History Essay, Research Paper

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Simplified. Condensed. To the point.

Pre-packaged. Downloaded at the push of a button.

No longer do college students have to trudge to “24-hour”

conveniencestores to buy Cliff’s Notes, only to find the store is closed

for someobscure holiday. Their plans foiled. Their procrastinating

thrown back intheir faces. Where do these students turn?

The new website, located at www.schoolbytes.com offers students

guaranteed24-hour free service. The site’s mission: to provide students

with plotsummaries and literature term papers.

“Our philosophy was to design something that a 5 year-old

couldunderstand. Any student can then just click on a Web page, such

as theVietnam War, and receive a general explanation,” Mark

Saldanha.

A general explanation on the Vietnam War? There are entire classes

devotedto studying the Vietnam War whose professors could not give

a generalexplanation of it. Now students in need of reference material

are givenvague synopses on wars and other simple topics by their

peers – and becauseit’s online they are supposed to trust the source.

While the idea of a Cliff’s Notes-modeled

reference guide o nline seems likea quick

and easy answer for students who need a

refresher on “Hamlet” or”Beowulf,” the

other end of the spectrum reveals a dark

side to thisentrepreneurial endeavor.

Summaries and other people’s term

papers made readily available can be

usedas a primary source of information for

many students who “forgot” to writetheir essays until the last minute.

Two things to consider: 1) The materialis written by other college

students who may be less knowledgeable thanthose visiting the site

and 2) Using this material as a study supplement,or worse – a

replacement, undermines academic integrity.

Students must realize that while these sources may be a quick

referencepoint, the text within the Web site is not a valid resource,

especiallywhen citing examples for a research paper.

The currency of education is ideas, and if students don’t have ideas,

thenthey are poor. Using this Web site as an education supplement is

likeshopping at the store where everything is a dollar.

Maybe students will get something that seems bright and shiny, but

whenthey try to put it to use, they’ll realize it just doesn’t work.