The author of The Shadow Scholar makes a living writing custom papers for college students, from admissions essays to graduate theses. He makes more money than most of the professors who assign the work.
It's not plagiarism, as each paper is paid for and written to specifications with the understanding that the author will receive no writing credit. But the student does none of the work to produce the paper. There's a serious discussion at Metafilter on whether this activity is wrong or not. I was surprised that there was any question as to the ethics of hiring someone to do your college work, but I graduated over 30 years ago, and the world has changed a lot since then. What you do think? Is this cheating or just another path to your goal? Link -via Metafilter
(Image credit: Jonathan Barkat for The Chronicle Review)
You've never heard of me, but there's a good chance that you've read some of my work. I'm a hired gun, a doctor of everything, an academic mercenary. My customers are your students. I promise you that. Somebody in your classroom uses a service that you can't detect, that you can't defend against, that you may not even know exists.
I work at an online company that generates tens of thousands of dollars a month by creating original essays based on specific instructions provided by cheating students. I've worked there full time since 2004. On any day of the academic year, I am working on upward of 20 assignments.
In the midst of this great recession, business is booming. At busy times, during midterms and finals, my company's staff of roughly 50 writers is not large enough to satisfy the demands of students who will pay for our work and claim it as their own.
It's not plagiarism, as each paper is paid for and written to specifications with the understanding that the author will receive no writing credit. But the student does none of the work to produce the paper. There's a serious discussion at Metafilter on whether this activity is wrong or not. I was surprised that there was any question as to the ethics of hiring someone to do your college work, but I graduated over 30 years ago, and the world has changed a lot since then. What you do think? Is this cheating or just another path to your goal? Link -via Metafilter
(Image credit: Jonathan Barkat for The Chronicle Review)
want an mba? well this just shows cheeky initiative. i mean you are outsourcing to professionals not some robot that generates it automatically.
want a masters in osteology? you may have just paid for a class to get some knowlege and then paid to not have the knowlege you initially paid for. what you now dont know may fail you at a job interview.
I'd get $125 for a 3-5 pager, $200 for 5-7 pages, $275 for 7-10 pages, and $350 for 10-15 pages.
We'd actually work together (the students and I) to craft their papers before due dates, and I'd offer free minor re-writes / edits to increase the final grade. I wish I could get hooked up with these companies and work remotely, but for now I work with about 7 students and it helps get by during this rough time.
I've just always wondered if as a producer of black market academia if I'm considered a cheater... I don't feel so as I'm not profiting academically, which I suppose would just make me an opportunist.
clm42 wrote, "want an mba? well this just shows cheeky initiative."
Nice try, but you can't outsource your actual education. Would you be okay if your doctor had "outsourced" his medical education? No, I thought not.
It's not, "cheeky initiative". It's cheating.
-exactly.
If you don't have the chops under your belt and learned when the rubber meets the road and you actually NEED that well of training and context, your actual performance will suffer greatly.
Besides, good grades are no guarantee of genius.
The Valedictorian of my HS class was universally agreed upon as an airhead, a parrot and a ditz; especially among the guys who would go on to work at NASA.
Belt!?
Rubber!?
Huzzah!
clearly, only the wealthy can afford this. does that annoy anyone else besides me?
Rhyme Me a Smile
John K. Summed it up nicely about a year ago; essentially that schools don't teach what they claim to teach:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/10/michael-moores-capitalism-review.html
That being said, my wallet is glad that I actually enjoy writing research papers and find it easy. I didn't have to work in college because of people with money that can't do research.
Dictionaries use the word "unauthorized" or "stolen", meaning the user does not have the author's permission to use the writing.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plagiarism
http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarize
However, I see now that Universities define it as using someone else's work, whether authorized or not, which means cheating.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/plagiarism.html
Such sanctimony!
Hell, it's probable that none of you believes in God or morality anyway.
Why advertise it like this now? You have a successful business, making thousands of dollars per month, and you feel the need to go more public with it? Maybe those essay-writers aren't as smart as they want to appear. I would just keep my mouth shut and rake in the cash.
Sounds to me like he/she is trying to drum up business with this.
I worked hard for the degree I have and am continuing to do so for my next degree. For anyone who argues that this is not cheating, stop and think: would you honestly want someone treating you for a medical condition; working your case; advising you on investments; or even teaching your children who didn't actually EARN their degree? The reason for papers, no matter how dumb and pointless, is to learn from them. If you don't do them, you don't learn; if you don't learn, you can't teach.
Ridiculous.
Yes, and it was going on 30 years ago. I told my housemate, who was writing a paper for a pal, that I would turn him in if he didn't stop. He went to med school, but I never followed up on his buddy.