upennite

I was editing my friend's essay the other day, and the idea of it suddenly seemed very familiar to me. I went through an essay book I have had checked out from the library and the author made a brief mention of the same general idea as being a good one. I'm not sure how he got the idea, because the question he's answering could have allowed for him to come up with it on his own, and since I have the only copy, I don't know where he would have gotten it from. It's a good essay, too, which is why I'm a little reluctant to say anything about it, since if he did plagarize anything, it was only a very general idea, which he even altered a little. However, do you think he's risking being accepted at the college of his choice? If so, I'd rather tell him and deal with his wrath, than just sit by and let him screw up his chances. Any advice? Thanks!

oyyyster

*** chill out. Even if he had gotten his idea from book, unless he took a lot of sentences from it, who cares. The admissions people wont know where he got his idea from anyway. Is the quality of the essay defined by this ideas he took or is it defined by the quality of his writing? if it is the latter than it's fine.

Madboy121

If your essay is, "And that's why I don't like green eggs and ham." that would probably be considered plagiarism.


Seriously, don't worry about it. A wise man once said "stealing from one source is plagiarism, but stealing from several is research."