Great minds plagiarize alike
p2pnet.net news:- A British Universities and Colleges Admission Service (Ucas) study of personal statements found 5% were plagiarised, says Guardian Unlimited.
“Personal statements are intended to allow applicants to show what makes them stand out from the crowd as they outline their interests and reasons for studying a particular course,” it says.
“But it seems some potential great minds not only think alike but also sometimes use exactly the same words, thanks to an internet site designed to help those who don’t know what to write about themselves.”
And most of the ’submissions’ come from Studential.com, says vnunet.com.
According to blurb on the site, it was created, “to provide in depth information about going to university and the application process” and carries, “information on personal statements, interviews and guides on various universities plus a whole lot more,”.
Almost 800 medical applications had personal statements containing phrases directly borrowed from three of Studential.com’s example statements, says the story, going on:
“Some 370 applications contained statements claiming to have ‘a fascination for how the human body works’, while 175 contained statements which involved ‘an elderly or infirm grandfather’.
“An astonishing 234 applicants wrote of how their interest in medicine began after an accident with a chemistry set ‘burning a hole in my pyjamas at age eight’.”
Also See:
Guardian Unlimited – Online cheats tell same old story in bid to get into university, March 8, 2007
vnunet.com – University hopefuls ‘borrowing’ text from the web, March 8, 2007
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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
March 10th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Is this so surprising? All during school kids are taught that there is only one right answer, obviously they’re going to keep thinking that as they get older and look for work.
It’s also why all the xxAA’s new ‘product’ all seems the same, they really think there’s only one correct way to do it.