Sparknotes Cheating?

Started by billionbucks25 October 7th, 2009 1:04 PM
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  • 27 replies
Seen January 30th, 2016
Posted December 21st, 2013
167 posts
15.1 Years
I'm in grade 11 english and sometimes it gets pretty tough. I have recently recieved an assingment where we have to find the symbolism of locations in The Great Gatsby. I kinda had an idea but my sis told me to go on Sparknotes. It gave me everything I needed to know so I wrote down some notes on that symbolism (not copying it). What I just did...was it cheating?
Seen January 30th, 2016
Posted December 21st, 2013
167 posts
15.1 Years
Nah, It's just like asking friend for help on an assignment. They didn't do it for you, but they gave you a hand. Plus, who really cares if it's cheating, the whole point of it is to learn the material and you did that right?
I guess, my mom and sister keep stressing the fact that it's not. Some of my friends say every kid in English uses it.....
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Seen January 9th, 2017
Posted June 30th, 2010
268 posts
15.8 Years
My teachers warned me against taking notes from Sparknotes (for research projects). If it's in order to study for a test, why not. But if you use stuff from it on a typed paper, and the teacher puts it through a website like Turnitin.com... look out. You could be in serious trouble if you put the information, word for word, in your assignment. :S

I just glance over stuff at websites like Sparknotes. Again, it's for mostly study/exams, and not for actual research. If you're using Sparknotes to study for your English exam, that's fine, as long as you can put the info in your own words when you're writing the exam. :)
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Seen January 30th, 2016
Posted December 21st, 2013
167 posts
15.1 Years
Absolutely not cheating. Sparknotes is a great resource to help you find out what a book means. No use in reading a book you don't understand.

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twocows

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Age 32
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Seen February 19th, 2023
Posted April 30th, 2021
4,307 posts
14.2 Years
Yeah, it's cheating. For those of you saying it's NOT cheating, try telling your teacher that you did the homework without reading the material and see what they think. They're the ones that determine if it is or is not cheating, not you. Using it as an aid isn't cheating, but doing it without reading the material is.

Not that I'm saying it's wrong or anything. It's a lesser form of cheating, you might say. I did it all the time in high school, myself. I probably saved weeks worth of my time doing that.
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TRIFORCE89

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Seen November 25th, 2017
Posted October 21st, 2016
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It's an aid. Provided you're actually reading the book, understand it, and aren't relying soely on SparkNotes.

These sources have been around for years. Our parents (and our teachers) had them. They were in book form and can still be found in libraries and school book stores. They're aids.

My twelfth grade English teacher actually recommended one of those books to me for an essay I was working on.

Captain Fabio

Age 33
London, UK
Seen November 4th, 2021
Posted November 2nd, 2021
12,193 posts
17.1 Years
No. It is not.

It is a form of resource.
As long as you aren't lifting the text from that site and claiming it as your own, then it isn't cheating.

If you go onto further education, you will see that researching for a project isn't cheating, it is a way of life.
It is to show how you can wade through all the crap of the world and find out what you want, dissect it and use it to your advantage.
I do this nearly every day at University =]
Though, I don't use Sparknotes...

So, no. Do not worry.
Age 35
Male
Australia
Seen February 10th, 2010
Posted January 1st, 2010
306 posts
13.7 Years
Our teachers at school use to encourage us to look at Sparknotes. We were told to read the material and look at websites such as Sparknotes for bits and pieces and NOT to copy from it.
So it was basically up to us whether or not we just used Sparknotes or read the material as well as using it
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Seen September 30th, 2012
Posted July 11th, 2012
3,529 posts
14.6 Years
Our teachers recommended Sparknotes to us for revision purposes, so no, it's not cheating if you get down some notes and write them in your own words if you have to use them for an assignment. :3
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Seen October 22nd, 2012
Posted December 18th, 2011
1,199 posts
14.8 Years
I was supposed to read The Grapes of Wrath last summer, but I never really got around to it, and instead I watched the movie and read the summery on Sparknotes. I'm pretty sure I know the same amount about the book then if I had actually read it.

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PokeBal33

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Seen October 27th, 2009
Posted October 27th, 2009
38 posts
13.6 Years
i dont think its cheating, i have used spark notes and Cliff notes before.
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Clain

Seen January 24th, 2023
Posted March 12th, 2011
4,293 posts
14.4 Years
I used the internet version of the sparknotes when I couldn't be bothered to read the book. XD

And I still got an 84% in that English course.

It's not cheating either, technically, the intention is for you to learn or find out what it is the teacher is asking in the story, since you can't sparknotes summarizes it for you.

Now a note though, I only used sparknotes for small quizzes in terms of asking about various story things, like plot, symbolism etc. which is what I assume you are somewhat doing (a small assignment that wouldn't require sources to begin with).

Of course though, for assignments that do require sources, sparknotes would be useless in and of itself anyway.

Nick

Seen 3 Weeks Ago
Posted July 28th, 2021
17,572 posts
18.6 Years
I use SparkNotes all the time whenever I don't understand anything going on in whatever we're doing in English class. I use it as a resource, like many others, for essays, term papers, projects and the like. I've found that my teachers enjoy seeing in the bibliography and whatnot that I included SparkNotes as part of my term paper and had the decency to cite it.

So long as you don't copy word for word what SparkNotes says, I don't categorize it as cheating.

But, The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel and there are symbols on just about every page. Some of the characters (such as Daisy and of course Gatsby) can even be described as symbols themselves if used in the proper context.

Bay

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Dani California
Seen 1 Hour Ago
Posted 1 Hour Ago
6,346 posts
17 Years
The Great Gatsby FTW. Gotta love the characters and culture. :3

I used Sparknotes before, but yeah only as a resource if I don't get what happened in a certain scene from a book and such (I read all the books I'm assigned, yo :3 ). I find that to be very useful in high school. Oh gosh, can't tell you how many of my friends used Sparknotes instead of reading a book. XD; Now that's cheating! :P

However, in university, I haven't used it as much. One is I'm not an English major. XD; Another reason my classes require research on some of our assignments, so I use other sources besides Sparknotes. I probably recommend not using Sparknotes as a resource if you're going to university. XD
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Seen January 9th, 2015
Posted January 9th, 2015
3,416 posts
14.3 Years
It is cheating, because it's in essence paraphrasing someone else's work. If you're having trouble, read through the book again or even ask for a little help, but don't just paraphrase what someone else says.

However, if you're using it as a pathway, rather than just writing it down, it can be useful as an aid.