<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>