Email Address:

Password:

Cheats or essay help?

There is a surely a fine, grey line between legitimate study aids and cheating.

Where do we draw it? An Essay Cheat correspondent looks at some popular 'study aids' and asks whether they constitute cheating or not.

Question and Answer Books I didn't find out about Q & A books until after I'd done my degree and started freelancing for an academic writing company.

Q & A books (such as the Blackstone's Q & A law series) are available in major bookshops as well as on Amazon.

They cost between £8 and £14 each and they are fabulous.

Blackstones outlines the main points of law in every major area for the subject you're studying (contract, land, etc) and then gives you a set of 'canned answers' to popular exam/essay questions.

Okay you're unlikely to find your exact question in the book - but you'll find a set of scenarios that are similar, as well as an overlap with the essay style questions on popular subjects.

Law students just shouldn't be without these books.

But are they cheating? I think we need to break the question down further.

Are they cheating if (a) you find the exact question to your assignment in the book *and* you look at it, and (b) are they cheating if you find some similar questions and use them as examples? I'm sure there will be differences of opinion on this one.

If you find the exact question (like scenario (a)) then isn't this just like finding the answers to an exam you're just about to take? Would it be dishonest to look at the answers? At first thought, you might say yes.

But then, what if you find a law case that answers the scenario? You'd actually want to reference it as authority.

There are millions - billions - of sources in the world and a good researcher inevitably will stumble across one that deals with their problem precisely, from time to time.

The key to not plagiarising, in my opinion, is to take what's found, do all the research again, read all the sources and write something better - stand on the shoulders of giants as the saying goes.

If this is still plagiarism then surely some of the most respected intellectuals of our time could be deemed plagiarists for taking the work of their predecessors and improving on it? Canned Essays - Essay Banks While Q & A books provide a canned set of about 50 commented essays, essay banks provide a canned set of several hundred thousand.

Practically, I wouldn't recommend essay banks - they have a major disadvantage to Q & A books - all of the essays were written by students.

There's no guarantee that any of the work is accurate.

Q & A books by contrast have been written by experts so at least you know the answers are right.

However, Essay Banks certainly provide a little inspiration.

Sometimes, when you're completely stuck for ideas or not sure what direction to take, the essay bank is just the thing.

Is it any different from studying in the library? Not really.

It's like a collection of books only in a shorter format and not quite so accurate.

Again, my view on essay banks is that if you do the research after you find what you're looking for, there's no cheating involved.

Read up on the subject for yourself and use the essays for nothing more than inspiration.

If there's original content (i.e. something the student has thought up for themselves rather than referenced from elsewhere) then reference the ideas properly - after all, many essay banks work with TurnItIn so your tutor will soon know if you've borrowed content.

Even if they don't work with TurnItIn, what's to stop other students borrowing the content, using it and that showing up in Turnitin?