So we have learned about Ghostwriting and Plagiarism now, and it seems to me the lines can be blurred quite a bit. For instance, I am ghostwriting some of my boyfriend's (Justinn's) essays he needs for applying to medical school. And despite what I said about him in class, he did have a choice to let me help him, and trust me he doesn't always like the fact that I am better than him at writing. (although this is the only subject I can compete with him at an academic level!) I couldn't help but post a picture he is too cute! In some cases he knows how he wants to answer the questions but cannot figure out how to articulate them into a paragraph, keeping it under the word number limit. In other cases, he has absolutely no idea what to say. Now, is it plagiarism if I help him articulate his thoughts? What about if I completely go off of my own knowledge of his life experiences and completely write the essay for him? This is where I have problems, we are supposed to ghostwrite a paper or essay, but at what point is it plagiarism? If he would turn it in? What about if he just used the ideas I wrote for him and reworded them? I would be tempted to say that ghostwriting in this case does coincide with plagiarism a great deal. Medical schools want to hear your voice in the essay, and if they are suspicious they can also look at the essays the students write for their MCAT's.
2 comments:
I also had the same question. Are we supposed to make spelling errors and grammatical errors on purpose, just to make the paper work for the person we're ghostwriting for? It's kind of hard for me to do that, I' a little bit of a perfectionist, and don't like to leave a mistake once I know it's there. I guess I wouldn't make a very good ghostwriter...
it certainly is a dilemma - especially when you are helping someone else on an essay and you KNOW that your syntax and style are so much more than what the person you're ghost-writing for has going for them. I guess I have this newfound respect/not really for ghost writers (circumstance-specific). I can't even begin to empathize what the ghostwriter for Paris Hilton's book did with him/herself... maybe you guys can get in contact (jk).
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