So I've been working on my personal statement, and part of the story I'm telling in that statement is something that I wrote about in an article for my college newspaper/magazine, which is published online. I'm not worried about the general topic being similar since here it has a different purpose (explaining why this experience motivated me to go to law school) but there is one particular scene/vignette that I'd really like to include in the essay, which I wrote about in the article that's online.
I'm obviously not going to copy any exact phrases or sentences, but I'm a little worried about it somehow coming up as plagiarism or something? How should I avoid this/should I just take the vignette out?
On this note, should I avoid using any dialogue, or would a sentence or two be okay? If you can't tell, I was an English major, so trying to figure out where the line between creativity and professionalism lies!
Another thing I was thinking about is that I want to reference the general idea behind this one monologue in this one (old, like 1940s era) movie. It's not like an incredibly unique idea, but I've really connected with the movie and I feel like mentioning it briefly would be helpful in the essay. Would that be a no-go, or would it be okay?
Thanks!!! Any advice is very appreciated
2 comments
Speaking from the admissions vantage:
1) The chances of an admissions officer deciding to do a Google search for you, finding that article, and reading it are virtually nil. We just don't have the time to do that.
2) With that said, if you'd like to ensure that things are not a problem even in the remote possibility that the aforementioned comes to pass, it's ok to discuss the same issue. You just don't want to reuse entire sentences or passages.
I hope that helps!
@JacobBaska Thank you so much! Yeah, I figured I was probably being paranoid haha, but just wanted to be absolutely sure this wouldn't be a problem.