<p>I personally use SparkNotes for my English homework and projects. </p>
<p>What would be the chances of me getting caught using them? </p>
<p>I don’t copy anything word for word, I just take ideas from there, change them a little (even change them to make it sound partially wrong) and then use them.</p>
<p>Because teachers generally know what ideas are listed on Spark Notes. It shouldn’t be that hard to read and come up with your own ideas, and you’ll find it much easier to defend something you actually believe.</p>
<p>How do teachers know? They read Spark Notes!!! They can recognize the themes in your work, and if they are smart, they ask questions that aren’t covered in SN.</p>
<p>I’ve found that a lot my ideas are the same ones on Spark Notes, though.</p>
<p>Teachers sometimes read Sparknotes too, the trick is to know exactly where the ideas come from, and be able to distinguish between what you could have come up with, and what you could not have. Also, if you disagree with something, don’t try to argue it.</p>
<p>Teachers are aware of that Sparknotes exists and if everyones homework is similar guess what the first (or second actually because of Wikipedia) place they check.</p>
<p>I’ve always gotten away with it. And I’ve had some pretty damn smart English teachers.</p>
<p>I’ve always gotten away with it. But then again I’ve never had a smart English teacher.</p>
<p>I thought it was ok to visit reputable websites such as SparkNotes to reinforce ideas or concepts as long as you don’t copy them? At least that’s what it’s like here.</p>
<p>My teachers have encouraged using Sparknotes if you’re having difficulties with the book, but it’s not to be used as a substitute for actually reading the book.</p>
<p>I don’t really get the problem teachers have with people using outside sources. Obviously, students should be encouraged to go beyond SparkNotes and Wikipedia, but most of the students are going to come up with the same ideas that are on those two sites, whether or not they use them, because both of them express the main ones and the main ones that are within the grasp of an average HS kid. Most kids aren’t going to be able to create a superior thesis without going to outside sources. And most kids are <em>never</em> going to come up with a novel interpretation of a major work. They’re just going to be restating ones that have already been made, and stating them less eloquently.</p>
<p>sadly, my lit teacher reads sparknotes+cliffsnotes+pinkmonkeynotes. so yeah, if you rely on those websites, chances are, you will fail the reading quizzes lol.</p>
<p>I miss reading quizzes. Easy points were easy.</p>
<p>@OP: What you are doing is plagiarism, even if you are just paraphrasing SparkNotes instead of copying it verbatim. SparkNotes is a useful tool to understand a material, but you will do better (and understand more) if you just use your original ideas in papers you write.</p>
<p>my teacher completely baffled us when she told us we had a reading pop quiz, and it was the type of stuff that sparknotes summaries would never have.</p>
<p>so everybody epic-ly failed that quiz, including me.</p>
<p>The ideas on spark notes are the same ideas in the book, the book just has perhaps more. Some teachers at my highschool even recommended reading sparknotes (along with the book of 'course) to help you understand the book.</p>
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<p>So what? There’s far more value in coming up with a mediocre thesis yourself than regurgitating some website’s superior thesis. And if you come up with it yourself, whether the idea is novel or not is irrelevant to the learning experience.</p>
<p>…If you use one of those obscure themes in your essay. </p>
<p>Ex: Saying that Lord of the Flies characters parallel to the Bible. I would have never thought of that if I hadn’t studied on Sparknotes.</p>
<p>^ Not obscure… </p>
<p>Anyways, every teacher knows what Sparknotes are, so they can access it just as easy as a student. I’ve even had some teachers who draw ideas from Sparknotes for their own lessons, then they can’t complain when I use it :).</p>
<p>^obscure for most high school students who have never even really looked at the bible.</p>
<p>i remember one day my 10th grade teacher was like “the information on spark notes is crap, anyways…”. lol.</p>
<p>“Most kids aren’t going to be able to create a superior thesis without going to outside sources. And most kids are <em>never</em> going to come up with a novel interpretation of a major work. They’re just going to be restating ones that have already been made, and stating them less eloquently.”</p>
<p>my english teacher was actually talking about this right before we did a research paper, a few weeks ago. he said high school kids almost always just regurgitate ideas that are already out there, & we need to start moving away from that because in college we would get higher marks for original ideas :]</p>
<p>…which actually really bothers me because how the hell will i be able to write a 10+[or even a 5+]-page paper based on an idea that there is no outside information about or precedent for] -_-</p>
<p>Well, I can’t say I use spark notes for writing papers, but I’m pretty sure my entire AP Eng Lit class uses spark notes for review and studying for our book quizzes and tests.</p>
<p>My teachers knows and doesn’t care. </p>
<p>As for taking all my ideas off of spark notes…well…that’s kinda stretching it. >></p>