Deadlines loom as the end of term approaches. You have books to read, notes to review, and several essays and research papers to write.

Sure, you should have started weeks ago--but so much for good intentions. What's important now is that you heed the advice in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "DON'T PANIC."

Unless your name is Bluto Blutarsky, you should be storing up rations (Mountain Dew, Ding Dongs, Miracle Whip) and setting up sane and sensible 20-hour-a-day work schedules for the weeks ahead.

You've done it before. You've sworn that you would never do it again. You can do it again.

Then, the moment you go online to begin researching Moby Dick or Möbius strips, the temptations appear--probably in the right-hand bar of the search page.

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You're nobody's fool, of course, and you have more than a modicum of self-respect. But maybe that Mountain Dew and Miracle Whip cocktail has gone to your head, making you a little loopy. Perhaps you start daydreaming about how much easier it would be if . . ..

Stop right there. You're not going to do it. You're not going to cheat. You're not going to plagiarize. You're not going to buy an essay or a term paper online. And here's why:

1. The essays usually stink. No kidding. (Even if you're captain of the local branch of the Cynics, why pay for an F paper when in ten minutes you're perfectly capable of dashing off a failing essay all by yourself?)

1. You would probably get caught. Yes, the Internet has made cheating easier. But it has also made it easier to catch cheaters. Check the honor code of your school or college to find out the penalty for submitting plagiarized work.
2. Cheating is wrong. And you know it is.

If these three reasons aren't convincing enough, please take a few minutes to read a short article by my colleague Grace Fleming at About Homework/Study Tips: "Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn't Even Think About Buying a Research Paper." Then tear the wrapper off a Little Debbie Frosted Fudge Cake, and (DON'T PANIC) get to work. You can do it again.