Writing your college admissions essay can be challenging and even overwhelming. However, the challenge should never motivate you to pass off someone else’s work as your own. Plagiarism is a serious writing offense, and a plagiarized personal statement can cost you acceptance into the school of your choice. Although essay admission samples can serve as an excellent guide for you, they are not intended for you to claim as your own work. Here are four effective tips to avoid plagiarism in your admission essays.
Place quotes when necessary
One of the safest ways to avoid committing plagiarism is to place quotation marks whenever necessary. If you must quote someone or use a quote as part of your essay, placing the correct citations will show that you are giving the correct credit where credit is due. This way, even if you are using someone else’s originally spoken words, you won’t be accused of stealing someone else’s work.
Review and edit your essay
Reviewing your essay for admission is another means of checking whether you have in fact plagiarized parts of your essay. You may have unknowingly or unintentionally plagiarized someone else’s written work without meaning to. To avoid making these serious mistakes, you can always edit and proofread your essay before submitting it for admission.
Document the correct sources
To more easily avoid plagiarism, you can document the correct sources in advance. This will allow you to see what information you got from other authors or writers and what parts of your essay you wrote on your own. Writing your personal statement can get quite confusing, especially if you have used multiple sources, and in some cases you may end up misquoting. By documenting the correct sources, you will be able to give the necessary credit to the correct sources.
Strive for originality
A fresh and original personal statement is sure to grab the attention of your readers. This is why writing an original statement is highly recommended if you want to impress the selection committee and not simply avoid plagiarism. Infuse a little creativity into your essay to make it stand out from hundreds of other personal statements. Although you may want to use essay admission examples as a guide, you can always choose to be more creative and focus on originality at all times.
Whether committed knowingly or not, plagiarism is a serious crime that can put your personal statement at risk. Your admission essay is one of the most crucial requirements when it comes to applying to any specific college or university. Writing an original, interesting, corrected essay will show you as an ideal and responsible future student and will help you earn the respect of the admissions board or committee.