiarism in college applications are severe and colleges are in a better position at detecting it.

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How Does Plagiarism in College Applications Occur?

Educational institutions, especially colleges and universities receive a large number of applications from students. Are those applications free of plagiarism? It is true that students are desperate to get into one of the leading colleges in the world. When competition is fierce and the stakes high, they try different ways to have the winning statements in the application get shortlisted.

The students who are vulnerable try to use someone’s work or engage an essay mill to write on a topic of their interest. What makes students resort to unethical practices? When consequences of plagiarism are becoming more severe, and chances of detecting plagiarism are higher using the advanced tools, students are still accused of plagiarism as they keep taking the risk of doing it. Here are some reasons why plagiarism happens in college applications.

• Fear of Losing

Unlike the students in the past, the students today are under tremendous pressure of doing more. They are always under stress to score good grades to acquire scholarships, get admissions in a university, get a job or internship, and so on. For these, they need to write well to demonstrate their potential skills, which is difficult for many students. When they are not confident about their writing skills but are desperately looking for a high grade, they are induced to cheat, which leads to college application plagiarism. Students do not wish to cheat, but the fear of failure forces them to take a chance.

• Score Higher Grade

The other way round is most students want to score higher grades to join one of the best universities in the country or world. They think that their future depends on this, and spend most of the time thinking about scoring better. With parents joining them, they are emotionally challenged. All these make them take a risk of cheating or causing plagiarism.

How Can You Avoid It?

There are numerous ways to prevent plagiarism in university applications.

• Students can be educated on what is plagiarism and the different types of plagiarism. When writing application essays, plagiarism occurs unintentionally owing to inadequate summarizing and paraphrasing, confusion regarding what is common knowledge, lack of understanding about citation styles and wrong conceptualizing of patch-writing.
• They should learn how to paraphrase a text in their own words, understand what is quoting and summarizing.
• Make proper notes when using a text from the original source, and provide appropriate citations according to the writing style.
• They need to know to use quotation marks when using the original test and cite it properly.

Using a Plagiarism Checker

Students should be made aware of the use of advanced plagiarism checkers , which can detect any type of plagiarism in college application essays. The tool can scan and deliver the results in seconds. A plagiarism checker for universities can conduct in-depth scanning by checking an extensive range of external sources, as well as internal sources for any similar content.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology facilitates the easy detection of files in all Unicode languages. Other than this, it helps scan physical content using OCR technology. The grading tool helps score the application essays easily and effectively.

Consequences of Plagiarism in a College Application

If you are not true on your college applications, is it unlawful? There are no instances of students charged for such practices. Nevertheless, the consequences of plagiarism or cheating are not small. The college admission committee will reject applications if they find strong evidence of plagiarism in admission essays. Such an action is a warning for students to not fail in complying with the codes of conduct that affect academic integrity. Most educational institutions are spending a lot of time and energy steering clear of plagiarism in college admissions. Students are educated on the outcomes and new resources to help them avoid plagiarism.

By rejecting applications, the admission committee at the university dissuades students to carry the cheating or copying tendency to the campus. They claim that such students cannot uphold academic honesty, as well as adopt the ethical culture on campus. The severity of consequences does not end there, students responsible for cheating will face expulsion from college and destruction of reputation. They will be rejected by other institutions and may have to face any legal action for copyright infringement.

Sometimes, the original author will have to be compensated for breaking the copyright law. You should also be worried about being questioned by the college administration staff, where your academic qualifications, objectives, and dream are questioned. You lose your teachers’ faith and respect, which you gained through your academic effort and honesty. You cannot afford to lose it by an unethical act. It is found that students who have gotten away with plagiarism detection on their college essays may continue this form of misconduct on college campuses and later on the job. Thus, cheating on college applications through shortcuts may harm the ethical environment of the campus. As it grows to become endemic, it should be stopped at the gates itself.

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How Will Admission Officials Respond to Essay Plagiarism?

Question: What are the consequences of plagiarizing a college admissions essay and getting caught? I was just wondering what would happen if a college admission officer notices that two essays that he has read are very similar, even exactly the same. What would he do about those two applicants? Would he contact them both, just one of them, or not consider their applications at all? I would really like an answer to this question.

In the old days before most of us dwelled at least part-time in cyberspace, if two similar essays were submitted to the same college, they would probably come from the same--or neighboring--high schools. While I can't speak for every admission official, my best guess is that most would begin by wondering how stupid a student could be to copy the work of a competitor applicant. However, the admission folks would not be able to tell which kid was the guilty (and stupid) one, so they'd then contact the students' guidance counselor (or counselors) to ask about the individuals involved. In some instances, the counselor might be able to shed light on the situation right away ("Leon has never had an original thought in his life") but, in most cases, the counselor would meet with the students and wait for one of them to confess (or at least to appear guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt). I suppose there could be some occasions where there is even mutual guilt. ("I'll write your essay for fifty bucks. In fact, I already have a good one in my files.")

Now, of course, thanks to the Internet, it's possible for strangers who live thousands of miles apart to share (or steal) all sorts of information, including college essays. Even so, admission officials who spot potential plagiarism would mostly likely still go straight to the school counselors with their concerns, regardless of the distance that separates them.

Occasionally, similar essays may be truly coincidental. If, for example, Brandon and Brendon are both starters on the same state-championship basketball team and both are also fairly simplistic writers, I can imagine that their "Winning the Big Game" essays might sound strikingly alike. So the only crime committed would be boring admission folks to death. ;-) Again, that's something that a school counselor should be able to clarify.

I hope you know that college administrators take plagiarism very, very seriously, and this begins even before students are admitted. So I also hope that your question is a theoretical one and doesn't spring from any actual occurrence.

Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.

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When college applicants plagiarize, Turnitin can spot them

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The student’s admissions essay for Boston University’s MBA program was about persevering in the business world. “I have worked for organizations in which the culture has been open and nurturing, and for others that have been elitist. In the latter case, arrogance becomes pervasive, straining external partnerships.”

Another applicant’s essay for UCLA’s Anderson School of Management was about his father. He “worked for organizations in which the culture has been open and nurturing, and for others that have been elitist. In the latter case, arrogance becomes pervasive, straining external partnerships.”

Sound familiar? The Boston University student’s essay was written in 2003 and had been posted at businessweek.com. The UCLA applicant was rejected this year — for plagiarism.

The detection of such wholesale cheating in college applications is on the rise due to the use of Turnitin for Admissions, an anti-plagiarism database service that compares student essays to an immense archive of other writings. Around the country, more than 100 colleges and universities have adopted it, mainly in graduate divisions, although Stanford University is among the dozen schools starting to use it for freshman applicants this year.

That growth highlights the search for authenticity in college admissions at a time when the Internet offers huge amounts of tempting free material, increasing numbers of private coaches sell admissions advice, and online companies peddle pre-written essays. In addition, the larger numbers of applications from overseas have raised concerns about cheating that may be difficult for U.S. schools to discover unaided.

“The more we can nip unethical behavior in the bud, the better,” said Andrew Ainslie, a senior associate dean at UCLA Anderson. “It seems to us nobody ought to be able to buy their way into a business school.”

In the school’s first review of essays from potential MBA candidates this year, Turnitin found significant plagiarism — beyond borrowing a phrase here and there — in a dozen of the 870 applications, Ainslie said. All 12 were rejected.

Turnitin — as in, “turn it in” — began in the 1990s and became a popular tool at high schools and colleges to help detect copying in academic term papers and research by scanning for similarities in phrases from among billions of Web pages, books and periodicals.

Two years ago, the Oakland-based firm developed a service for admissions decisions, allowing large numbers of essays to be reviewed quickly and creating a database of students’ essays. The service shows sections of essays next to the possible source and calculates a percentage of possibly copied material. It is left up to schools to determine whether the plagiarism was minor, accidental or serious enough to reject the applicant.

“If you are a very selective institution, or a very prestigious institution, and you have a huge number of people vying for just a couple of slots, admissions people want to make sure they have all the information to make the fair decision,” said Jeff Lorton, Turnitin for Admissions’ product and business development manager.

Internal testing of the database, using past essays, showed plagiarism ranging from about 3% to 20% of applicants, Lorton said.

Colleges want “to be proactive in discouraging dishonesty,” said Richard Shaw, Stanford’s dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid.

So Stanford will test Turnitin on the 7% or so of its 36,000 applicants who make it past other hurdles to be offered admissions, Shaw said. If plagiarism is detected, students will be allowed to respond but probably will face revocation.

Other schools are skeptical about using Turnitin on prospective freshmen, especially since the company charges large campuses several thousands of dollars a year. Rather, plagiarists can be discovered when admissions officers notice mismatches between strong application essays and weak grades, interviews and SAT or ACT writing samples, said David Hawkins, public policy and research director of the National Assn. for College Admission Counseling. Schools also fear wasting time on false positives triggered by cliches and platitudes, he said.

And experts say it can be easy to tell when several applicants repeat the same material or, more glaring, when they don’t change electronic typefaces from their sources.

Turnitin’s freshman screening could rise sharply, however, if the service is adopted by Common Application, the online service used by 456 college admissions offices. Rob Killion, Common Application executive director, said there is “a very real chance” it will add Turnitin in 2013.

Among current Turnitin for Admissions users are some graduate schools at Johns Hopkins, Brandeis, Northeastern and Iowa State. They pay annual fees that start at $1,500 and rise depending on volume, averaging about a dollar per application, Lorton said. About half the schools explicitly tell applicants about the detection while others warn more vaguely.

Before adding the tool, staffers at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business two years ago discovered 29 essays about “principled leadership” that contained material lifted from the Web, said Carrie Marcinkevage, the MBA program’s managing director. Except for a few borderline cases, those graduate school applications were denied.

Since then, Turnitin has helped find plagiarism rates of between 3% and 5%, Marcinkevage said, adding that the technology is worthwhile since it “covers a lot more ground” than humans can.

Dominican University of California, in San Rafael, recently began using Turnitin in graduate programs. Applicants sometimes “resort to whatever means possible to get an edge. It’s unfortunate, but I think it’s human nature,” graduate admissions director Larry Schwartz said.

A few suspicious reports are being investigated and most suspected plagiarists will be given “the benefit of the doubt” and a chance to submit a second essay for scrutiny, Schwartz said.

At UCLA Anderson, one recent applicant didn’t search far for essay material. He stole verbatim from the school’s website in citing “exceptional academic preparation, a cooperative and congenial student culture, and access to a thriving business community.”

If plagiarists like that are denied admissions, future business leaders may include fewer unethical careerists, said UCLA Anderson’s Ainslie. “If they are going to do that,” he said, “they are going to do it in every aspect of their lives.”

[email protected]

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Larry Gordon was a higher education writer for the Los Angeles Times and covered issues affecting colleges and universities in California and around the nation. He has been an assistant city editor and an urban affairs writer at The Times. He previously worked at the Bergen Record and Hudson Dispatch in his native New Jersey. He won a mid-career Fulbright grant to teach journalism in Bulgaria. Gordon has a bachelor’s from Georgetown University and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. He left The Times in 2015.

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College Nut

Are College Essays Checked for Plagiarism?

Understanding plagiarism.

Before answering the question, let’s first define what plagiarism is. Essentially, plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s work without proper attribution. This can include copying and pasting directly from a source, paraphrasing without giving credit, or even using ideas from a source without properly citing them. Plagiarism is a serious offense in academic settings, and can result in consequences ranging from failing a class to expulsion.

Different Types of Plagiarism

There are several different types of plagiarism, each with varying degrees of severity. These include:

• Direct plagiarism: Copying and pasting text directly from a source without quotation marks or proper citation.
• Self-plagiarism: Submitting work that has been previously submitted in another class or context without proper citation.
• Accidental plagiarism: Unintentionally using someone else’s work without proper citation due to lack of knowledge or carelessness.
• Mosaic plagiarism: Using a mixture of copied text and original writing without proper attribution.
• Paraphrasing plagiarism: Changing a few words or phrases from a source without proper citation.

It’s important to understand these different types of plagiarism in order to avoid committing them in your own writing.

College Admissions Essays

Now, let’s focus specifically on college admissions essays. These essays are an opportunity for students to showcase their writing skills and personality to potential colleges. They are often a major factor in the admissions decision, so it’s important to take them seriously.

The Importance of Originality

One of the most important things to keep in mind when writing a college admissions essay is the importance of originality. Admissions officers read hundreds, if not thousands, of essays each year, and they can quickly spot essays that are not original. Plagiarizing in a college admissions essay is a surefire way to get rejected from a school.

Checking for Plagiarism

So, are college essays checked for plagiarism? The answer is yes. Most colleges use plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin, to check for plagiarism in admissions essays. These programs search millions of sources online and offline to compare a student’s work to existing content.

Consequences of Plagiarism

If a student is found to have plagiarized in their college admissions essay, it can have serious consequences. At best, the student will not be accepted into the school they applied to. At worst, they could be blacklisted from other schools as well. Additionally, if the plagiarism is discovered after the student has already been accepted and enrolled in the school, they could be expelled.

College Writing Assignments

Plagiarism is not just a concern for college admissions essays, but for all college writing assignments. Professors also use plagiarism detection software to check for plagiarism in papers and other assignments.

Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism

To avoid plagiarism in college writing assignments, there are a few tips you can follow:

• Cite all sources properly, including direct quotes and paraphrasing.
• Make sure to understand the difference between common knowledge and original ideas that need to be cited.
• Use plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin or Grammarly, to check your work before submitting it.
• Avoid procrastinating and rushing through assignments, which can lead to carelessness and accidental plagiarism.
• Use your own ideas and voice in your writing instead of relying solely on outside sources.

The consequences of plagiarism in college writing assignments can vary depending on the severity of the offense and the policies of the school. At the very least, a student will likely receive a failing grade on the assignment. More serious cases can result in failing the entire class, suspension, or expulsion.

In conclusion, plagiarism is a serious offense in the academic world, and it’s important to avoid it at all costs. Colleges use plagiarism detection software to check for plagiarism in both admissions essays and writing assignments, and the consequences of getting caught can be severe. By understanding the different types of plagiarism and following tips for avoiding it, students can ensure that their work is original and free of plagiarism.

College Reality Check

AI and College Admissions essays: Cheating, Plagiarism, Inequality and Other Issues

Last year I spent several months on college applications, and the bulk of my time was occupied by writing essays and prompts, as many colleges seem to value them more and more when they try to gauge students’ interest.

With the recent announcement of ChatGPT and the hype in the media about the AI capabilities and possible impact on our lives, I decided to give it a try and see if my application process could be easier if I used the tool. The results of my experiment were unexpected, may I even say shocking.

Here’s what I found.

How To Write The Perfect College Admission Essay With AI

Paraphrase existing college essay with katteb.

When using AI tools, it’s important to understand that while AI stands for “artificial intelligence,” in reality, it does not possess any human intelligence. All it can do is use human sources, such as books, videos, and blogs, to generate sentences.

So, my first idea was to see if I could feed best written pieces and use AI to paraphrase them – the way a lazy person would do.

For example, every year, Johns Hopkins University publishes “Essay the worked” – the best college admissions essays.

For my little experiment, I used Superheroes by Stephanie .

Here’s the opening paragraph:

I started with the AI tool called Katteb. It has multiple writing options, including writing a whole article based on a title. I used Article Rewriter, Advanced Rewriter option.

First, I imported the article by providing a URL to the original source, then selected 5 Variations,  went thru each paragraph, and selected a variation I liked most.

Here’s what I ended with:

Takeaway: First, AI is making up facts. It turned outspoken blade-wielding women into a sword of Kannada girls , which I am sure does not exist.

Second, it made me a bad person because, apparently, I was doing evil every day, and now I stopped (at least, this is how the admissions officer would interpret this piece).

And finally, the paragraph simply did not make any sense – when bullies attacked my classmates, I decided to document the movement (which movement?)

This was my first fiasco using AI. Ok, maybe paraphrasing a good essay will not make another decent one. Also, there are moral aspects to such an approach – using someone’s work is called stealing or plagiarism.

But how about asking AI to write a new piece?

Using ChatGPT to write a college admissions essay

If you heard about AI, you have most likely heard about ChatGPT. As soon as ChatGPT was revealed to the public, every major publication claimed that college essays are dead because AI can write better than humans.

Let’s check.

ChatGPT is a web-based application with a very simple interface. It is supposed to work as a Chat app where you ask questions, and it responds with something intelligent. In our case, it’s an essay that gets you into Harvard.

However, its responses depend on your input, called prompts. Better the input, the better the output.

I started with a simple prompt – something I wrote about in my own Common App essay.

Write a story about a teenage girl who worked at Banana Republic and who had to confront a bad customer in the voice of J.K. Rowling.

As you can see, the first prompt was not the best one – ChatGPT wrote a story in a third person voice.

Luckily, AI remembers the context, and you can refine requests, and I entered the second prompt:

Rewrite in the first person point of view

Here’s the output:

Takeaway: The output is grammatically correct, which is good. But the story is very plain, generic, and boring. Maybe I should’ve added more details about the conflict and been more specific.

ChatGPT is like coding – you have to give specific instructions if you want to receive a specific result. So, I guess if you are good at coding but at writing, you could use the tool to quickly build a generic essay.

On the other hand, I can see where I could use this approach. For instance, if you hit writer’s block, then you could use ChatGPT to generate something very quickly. And then, you have to rewrite by adding details and injecting your personality .

Using ChatGPT to write why us essays

Why this college essays are particularly hard to write because they are short and must be specifically tailored to the institution.

So, why not use ChatGPT to reduce my work on the Common app?

If you dream about an Ivy League diploma from Columbia University, there 4 short questions you have to answer :

I made the following prompt for ChatGPT:

Write a college application in response to this prompt: “Why are you interested in attending Columbia University? We encourage you to consider the aspect(s) that you find unique and compelling about Columbia. (200 words or fewer)”. Write as if your intended major is Computer Science.

Takeaway: There is one rule of thumb when writing “why this college” essays – if you replace the name of the university with the name of another school and it still reads the same, then it’s not a good essay.

For example, if I replace Columbia University with Boston University and New York City with Boston, the generated essay will still fit. Again, the essay is too generic, and it’s unlikely to help you during the admission process.

Can Colleges Detect AI Written Material?

As you can see from the examples above, AI, at this stage, can only create generic, plain essays. If you are hoping to get an engaging paper that is interesting to read, AI is not going to help.

On the other hand, not everyone can write as well as Ernest Hemingway. I wouldn’t be surprised if AI can write better than many of my classmates who struggle with putting words on paper.

So, I guess many applicants will be tempted to cheat and use technology with their Common App essays.

I also guess that colleges are aware of this and maybe secretly implement measures to detect AI-written content.

For example, many colleges use Turnitin to combat plagiarism. And now, Turnitin claims that they can detect AI, specifically ChatGPT, as well.

Here’s a sneak preview of their capabilities:

So, if you are planning to use AI, be prepared that colleges may have AI detection in place and can possibly reject your application – nobody likes cheaters.

Colleges, AI and Ethics, and Inequality

As of now, AI technology is not good enough to replace human writers, especially good ones. However, even now, the technology is impressive compared to what we had even a year ago. So, it wouldn’t surprise me that in the near future, AI can progress and produce even better results.

Many higher ed institutions are already concerned with technology because the bulk of college education is based on writing.

And if we think about the future, there are some interesting possibilities.

Will colleges become essay optional?

After the pandemic, many colleges became test-optional, and there is evidence that many of them are unlikely to go back and require standardized tests for admissions.

If technology continues improving, I wouldn’t be surprised if colleges become essay optional. After all, if you can use a tool to produce good content and it will be hard to detect, why waste admissions officer time to read generated responses?

Or, will SAT bring back the writing section?

Since writing is important in higher ed, colleges can require you to write on SAT tests under supervision, so they know the writing is yours.

And finally, will AI further increase inequality in college admissions?

ChatGPT already has paid plans, but not everyone can afford them. It’s true that you can use the free version, but it is not as good as paid and is often unavailable during high load times.

I am sure there are even more questions about AI technology and ethics and plagiarism.

This is all just the beginning, and we don’t even know how technology will change college admissions and our lives in general.

It will be interesting to watch how people and organizations grapple with uncertainty, but I am excited about the new opportunities artificial intelligence brings.

Host of the "College Reality Check" podcast. Accepted to Northeastern, UMD, U of Illinois Urbana Champaign, UPitt, Drexel, Virginia Tech, and UMBC.

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I reviewed my Yale admissions file to see what the Ivy League school really thought about my application. What I learned surprised me.

• I reviewed my Yale admissions file to see what the Ivy League school thought about my application. 
• Most of my scores weren't that impressive, but they really liked my genuine attitude and excitement.
• Reviewing my application reminded me how far I have come as a student. 

"Brian spoke so fast it was electrifying."

This was the first quote from my Yale interviewer. She wrote those words in my admissions file, a document I finally got my hands on three years after being accepted into Yale University .

I remember that interview like it was yesterday. It was a Zoom call — my application cycle happened at the crux of pandemic remote learning — and I was wearing my father's old, oversize dress shirt. The interviewer was lovely. Some of my answers to her questions probably didn't make sense, and she was right. I definitely forgot to breathe in between my sentences.

But viewing my admissions file years later gave me a peek into what my interviewer was actually thinking that day, and I learned what really got me into Yale.

I reviewed my application as a junior with the registrar

Every student in the US can review their college admissions file under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. I emailed my university registrar, and within 45 days, a member of their support staff reached back out to schedule a virtual meeting. Picture-taking and recording were not allowed, so I jotted notes by hand.

There was very little verbal interaction between me and the staff member. She screen-shared my admissions file and let me read in silence. Something told me she understood the emotional weight of this moment for students, and I appreciated that. It is intimidating for any teenager to package their identity into a 650-word common application essay and a questionnaire — but it is arguably even more so to witness retrospectively how everything was judged.

I got a behind-the-scenes look into Yale admissions when they read my application

Each aspect of my application was rated out of nine points. My readers gave me a six for my extracurriculars and for my first teacher recommendation. They gave me a seven for my second teacher recommendation and my counselor's recommendation. I received an "outstanding" for my interview and a 2++ for my overall rating. The overall rating is given on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 being the highest, and pluses were a good sign.

Related stories

In all, my ratings weren't exactly bad, but they weren't extraordinary either. The numbers on the pages stared back at me — cold, formulaic, and transactional. It felt strange to be reduced to a system of numbers, knowing that something as qualitative as extracurricular activities could still be broken down and scored.

Beyond the ratings, however, what truly stood out were the comments left by the admissions officers . Many of the comments were on my character, my essays, and the possible contributions I would make as a student.

"I teared up reading Essay 1," one reader wrote of my common application essay. Another said of the same essay: "His Chinese New Years are untraditional in that they remind him of his family's financial struggles."

I got emotional. All the memories of writing that essay came flooding back. I remembered how difficult it was to start it. I knew there was no easy way for someone to understand me without first knowing my background. I wanted to prove that I deserved a seat at the table where legacy students and the wealthy continue to outnumber their first-generation, low-income peers like myself.

I kept reading and found more comments from admissions officers that moved me: "He treats his mom well;" "He seems to have a truly good heart;" "One of the most intelligent, sincere, jovial students ever met;" "I have no doubt that Brian would push his peers at Yale to stand up for what's right;" and "I come away with compelling impressions that the student would contribute significantly to the undergrad community."

I searched for a negative comment. There were none.

I didn't deserve this, I muttered under my breath. Here I was, a junior in college, no longer a 4.0 student , my post-grad plans murky, balancing two part-time jobs and hoping to make it out of midterms alive. It felt good knowing that someone had rooted for me to be here.

The process reminded me how far I have come

Coming from an underserved household where no one had gone to college, I had always looked at the Ivy League application process skeptically.

Without the resources to enroll in SAT test prep and the financial safety net to pursue unpaid leadership positions and resume-boosting activities at school, I had doubted the "holistic" admissions process many colleges boast. My critiques about Yale remain numerous.

But at least in their comments, the admissions committee gave me grace in that they reviewed my application in light of my circumstances. I might never know exactly what happened in that reading room. Still, a couple of lessons ring true, based on my own viewing experience and my conversations with others who had done the same: Good character and potential are the key; I didn't need to be perfect.

And finally, I — not anyone else — needed to give me the fighting chance of applying in the first place.

"GPA is outstanding, especially in context," an admissions officer said. "This is a home run."

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Buying College Essays Is Now Easier Than Ever. But Buyer Beware

Tovia Smith

Concern is growing about a burgeoning online market for essays that students can buy and turn in as their own work. And schools are trying new tools to catch it. Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

Concern is growing about a burgeoning online market for essays that students can buy and turn in as their own work. And schools are trying new tools to catch it.

As the recent college admissions scandal is shedding light on how parents are cheating and bribing their children's way into college, schools are also focusing on how some students may be cheating their way through college. Concern is growing about a burgeoning online market that makes it easier than ever for students to buy essays written by others to turn in as their own work. And schools are trying new tools to catch it.

It's not hard to understand the temptation for students. The pressure is enormous, the stakes are high and, for some, writing at a college level is a huge leap.

"We didn't really have a format to follow, so I was kind of lost on what to do," says one college freshman, who struggled recently with an English assignment. One night, when she was feeling particularly overwhelmed, she tweeted her frustration.

"It was like, 'Someone, please help me write my essay!' " she recalls. She ended her tweet with a crying emoji. Within a few minutes, she had a half-dozen offers of help.

"I can write it for you," they tweeted back. "Send us the prompt!"

The student, who asked that her name not be used for fear of repercussions at school, chose one that asked for $10 per page, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"For me, it was just that the work was piling up," she explains. "As soon as I finish some big assignment, I get assigned more things, more homework for math, more homework for English. Some papers have to be six or 10 pages long. ... And even though I do my best to manage, the deadlines come closer and closer, and it's just ... the pressure."

In the cat-and-mouse game of academic cheating, students these days know that if they plagiarize, they're likely to get caught by computer programs that automatically compare essays against a massive database of other writings. So now, buying an original essay can seem like a good workaround.

"Technically, I don't think it's cheating," the student says. "Because you're paying someone to write an essay, which they don't plagiarize, and they write everything on their own."

Her logic, of course, ignores the question of whether she's plagiarizing. When pressed, she begins to stammer.

"That's just a difficult question to answer," she says. "I don't know how to feel about that. It's kind of like a gray area. It's maybe on the edge, kind of?"

Besides she adds, she probably won't use all of it.

Other students justify essay buying as the only way to keep up. They figure that everyone is doing it one way or another — whether they're purchasing help online or getting it from family or friends.

"Oh yeah, collaboration at its finest," cracks Boston University freshman Grace Saathoff. While she says she would never do it herself, she's not really fazed by others doing it. She agrees with her friends that it has pretty much become socially acceptable.

"I have a friend who writes essays and sells them," says Danielle Delafuente, another Boston University freshman. "And my other friend buys them. He's just like, 'I can't handle it. I have five papers at once. I need her to do two of them, and I'll do the other three.' It's a time management thing."

The war on contract cheating

"It breaks my heart that this is where we're at," sighs Ashley Finley, senior adviser to the president for the Association of American Colleges and Universities. She says campuses are abuzz about how to curb the rise in what they call contract cheating. Obviously, students buying essays is not new, but Finley says that what used to be mostly limited to small-scale side hustles has mushroomed on the internet to become a global industry of so-called essay mills. Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but research suggests that up to 16 percent of students have paid someone to do their work and that the number is rising.

"Definitely, this is really getting more and more serious," Finley says. "It's part of the brave new world for sure."

The essay mills market aggressively online, with slickly produced videos inviting students to "Get instant help with your assignment" and imploring them: "Don't lag behind," "Join the majority" and "Don't worry, be happy."

"They're very crafty," says Tricia Bertram Gallant, director of the Academic Integrity Office at the University of California in San Diego and a board member of the International Center for Academic Integrity.

The companies are equally brazen offline — leafleting on campuses, posting flyers in toilet stalls and flying banners over Florida beaches during spring break. Companies have also been known to bait students with emails that look like they're from official college help centers. And they pay social media influencers to sing the praises of their services, and they post testimonials from people they say are happy customers.

"I hired a service to write my paper and I got a 90 on it!" gloats one. "Save your time, and have extra time to party!" advises another.

"It's very much a seduction," says Bertram Gallant. "So you can maybe see why students could get drawn into the contract cheating world."

YouTube has been cracking down on essay mills; it says it has pulled thousands of videos that violate its policies against promoting dishonest behavior.

But new videos constantly pop up, and their hard sell flies in the face of their small-print warnings that their essays should be used only as a guide, not a final product.

Several essay mills declined or didn't respond to requests to be interviewed by NPR. But one answered questions by email and offered up one of its writers to explain her role in the company, called EduBirdie.

"Yes, just like the little birdie that's there to help you in your education," explains April Short, a former grade school teacher from Australia who's now based in Philadelphia. She has been writing for a year and a half for the company, which bills itself as a "professional essay writing service for students who can't even."

Some students just want some "foundational research" to get started or a little "polish" to finish up, Short says. But the idea that many others may be taking a paper written completely by her and turning it in as their own doesn't keep her up at night.

"These kids are so time poor," she says, and they're "missing out on opportunities of travel and internships because they're studying and writing papers." Relieving students of some of that burden, she figures, allows them to become more "well-rounded."

"I don't necessarily think that being able to create an essay is going to be a defining factor in a very long career, so it's not something that bothers me," says Short. Indeed, she thinks students who hire writers are demonstrating resourcefulness and creativity. "I actually applaud students that look for options to get the job done and get it done well," she says.

"This just shows you the extent of our ability to rationalize all kinds of bad things we do," sighs Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. The rise in contract cheating is especially worrisome, he says, because when it comes to dishonest behavior, more begets more. As he puts it, it's not just about "a few bad apples."

Felicity Huffman And 12 Other Parents To Plead Guilty In College Cheating Scandal

"Instead, what we have is a lot ... of blemished apples, and we take our cues for our behavior from the social world around us," he says. "We know officially what is right and what's wrong. But really what's driving our behavior is what we see others around us doing" or, Ariely adds, what we perceive them to be doing. So even the proliferation of advertising for essays mills can have a pernicious effect, he says, by fueling the perception that "everyone's doing it."

A few nations have recently proposed or passed laws outlawing essay mills, and more than a dozen U.S. states have laws on the books against them. But prosecuting essay mills, which are often based overseas in Pakistan, Kenya and Ukraine, for example, is complicated. And most educators are loath to criminalize students' behavior.

"Yes, they're serious mistakes. They're egregious mistakes," says Cath Ellis, an associate dean and integrity officer at the University of New South Wales, where students were among the hundreds alleged to have bought essays in a massive scandal in Australia in 2014.

"But we're educational institutions," she adds. "We've got to give students the opportunity to learn from these mistakes. That's our responsibility. And that's better in our hands than in the hands of the police and the courts."

Staying one step ahead

In the war on contract cheating, some schools see new technology as their best weapon and their best shot to stay one step ahead of unscrupulous students. The company that makes the Turnitin plagiarism detection software has just upped its game with a new program called Authorship Investigate.

The software first inspects a document's metadata, like when it was created, by whom it was created and how many times it was reopened and re-edited. Turnitin's vice president for product management, Bill Loller, says sometimes it's as simple as looking at the document's name. Essay mills typically name their documents something like "Order Number 123," and students have been known to actually submit it that way. "You would be amazed at how frequently that happens," says Loller.

Using cutting-edge linguistic forensics, the software also evaluates the level of writing and its style.

"Think of it as a writing fingerprint," Loller says. The software looks at hundreds of telltale characteristics of an essay, like whether the author double spaces after a period or writes with Oxford commas or semicolons. It all gets instantly compared against a student's other work, and, Loller says, suspicions can be confirmed — or alleviated — in minutes.

"At the end of the day, you get to a really good determination on whether the student wrote what they submitted or not," he says, "and you get it really quickly."

Coventry University in the U.K. has been testing out a beta version of the software, and Irene Glendinning, the school's academic manager for student experience, agrees that the software has the potential to give schools a leg up on cheating students. After the software is officially adopted, "we'll see a spike in the number of cases we find, and we'll have a very hard few years," she says. "But then the message will get through to students that we've got the tools now to find these things out." Then, Glendinning hopes, students might consider contract cheating to be as risky as plagiarizing.

In the meantime, schools are trying to spread the word that buying essays is risky in other ways as well.

Professor Ariely says that when he posed as a student and ordered papers from several companies, much of it was "gibberish" and about a third of it was actually plagiarized.

Even worse, when he complained to the company and demanded his money back, they resorted to blackmail. Still believing him to be a student, the company threatened to tell his school he was cheating. Others say companies have also attempted to shake down students for more money, threatening to rat them out if they didn't pay up.

The lesson, Ariely says, is "buyer beware."

But ultimately, experts say, many desperate students may not be deterred by the risks — whether from shady businesses or from new technology.

Bertram Gallant, of UC San Diego, says the right way to dissuade students from buying essays is to remind them why it's wrong.

"If we engage in a technological arms race with the students, we won't win," she says. "What are we going to do when Google glasses start to look like regular glasses and a student wears them into an exam? Are we going to tell them they can't wear their glasses because we're afraid they might be sending the exam out to someone else who is sending them back the answers?"

The solution, Bertram Gallant says, has to be about "creating a culture where integrity and ethics matter" and where education is valued more than grades. Only then will students believe that cheating on essays is only cheating themselves.

Should college essays touch on race? Some feel the affirmative action ruling leaves them no choice

CHICAGO — When she started writing her college essay, Hillary Amofa told the story she thought admissions offices wanted to hear. About being the daughter of immigrants from Ghana and growing up in a small apartment in Chicago. About hardship and struggle.

Then she deleted it all.

“I would just find myself kind of trauma-dumping,” said the 18-year-old senior at Lincoln Park High School in Chicago. “And I’m just like, this doesn’t really say anything about me as a person.”

When the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in higher education, it left the college essay as one of few places where race can play a role in admissions decisions. For many students of color, instantly more was riding on the already high-stakes writing assignment. Some say they felt pressure to exploit their hardships as they competed for a spot on campus.

Amofa was just starting to think about her essay when the court issued its decision, and it left her with a wave of questions. Could she still write about her race? Could she be penalized for it? She wanted to tell colleges about her heritage but she didn’t want to be defined by it.

In English class, Amofa and her classmates read sample essays that all seemed to focus on some trauma or hardship. It left her with the impression she had to write about her life’s hardest moments to show how far she’d come. But she and some classmates wondered if their lives had been hard enough to catch the attention of admissions offices.

This year’s senior class is the first in decades to navigate college admissions without affirmative action . The Supreme Court upheld the practice in decisions going back to the 1970s, but this court’s conservative supermajority found it is unconstitutional for colleges to give students extra weight because of their race alone.

Still, the decision left room for race to play an indirect role: Chief Justice John Roberts wrote universities can still consider how an applicant’s life was shaped by their race, “so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability.”

Scores of colleges responded with new essay prompts asking about students’ backgrounds.

When Darrian Merritt started writing his essay, his first instinct was to write about events that led to him going to live with his grandmother as a child. Those were painful memories, but he thought they might play well at schools like Yale, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

“I feel like the admissions committee might expect a sob story or a tragic story,” said Merritt, a senior in Cleveland. “I wrestled with that a lot.”

Eventually he abandoned the idea and aimed for an essay that would stand out for its positivity.

Merritt wrote about a summer camp where he started to feel more comfortable in his own skin. He described embracing his personality and defying his tendency to please others. But the essay also reflects on his feelings of not being “Black enough” and getting made fun of for listening to “white people music.”

Like many students, Max Decker of Portland, Oregon, had drafted a college essay on one topic, only to change direction after the Supreme Court ruling in June.

Decker initially wrote about his love for video games. In a childhood surrounded by constant change, navigating his parents’ divorce, the games he took from place to place on his Nintendo DS were a source of comfort.

But the essay he submitted to colleges focused on the community he found through Word is Bond, a leadership group for young Black men in Portland.

As the only biracial, Jewish kid with divorced parents in a predominantly white, Christian community, Decker wrote he felt like the odd one out. On a trip with Word is Bond to Capitol Hill, he and friends who looked just like him shook hands with lawmakers. The experience, he wrote, changed how he saw himself.

“It’s because I’m different that I provide something precious to the world, not the other way around,” wrote Decker, whose top college choice is Tulane, in New Orleans, because of the region’s diversity.

Amofa used to think affirmative action was only a factor at schools like Harvard and Yale. After the court’s ruling, she was surprised to find that race was taken into account even at public universities she was applying to.

Now, without affirmative action, she wondered if mostly white schools will become even whiter.

It’s been on her mind as she chooses between Indiana University and the University of Dayton, both of which have relatively few Black students. When she was one of the only Black students in her grade school, she could fall back on her family and Ghanaian friends at church. At college, she worries about loneliness.

“That’s what I’m nervous about,” she said. “Going and just feeling so isolated, even though I’m constantly around people.”

The first drafts of her essay didn’t tell colleges about who she is now, she said.

Her final essay describes how she came to embrace her natural hair. She wrote about going to a mostly white grade school where classmates made jokes about her afro.

Over time, she ignored their insults and found beauty in the styles worn by women in her life. She now runs a business doing braids and other hairstyles in her neighborhood.

“Criticism will persist,” she wrote “but it loses its power when you know there’s a crown on your head!”

Ma reported from Portland, Oregon.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

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Guest Essay

Elite College Admissions Have Turned Students Into Brands

By Sarah Bernstein

Ms. Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist in Brooklyn.

“I just can’t think of anything,” my student said.

After 10 years of teaching college essay writing, I was familiar with this reply. For some reason, when you’re asked to recount an important experience from your life, it is common to forget everything that has ever happened to you. It’s a long-form version of the anxiety that takes hold at a corporate retreat when you’re invited to say “one interesting thing about yourself,” and you suddenly believe that you are the most boring person in the entire world. Once during a version of this icebreaker, a man volunteered that he had only one kidney, and I remember feeling incredibly jealous of him.

I tried to jog this student’s memory. What about his love of music? Or his experience learning English? Or that time on a summer camping trip when he and his friends had nearly drowned? “I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “That all seems kind of cliché.”

Applying to college has always been about standing out. When I teach college essay workshops and coach applicants one on one, I see my role as helping students to capture their voice and their way of processing the world, things that are, by definition, unique to each individual. Still, many of my students (and their parents) worry that as getting into college becomes increasingly competitive, this won’t be enough to set them apart.

Their anxiety is understandable. On Thursday, in a tradition known as “Ivy Day,” all eight Ivy League schools released their regular admission decisions. Top colleges often issue statements about how impressive (and competitive) their applicant pools were this cycle. The intention is to flatter accepted students and assuage rejected ones, but for those who have not yet applied to college, these statements reinforce the fear that there is an ever-expanding cohort of applicants with straight A’s and perfect SATs and harrowing camping trip stories all competing with one another for a vanishingly small number of spots.

This scarcity has led to a boom in the college consulting industry, now estimated to be a $2.9 billion business. In recent years, many of these advisers and companies have begun to promote the idea of personal branding — a way for teenagers to distinguish themselves by becoming as clear and memorable as a good tagline.

While this approach often leads to a strong application, students who brand themselves too early or too definitively risk missing out on the kind of exploration that will prepare them for adult life.

Like a corporate brand, the personal brand is meant to distill everything you stand for (honesty, integrity, high quality, low prices) into a cohesive identity that can be grasped at a glance. On its website, a college prep and advising company called Dallas Admissions explains the benefits of branding this way: “Each person is complex, yet admissions officers only have a small amount of time to spend learning about each prospective student. The smart student boils down key aspects of himself or herself into their personal ‘brand’ and sells that to the college admissions officer.”

Identifying the key aspects of yourself may seem like a lifelong project, but unfortunately, college applicants don’t have that kind of time. Online, there are dozens of lesson plans and seminars promising to walk students through the process of branding themselves in five to 10 easy steps. The majority begin with questions I would have found panic-inducing as a teenager, such as, “What is the story you want people to tell about you when you’re not in the room?”

Where I hoped others would describe me as “normal” or, in my wildest dreams, “cool,” today’s teenagers are expected to leave this exercise with labels like, Committed Athlete and Compassionate Leader or Environmentally Conscious Musician. Once students have a draft of their ideal self, they’re offered instructions for manifesting it (or at least, the appearance of it) in person and online. These range from common-sense tips (not posting illegal activity on social media) to more drastic recommendations (getting different friends).

It’s not just that these courses cut corners on self-discovery; it’s that they get the process backward. A personal brand is effective only if you can support it with action, so instead of finding their passion and values through experience, students are encouraged to select a passion as early as possible and then rack up the experience to substantiate it. Many college consultants suggest beginning to align your activities with your college ambitions by ninth grade, while the National Institute of Certified College Planners recommends students “talk with parents, guardians, and/or an academic adviser to create a clear plan for your education and career-related goals” in junior high.

The idea of a group of middle schoolers soberly mapping out their careers is both comical and depressing, but when I read student essays today, I can see that this advice is getting through. Over the past few years, I have been struck by how many high school seniors already have defined career goals as well as a C.V. of relevant extracurriculars to go with them. This widens the gap between wealthy students and those who lack the resources to secure a fancy research gig or start their own small business. (A shocking number of college applicants claim to have started a small business.) It also puts pressure on all students to define themselves at a moment when they are anxious to fit in and yet changing all the time.

In the world of branding, a word that appears again and again is “consistency.” If you are Charmin, that makes sense. People opening a roll of toilet paper do not want to be surprised. If you are a teenage human being, however, that is an unreasonable expectation. Changing one’s interests, opinions and presentation is a natural part of adolescence and an instructive one. I find that my students with scattershot résumés are often the most confident. They’re not afraid to push back against suggestions that ring false and will insist on revising their essay until it actually “feels like me.” On the other hand, many of my most accomplished students are so quick to accept feedback that I am wary of offering it, lest I become one more adult trying to shape them into an admission-worthy ideal.

I understand that for parents, prioritizing exploration can feel like a risky bet. Self-insight is hard to quantify and to communicate in a college application. When it comes to building a life, however, this kind of knowledge has more value than any accolade, and it cannot be generated through a brainstorming exercise in a six-step personal branding course online. To equip kids for the world, we need to provide them not just with opportunities for achievement, but with opportunities to fail, to learn, to wander and to change their minds.

In some ways, the college essay is a microcosm of modern adolescence. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a forum for self-discovery or a high-stakes test you need to ace. I try to assure my students that it is the former. I tell them that it’s a chance to take stock of everything you’ve experienced and learned over the past 18 years and everything you have to offer as a result.

That can be a profound process. But to embark on it, students have to believe that colleges really want to see the person behind the brand. And they have to have the chance to know who that person is.

Sarah Bernstein is a playwright, a writing coach and an essayist.

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Yale college admits 2,146 applicants from record applicant pool.

Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions has completed its review of first-year applications and offered admission to 2,146 of the 57,465 students who applied to be part of Yale College’s Class of 2028. The newly admitted applicants will be joined by an additional 53 students who were admitted during the 2022-23 admissions cycle but opted to postpone their matriculation for one year.

The cohort of admitted students includes 709 applicants who were notified of their admission in December though the Early Action program and 72 more who were admitted through the QuestBridge National College Match program. Since 2007, Yale has admitted more than 2,000 applicants affiliated with QuestBridge , a nonprofit organization that connects high-achieving students from lower-income backgrounds with selective colleges and universities.

Students admitted to the Class of 2028 represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, two U.S. territories, and 62 countries. They will graduate from more than 1,500 secondary schools, and their intended majors include 83 of Yale’s undergraduate academic programs. A detailed profile of the incoming class will be available when students arrive on campus in August.

This year’s pool of first-year applicants was the largest in the college’s history — 10% larger than the previous year, said Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid. Since 2020, the first-year applicant pool has grown by 66%, a shift Quinlan attributed to Yale adopting a test-optional policy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February, the admissions office announced a new policy that reinstates a testing requirement while expanding the list of qualifying exams. The new policy will go into effect for the upcoming admissions cycle.

“ The diverse range of strengths, ambitions, and lived experiences we saw in this year’s applicant pool was inspiring,” said Quinlan. “We gauge the success of our outreach efforts by these qualities, and not by the total number of applications. But it is heartening to see that Yale College continues to attract exceptionally promising students from all backgrounds.” 

In September, Quinlan and Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis wrote to the Yale College community to outline the college’s response to the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race and admissions; they shared another message in February with updates on nearly a dozen new initiatives. “Despite the changed legal landscape,” the deans wrote on Feb. 8, “our community’s values remain as firm as ever, and our shared goal of building and supporting a community whose excellence is strengthened by its diversity remains unchanged.”

Yale College’s extraordinary investment in need-based financial aid is a pillar of these efforts to promote diversity, said Kari DiFonzo, director of undergraduate financial aid. For all admitted students, Yale College meets 100% of demonstrated financial need, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, and financial aid offers are based entirely on a family’s demonstrated financial need.

Yale College does not expect parents earning less than $75,000 annually — with typical assets — to make any contribution toward the cost of their child’s education, DiFonzo said. The financial aid offers for these families, which are known as “zero parent share” offers, cover the full cost of all billed expenses — tuition, housing, the meal plan, and hospitalization insurance — as well as travel to and from New Haven.

DiFonzo explained that financial aid offers for admitted students will not be delayed due to processing challenges associated with the Free Application for Federal Student AID (FAFSA).

“ Yale uses its own methodology to assess a family’s financial need, using a process that is more comprehensive and more sensitive to distinctive financial challenges than what the FAFSA provides alone,” said DiFonzo. “Thankfully, financial aid officers can understand a family’s demonstrated financial need using information from other documents. Most admitted students who applied for aid will receive their financial aid offer at the same time they receive their admissions decision.”

All newly admitted students will be invited to visit campus in April 2024 for Bulldog Days, a three-day immersive experience of life at Yale, or Bulldog Saturday, a one-day program offering campus tours, panels, academic forums, and activities with student groups. The admissions office will also host virtual events and sponsor online communities to help admitted students connect with each other and with other members of the Yale community prior to Bulldog Days.

Quinlan credited last year’s  record-setting Bulldog Days program , which welcomed more than 1,400 students and 800 parents and family members, for  an historically high “yield rate” on students admitted to the Class of 2027.

“ Every spring, countless Yale students, faculty, staff, and alumni provide a warm welcome to our newest Yalies” said Mark Dunn, admissions office’s senior associate director for outreach and recruitment. “I believe the college’s greatest asset is its people, and my top priority each April is connecting admitted students with the people who make Yale so special.”

Dunn expressed gratitude to the student volunteers who will open their residential college suites to visiting admitted students and host special events, the faculty who will participate in the academic fair and lead master classes, and the staff who will help more than 1,200 admitted students get a taste of life at Yale during Bulldog Days and Bulldog Saturday. 

The admissions office makes a special effort to provide travel funding to students from lower-income families to enable them to visit campus before finalizing their college decision. Last year more than 500 admitted students received grants to travel to campus for Bulldog Days. 

Newly admitted students will have until May 1 to reply to their offer of admission.

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WritePaperForMe promotes customer-centered service with round-the-clock support as well as free revisions to get your paper exactly where you want it before you submit it. This essay writing company also offers complete confidentiality to college students using its essay services.

Using WritePaperForMe is safe because it has been rated 4.8 out of 5 stars for customer satisfaction, according to hundreds of customer reviews on SiteJabber and other review platforms. In addition, most reviews state that students received good results. Generally, quality and efficiency were also highly rated, but mostly with simple requests.

WritePaperForMe is a place where you can hire a cheap essay writer who is knowledgeable enough to write a short, simple essay that you just don’t have enough time to write yourself.

This site has hundreds of writers online and takes pride in the speedy delivery of good-quality papers. The WritePaperForMe website also provides quite a few essay samples listed by category. Students have free access to these essays and excellent customer support for ordering the perfect paper to suit their needs, regardless of topic.

Some customers complained that some of the writers struggled with research-intensive assignments like research papers and dissertations, but the general response to this service was positive.

• Quick and truly affordable
• Great customer service
• Might not be the best option for anything but essays
• Plagiarism report is a paid add-on

We would advise hiring a more professional paper writing service for more in-depth and important papers. WritePaperForMe might not be ideal if you need someone truly knowledgeable to work on your STEM research/term paper, thesis, or dissertation.

   5. GradeMiners — The Fastest Writing Service

This college paper writing service has gone through some changes over the last couple of years. With time, customer reviews of this site are becoming better and better.

GradeMiners is striving to improve its quality, and it shows. This academic writing company is getting high ratings for speedy delivery, updated satisfaction guarantees, and incentives for return customers.

Those incentives are now present in the form of daily discounts and exclusive email offers for return customers who sign up for the newsletter, something that wasn’t available back in the day.

In addition to academic writing services, GradeMiners also offers homework help and problem-solving assistance for high school and college-level students.

This service has fewer professional college essay writers than other sites, and the company generally employs ESL writers. This service offers writing in everything from academic papers to thesis and dissertations.

GradeMiners offers a money-back guarantee as well as free revisions for up to 30 days. The company received a 4.6 out 5 customer rating and claimed to deliver 70% of its orders earlier than the specified deadline.

In spite of claims, discounts, and guarantees, reviews on some services are mixed. Pricing is of great concern because there is no dedicated pricing table for services.

• Great option for rush orders and last-minute papers
• Extra long revision period of 30 days
• Writers are professional enough to handle most papers
• The prices are somewhat high
• Mostly ESL writers

Overall, GradeMiners prices out as a more expensive option than other comparable services. For some students, the trade-off for fast delivery makes it worthwhile.

   6. EssayPro — One of the Most Popular and Reliable Services

EssayPro offers features and perks that other essay writing websites do not. For example, it allows you to browse its writing staff and choose your own writer based on their academic qualifications, areas of interest and expertise, as well as past customer ratings and reviews.

Once you’ve chosen your paper writer, you have access to free unlimited editing, a free title page, and around-the-clock customer support.

EssayPro is certainly a legit essay writing website that offers professional services and has the best reputation for quality, security, and customer satisfaction.

In addition, the company guarantees confidentiality and anonymity so that no one ever knows that you outsourced your essay.

Some customers complain that this service is overpriced, but we found EssayPro to be quite competitive in terms of price. Papers with a shorter return time will be more costly. The more lead time you give, the more writers will garner you a break on the price.

Access to the writer during the process and unlimited editing capability make EssayPro one of the most highly regarded and popular college essay writing services out there.

• Popular and trusted site
• There’s an option to choose your writer yourself
• Round-the-clock support
• No phone support
• Isn’t the best option for theses and dissertations

To make its services affordable, EssayPro mostly hires ESL writers with excellent academic credentials, giving customers a pool of talent to choose from and making the best fit possible for the subject matter being addressed.

   7. EssayNoDelay — Legit Writing Service for ESL Students

EssayNoDelay is a reputable college essay writing service that comes highly recommended. It is an international company based in Bulgaria that employs hundreds of writers, most of whom are ESL.

The company provides excellent customer service via live chat and email. Turnaround times are fast for delivery, but customer service response to student emails can take up to a week, even for emergent requests.

This service, out of all the ones we reviewed, has the deepest discount for first-time customers and returning requests, but you can expect to pay significantly more for subsequent orders.

This online paper writer service has decent pricing but could do better by adding loyalty programs or better discounts for returning customers.

The quality of work from EssayNoDelay is generally good, and reviews are positive. This service boasts that 91% percent of its clients have returned to place more than 5 orders. Most complaints are with regard to minor grammatical or formatting errors in the work.

This company guarantees to provide an original, plagiarism-free paper, with a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee on its work.

• The best loyalty program among other sites
• Good quality
• Mostly caters towards ESL students, it’s hard to find a writer from the U.S., the UK or Canada
• While first order is cheap, repeat orders are way more expensive

EssayNoDelay has proven to be a cost-effective custom essay writing service that provides professional writing assistance to students at all levels of academia.

Paper Writing Services: Common Questions, Answered

How long does it take to have my essay written for me.

Depending on your chosen service, your essay can be written within hours, days, or weeks. The longer the lead time you allow for some services, the deeper the discounts. You can expect to pay more for rush orders.

The complexity of the paper you order can also impact the turnaround time. If you need to monitor the process, make suggestions to the writer, edit the work, or request revisions after the paper has been produced, it will add time to the process.

We suggest you don’t wait too long to place your order, there are sometimes unexpected issues that can delay the delivery of your paper, and since deadlines and due dates in academia are mostly fixed, it’s up to the scholar to make sure there is enough time for the professional writer to complete the order including proofreading, editing, and revisions if required.

It’s recommended that you keep in contact with the writing service and the hired writer, in particular, to make sure that everything is to your satisfaction to avoid delays.

The responsibility falls to the student or scholar to ensure that essays are submitted to teachers and professors on time with all requirements met regardless of academic level.

Will my essay be written by a professional essay writer?

Some of the reliable essay writing services we have listed hire professional writers at all levels of academia.

Most services will allow the customer to choose the writer based on their field of expertise, academic credentials, and customer reviews posted on the website.

In addition, most websites enable the customer to select either a Native English speaker/writer or an ESL expert.

Some colleges consistently check students’ writing styles, so if you’re an ESL student, it makes sense to hire an ESL writer so that your paper only stands out a little from your own writing.

The most popular sites profile the college essay writers who are the most requested and most highly reviewed to promote them to customers.

Other services will assign the best essay writer based on the type of paper, subject matter, and level of academia needed to complete the task.

All of the services we reviewed guarantee their results and hire experts who are true professionals in their fields or have the academic experience to write with authority on the subject they specialize in.

Most of the services allow you to monitor the process. If communication is an issue, or if you are unhappy with the results, their guarantees allow you to substitute another professional to satisfy your requirements.

How much does it cost to purchase an essay?

If we’re talking about undergraduate writing assignments, the typical price for a single page is about $11-20. It usually varies depending on how fast you need your essay written. On average, a typical three-page college essay written in three days will cost you $50-110.

We advise you to be wary of some cheap essay writing services selling papers for prices lower than $9. While the price may seem appealing, it’s best to steer clear of such sites because they hardly ever deliver papers of subpar quality, let alone high-quality, plagiarism-free essays.

Is it safe to buy essays online?

Yes, you can be reasonably certain that buying papers and essays online through any of the academic writing companies that we have reviewed here will be safe and secure. By using any of these sites, your personal data will be kept confidential and fully protected.

Your school should never learn that you hired an online essay writer to produce a paper for one of your classes. This is a valid concern when employing a writing service to write a paper for you. The possibility that your teacher or professor will learn that you bought your paper online is small.

Here’s the thing. The only way these college paper writing services can continue to thrive and stay in business is to keep student data confidential and safe. Most of them post a security and confidentiality guarantee on their websites. Some students opt to give a pseudonym or merely their initials to help guarantee themselves anonymity.

The companies we mentioned in this review keep their databases secure and do not sell or share student data. In most cases, they have a customer satisfaction guarantee which covers security and quality.

If a company is offering a 100% money-back guarantee, you can wager that they are doing their utmost to avoid giving any refunds.

Are online essay writing services legit?

As with any kind of service you employ, it’s always a case of “buyer beware.” The responsibility falls on the customer to do their due diligence in choosing a reputable and honest and online essay writing service from which to purchase papers.

However, be wary of basing your decisions solely on customer reviews, as many of these companies are plagued by scores of negative reviews from scam sites provided by rival essay writing companies.

Look for well-established websites with a large pool of writers, and be sure to utilize the live chat feature that is on most of the websites, to ask the questions that are pertinent to your situation.

You want to be sure that you employ a writing service with professional paper writers who specialize in your field of study. At the higher levels of academia, you need to be sure that the writers have the academic experience and credentials to produce the quality level required for a thesis or dissertation.

When special formatting and citations are required, you will need to do diligent interviewing of your essay writer to be assured that they are able to produce the quality of content that you require.

What if I am not satisfied with my paper?

The majority of the services you will consider have a process whereby you get edits and revisions for free within a specified period of time after the completion of the work.

In some cases, future edits and revisions will be charged a fee.

Many services also offer a customer satisfaction guarantee which means that the expert essay writer you engage (that the service contracts with) promises to revise the finished product to your satisfaction, or you are entitled to 100% of your money back.

We understand that it rarely goes to that extreme. Most of the time, you will be able to obtain a final product to your satisfaction on the first try, even without asking for a revision.

If you want to achieve that, please provide the most descriptive order instructions that you can. This way, you can avoid the revision process and save yourself and your writer some time.

Part of making sure that the best outcome is to choose a writing service that employs proficient and professional essay writers in your area of study and that you give clear and explicit instructions as to the formatting, citation, and style of essay you require.

We also recommend that you check in regularly with your writer throughout the process so that you may be able to catch any issues that may arise and be able to correct them right away.

What are the main drawbacks of essay writing services?

The main drawbacks of using companies that write essays for you are the expense and the risk of discovery. While most essay writing services online are not too costly, getting into larger projects with extensive proofing and editing can become expensive, especially on a student’s budget.

While these sites generally guarantee security and confidentiality, there is always the chance that your professors/teachers may notice a change in the quality or style of your essays and figure out that you purchased the work rather than producing it.

The other drawback of using the services of essay writing websites is that you don’t benefit from the work the same way you would have if you had done the work.

If you are doing the research and the citations, you will be enriched by the process and gain knowledge in the subject from doing the work.

Using a writing service only gives you the benefit of the result, the grade, or the points you gain, rather than a more profound knowledge of the subject matter.

This has the potential to trip you up later in life when you may be called upon for that knowledge in your field of study and lack the expertise because you paid someone else to do the work.

Professional essay writing services fill a need in providing writing assistance to students at all levels of academia, but they should only be used infrequently and in urgent or timely situations where the student or scholar is unable to provide a quality essay on the subject assigned.

We understand that there are circumstances where a writing service can be a real lifesaver. Still, we caution students not to abuse these services or use them as a replacement for acquiring knowledge in their chosen field of study. Instead, when the need arises, choose a reputable service that guarantees good quality work.

The news and editorial staff of the Delco Daily Times had no role in this post’s preparation.

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Honors College

• Shelton Woods Ph.D.

Honors 392 Taylor Swift Summer 2024

Professor Shelton Woods

Spring 2024 [email protected] (208) 426-3349

Do a google search for the 1960s group The Beatles, and you will get back about 285 million results.  A google search for Bob Dylan will return 89 million results. A google search for Taylor Swift will return 1.2 billion results. Her 2023 The Eras Tour became the first tour in history to surpass $1 billion in revenue, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Obviously, Taylor Swift has made an impact on American culture.  This course will examine what is behind her rise in popularity, and how her lyrics may serve as a mirror for many Americans’ worldview.  Apart from analyzing her lyrics, life, and popularity, we will go on a writing journey of our own. First, learning how to write concisely and effectively, and then working on our own songs.

A course that includes some writing may not sound interesting. It may (wrongly) take us back to the drudgery of learning grammar. For this reason, we will read engaging material that will make us want to keep reading. The course intends to inspire you to develop your innate abilities and your learned skills.

By the time our class is over you should be able to:

• Identify topics that lead to a discussion
• Write a clear and concise brief essay
• Identify aspects of American culture found in Taylor Swift’s lyrics
• Articulate your worldview that answers life’s biggest questions
• Appreciate the art of writing

WEEK ONE: (May 28 to June 2)

• Reading: Taylor, pp. 4-56; Zinsser, Introduction, chapters 1,2,3
• Album: Taylor Swift

WEEK TWO (June 3 to June 9)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 57-84; Zinsser, chapters 4,5
• (Album: Fearless)

WEEK THREE (June 10 to June 16)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 85-115; Zinsser, chapters 6,7
• Album: Speak Now
• 300-word essay

WEEK FOUR (June 17 to June 23)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 116-151; Zinsser, chapters 8,9

WEEK FIVE (June 24 to June 30)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 152-188; Zinsser, chapters 10
• Album: 1989
• Revised Essay

WEEK SIX (July 1 to July 7)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 189-231; Zinsser, chapter 20
• Album: Reputation
• Second 300-word essay
• Album theme due

WEEK SEVEN (July 8 to July 14)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 232-279; Zinsser, chapters 21-22
• Album: Lover
• Lyrics one and two

WEEK EIGHT (July 15 to July 21)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 281-301; Zinsser, chapter 23
• Album: folklore
• Lyrics three and four

WEEK NINE (July 22 to July 28)

• Reading: Taylor, pages 302-339; Zinsser, chapter 24
• Album: evermore

WEEK TEN (July 29 to August 4)

• Reading: three album reviews; Zinsser, chapter 25
• Album: Midnights

Course Success

This course is rather straight forward–it is about participation, reading carefully, and growth as a writer.  The grade breakdown is as follows:

Album: 5% Essays: 10% Quizzes: 85%

The grading rubric for grading your written assignments will be based as follows:  95% on style/punctuation/grammar and 5% on content.  We will use  The Elements of Style  and  The Chicago Manual of Style  as the measure for style/punctuation/grammar.

The quizzes are multiple choice questions that will be on Canvas.

All assignments and quizzes must be completed by 11:59 p.m. on the day that they are due. If you do not turn in an assignment or take a quiz, you will lose points for that assignment, plus you will lose 30 points on each assignment or quiz that you do not complete.

Any academic dishonesty/cheating–be it related to our quizzes or plagiarism (including the use of AI)–will result in an F for the course, and probable dismissal from the Honors College, and will also be put in your student record.

“Encyclopedic in its scope, this is the ultimate tribute to the life and music of Taylor Swift. No need for glossy images here, the narrative says it all – a chronological account of her mercurial rise to fame; the stories that inspire the songs; an in-depth look at those much-publicized battles with the media, music industry and fellow artists, and all recounted with well-chosen words from the artist herself and dozens of others who have played a part in her incredible story. Put together, we have the definitive record. If not already a fan, reading this may very well change your opinion. `I really do try to be a nice person…but if you break my heart, hurt my feelings, or are really mean to me, I’m going to write a song about you.'”

“ On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity, and its warmth of style. It is a book for anybody who wants to learn how to write, whether about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts, or about yourself. Its principles and insights have made it a cherished resource for several generations of writers and students.”

“Not since  The Elements of Style  has there been a guide to writing as well presented and readable as this one. A love and respect for the language is evident on every page.” Library Journal

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