Personal Statement Plagarism Question

[Dolphins1994]

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So I have begun writing my personal statement, and I have a quick question about plagarism. If I have found a personal statement on the internet, is it considered plagarism to use the format they used in order to construct mine? In other words, I liked how they organized their experiences, so would it be considered plagarism for me to also use that organization?

 

[deleted781806]

I do not believe it would be considered plagiarism to structure your writing in the same fashion as another, as long as you are not taking directly from the source and passing it off as your own work. Especially if it is as simple as seeing someone write "intro -> early life -> volunteering -> shadowing -> conclusion" or something to that effect and you follow the same flow of ideas. Just don't take directly from transition sentences or from their writing, and I think you will be fine.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

No

 

[efle]

Youre fine

 

[Dolphins1994]

I do not believe it would be considered plagiarism to structure your writing in the same fashion as another, as long as you are not taking directly from the source and passing it off as your own work. Especially if it is as simple as seeing someone write "intro -> early life -> volunteering -> shadowing -> conclusion" or something to that effect and you follow the same flow of ideas. Just don't take directly from transition sentences or from their writing, and I think you will be fine.

Yeah I'm definitely not copying any words or anything like that from their paper. I just liked how their paper started off with their first impression of medicine -> how that impression of medicine changed through activities -> tying it all together.

 

[deleted781806]

Yeah I'm definitely not copying any words or anything like that from their paper. I just liked how their paper started off with their first impression of medicine -> how that impression of medicine changed through activities -> tying it all together.

Yeah, that's not plagiarism at all. You're fine. It's a really common way to write your PS, at least from how I began to write mine and heard from others.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

I did the same. It's a tall order to condense all your thoughts and reasons for becoming a physician into an engaging narrative. Just be careful that you don't try to use the sample voice in lieu of your own.

 

[alana615]

I also used someone else's essay to give me inspiration about how to order my own. Definitely not plagiarism as long as you use your own words for it. It's quite helpful to have a guideline, and I very much enjoyed the process of writing mine once I had a starting point. Before I had some inspiration, it felt almost impossible to write about something so big and abstract in so few words.

Run with it! 🙂

 

[Beezlebub]

just be honest and you have nothing to worry about