1 Quick and Easy Trick to Avoid Cheating on Essays

Have you ever been grading a stack of essays when they started to sound a bit . . . familiar?

All too often, I have noticed that my students are copying from each other’s essays—using the same claims, repeating the same evidence—and switching up the wording a bit to (unsuccessfully) avoid getting caught.

And while kids can always find a way to cheat themselves of learning when they really want to, I figured out a quick trick that cuts it down considerably.

It’s so easy it almost sounds stupid.

I use a random topic generator like this one and give each kid in my class a different topic.

I know! It’s almost dumb. But hear me out.

My middle-schoolers get tons of laughs out of the random topics I give them (hippos? toenails? pirates?) and they really expand their knowledge by studying something new.

They still have to work to come up with their own claims and evidence that meet my essay requirements, and they can’t copy off of each other because nobody has the same topic!

And have you tried Googling “argumentative essay about toast” online? None of the options even come close to meeting the requirements we give our kids.

I know there’s no way to end cheating for good, but this quick trick makes such a positive difference in my students’ independent thinking—and we have fun with it too.

Are your students ready to start writing? Check out these fun essay-writing games and activities to help them write their best essays ever!