For students who don't want to write a thesis, dissertation, research paper,
or term paper, there are abundant professional writing services to be found on
the Internet that will do the work for a fee. Similar services sell the same
pre-written papers to students multiple times. Since instructors have become
more Internet savvy over the years and have learned to spot and uncover
plagiarism, the business has changed somewhat. Now, it's much more common for
students to use the services to hire a writer who will research and create an
original paper on their specific topic. It technically isn't plagiarism if the
work is being bought rather than copied or stolen. It is still cheating,
though.
Students who use writing services for their
research papers are also cheating themselves, as cliché as it may sound. They
are paying for an education that they aren't receiving, and it can catch up to
them in higher level courses. It's not difficult for a teacher to look at two
different papers and see that they were written by different people. The
consequences for being caught at schools and universities include academic
disciplinary actions that range from a failing grade in the course to being
permanently expelled. Most instructors take cheating seriously, and it isn't
worth the risk. The consequences can follow a student for a long time.
Another thing to consider for students who are
thinking of doing this is that the writing services themselves are not ethical.
That is easily demonstrated by the nature of their business. Hiring them and
expecting them to deliver a quality product on time is a gamble. The only reason
the writers are doing this work is for the money, and they usually don't have a
lot of incentive to produce a well-written and researched paper. Most of the
services have a disclaimer that the papers should only be used for research
purposes, though they know that's rarely, if ever, the case. It would certainly
be an unnecessarily expensive source of research for the student.
The bigger issue at hand is what will happen in
the future with a generation of students who are cheating more than in the past.
The Internet can be a wonderful resource for exchanging information and finding
academic sources. The flip side of this is that it makes it easier than ever
before to find someone who will write a term paper for money. What will happen
when these students enter the workforce? Most people would not want to be
treated by a doctor, hire a lawyer, or work with any other professional who had
cheated their way through school. This is something for the writers who work for
these services as well as students to think about.
All about Academic Writing
Services
Cheating Goes High-Tech: Online Term Paper Mills Academic
article
The Web Versus the Honor Code
Paper Mills and You
How to Avoid Plagiarism and
Cheating
Understanding Plagiarism What it is and how to avoid it
You Wrote
It, You Quote It Interactive tutorial
Resources for Teachers and
Professors
Cheating Prevention in College Classrooms
Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Instructors
Glatt Plagiarism Services Software that creates a test for
suspected cheaters
Potential Consequences and the Problem of
Cheating
Students Face Penalties for Use of Web Writing Articles News
article
Plagiarism in Colleges in the USA Legal issues of cheating and
what happens when students fight colleges