diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/SparqlQueryServlet.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/SparqlQueryServlet.java
index 21216894a..9590b5da0 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/SparqlQueryServlet.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/SparqlQueryServlet.java
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.StringTokenizer;
 
 import javax.servlet.RequestDispatcher;
 import javax.servlet.ServletException;
@@ -33,11 +32,9 @@ import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.DatasetFactory;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.Query;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QueryExecution;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QueryExecutionFactory;
-import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QueryFactory;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QuerySolution;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.ResultSet;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.ResultSetFormatter;
-import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.Syntax;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.Literal;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.Model;
 import com.hp.hpl.jena.rdf.model.ModelFactory;
@@ -51,6 +48,7 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.Actions;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.usepages.UseAdvancedDataToolsPages;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.Ontology;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.OntologyDao;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.SparqlQueryUtils;
 
 
 /**
@@ -62,8 +60,6 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.OntologyDao;
  */
 public class SparqlQueryServlet extends BaseEditController {
     private static final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(SparqlQueryServlet.class.getName());
-
-    protected static final Syntax SYNTAX = Syntax.syntaxARQ;
     
     protected static HashMap<String,ResultSetFormat>formatSymbols = new HashMap<String,ResultSetFormat>();
     static{
@@ -225,7 +221,7 @@ public class SparqlQueryServlet extends BaseEditController {
         
         QueryExecution qe = null;
         try{
-            Query query = QueryFactory.create(queryParam, SYNTAX);
+            Query query = SparqlQueryUtils.create(queryParam);
             qe = QueryExecutionFactory.create(query, dataset);
             if( query.isSelectType() ){
                 ResultSet results = null;
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/jena/JenaIngestController.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/jena/JenaIngestController.java
index 83cdabee9..bc0fdf1cc 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/jena/JenaIngestController.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/controller/jena/JenaIngestController.java
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.Actions;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.auth.requestedAction.usepages.UseAdvancedDataToolsPages;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.beans.Ontology;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.Controllers;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.SparqlQueryServlet;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.controller.VitroRequest;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.OntologyDao;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.JenaBaseDao;
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.VitroJenaSDBModelMaker;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.VitroJenaSpecialModelMaker;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.dao.jena.event.EditEvent;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.servlet.setup.JenaDataSourceSetup;
+import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.SparqlQueryUtils;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.jena.JenaIngestUtils;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.jena.JenaIngestWorkflowProcessor;
 import edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils.jena.JenaOutputUtils;
@@ -920,7 +922,7 @@ public class JenaIngestController extends BaseEditController {
             }
         }
         Model tempModel = ModelFactory.createDefaultModel();
-        Query query = QueryFactory.create(queryStr, Syntax.syntaxARQ);
+        Query query = SparqlQueryUtils.create(queryStr);
         QueryExecution qexec = QueryExecutionFactory.create(query,source);
         try {
             qexec.execConstruct(tempModel);
diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/SparqlQueryUtils.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/SparqlQueryUtils.java
index 21036340c..2a1b70543 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/SparqlQueryUtils.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/utils/SparqlQueryUtils.java
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@
 
 package edu.cornell.mannlib.vitro.webapp.utils;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.Query;
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QueryFactory;
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.QueryParseException;
+import com.hp.hpl.jena.query.Syntax;
+
 /**
  * Some utility methods that help when dealing with SPARQL queries.
  */
@@ -12,6 +21,12 @@ public class SparqlQueryUtils {
 	 */
 	private static final char[] REGEX_SPECIAL_CHARACTERS = "[\\^$.|?*+()]"
 			.toCharArray();
+	
+	/**
+	 * A list of SPARQL syntaxes to try when parsing queries
+	 */
+    public static final List<Syntax> SUPPORTED_SYNTAXES = Arrays.asList( 
+            Syntax.syntaxARQ , Syntax.syntaxSPARQL_11);
 
 	/**
 	 * Escape any regex special characters in the string.
@@ -40,5 +55,28 @@ public class SparqlQueryUtils {
 		}
 		return clean.toString();
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * A convenience method to attempt parsing a query string with various syntaxes
+	 * @param queryString
+	 * @return Query
+	 */
+	public static Query create(String queryString) {
+	    boolean parseSuccess = false;
+        Iterator<Syntax> syntaxIt = SUPPORTED_SYNTAXES.iterator();
+        Query query = null;
+        while (!parseSuccess && syntaxIt.hasNext()) {
+            Syntax syntax = syntaxIt.next();
+            try {
+                query = QueryFactory.create(queryString, syntax);
+                parseSuccess = true;
+            } catch (QueryParseException e) {
+                if (!syntaxIt.hasNext()) {
+                    throw e;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return query;
+	}
 
 }
diff --git a/webapp/web/jenaIngest/sparqlConstruct.jsp b/webapp/web/jenaIngest/sparqlConstruct.jsp
index 0998a384e..673c4f0d3 100644
--- a/webapp/web/jenaIngest/sparqlConstruct.jsp
+++ b/webapp/web/jenaIngest/sparqlConstruct.jsp
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@
         %>
 </select> 
 
-<textarea rows="16" cols="40" name="sparqlQueryStr" class="maxWidth"><c:choose>
+<textarea rows="25" cols="40" name="sparqlQueryStr" class="maxWidth"><c:choose>
     <c:when test="${param.sparqlQueryStr != null}">
         ${param.sparqlQueryStr}
     </c:when>
@@ -83,10 +83,12 @@ if(prefixes != null){
 		String prefixText = (String) prefixItr.next();
 		if(prefixText.equals("(not yet specified)")){
 			count++;
-			prefixText = "j." + count.toString();		
+			prefixText = "p." + count.toString();		
 		}
 		String urlText = (String) prefixItr.next();%>
 PREFIX <%=prefixText%>: <<%=urlText%>><%}}%>
+
+
 </c:otherwise>
 </c:choose>