Essay Mills: an incitment to classroom fraud

Author(s):

Ruben Comas ForgasTomeu Mut AmengualROB WALKER JAUME SUREDA NEGRE

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 01B, New Technologies in Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-10

09:15-10:45

Room:

B2 214

Chair:

Jani Petri Ursin

Contribution

Plagiarism is a growing concern in universities around the world and a variety of reports suggest that growing use of the internet has exacerbated the problem. There are a number of different ways of plagiarizing via the internet and the different causes associated with the phenomenon have been widely studied and, in some cases, strategies have been put into practice to address this issue. However, cheating techniques, just like persistent viruses, are rapidly changing in order to adapt to new scenarios. In this article we deal with the different mutations of cyber-plagiarism, focusing on one of the most recent forms and, to date, one against which there is little defense. We are referring to the so-called “term-paper mills” (one of the most common names used); that is, companies which, via the Internet, offer to sell you original, academic assignments customized to fit the users’ needs. In this article we identify the most important “essay mills” and make a close examination of their characteristics. With our analysis we show how these services are an incitment to academic fraud as their proposals are clear offers of pseudepigraphy and are in direct conflict with the basic principles of honesty and academic integrity. The figure of the “ghost writer” or Ghost author - the person who is paid to write texts that are attributed to another - does not only inhabit literary and artistic environments, but is also frequently present in academic settings. The sale and purchase of work in order to pass a course or part of a course is a practice that has been taking place for many years in the academic world, especially in universities. The opportunities to cheat in this way have greatly increased during recent years with the development of web technologies. Due to the Internet, what used to be artisan fraud has begun to acquire what are practically industrial dimensions. It is possible to distinguish three stages in the evolution of the sale and purchase of academic work: artisan, before the appearance of the Internet; a second stage stimulated by the Web and dominated by portals established for exchanging ready-made assignments; and, finally, a third stage in which, via the Internet, academic assignments are bought and sold to demand, and are custom-written to fit the specific needs of each user-consumer. In this latest development, plagiarism has become business, some individuals have made a great deal of money (the mill owners) and many others (students and professors) have made enough to make the activity worthwhile. In this paper we present a research carried out at the Balearic Islands University in which we analyze the prevalence of pseudepigraphy portals (521 portals were analyzed), its characteristics, its offers, its marketing rhetoric, its year of creation, etc.

Method

The research has been done basically trough content analysis of 521 web sites dedicated to offer or sell Paper mills and essays and trough page rank analysis of this same portals.

Expected Outcomes

We have shown how the development of the Internet has brought about a radical change in the sale and purchase of academic assignments for fraudulent use. We have also shown how nowadays we are dealing with a new form of fraud by ascription of false authorship to academic assignments. We have located and analysed over 500 portals offering to do original, custom-written, academic assignments to fit the users’ demands. We have identified the most important ones, and have seen that they have developed in the last seven years, especially in 2004. Having analysed the basic characteristics of how they work, we can affirm that the paradigmatic model of these essay mills consists of an Internet portal in which: - They give information about the services they offer. o They offer custom-written assignments. o Some portals also offer ready-made “second use” assignments. These assignments may have been written by the company or by other students – in which case the portal becomes the mediator in the exchange of assignments. Many of the portals that offer the two services (customised assignments or ready-made ones) are portals that have been commercially active in the exchange of assignments for years and have evolved quite sophisticated custom-writing of assignments to fit specific demands. - They give information about the groups their services are aimed at. o Educational levels of the assignments required. They are, predominantly, aimed at secondary school pupils and university students. o Specific groups to which they offer their services include:  Foreigners. There are portals that refer specifically to foreign students and even “adapt” the writing so it does not seem to have been written by a native English speaker.  Parents. There are portals that appeal to parents so they will use (and pay for) the services. - They give information about the characteristics of the staff writing the assignments. o Many portals provide information about their author’s qualifications o They warn against certain foreign portals and authors. - They provide guarantees against plagiarism - They give information about the company o Starting date for the activities o Possibilities of contacting the company - They give information about their rates - They provide a form to make the order and explain the procedure to follow. - They provide examples of assignments that have already been written - Testimonies - Confidentiality - Other services

References

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Author Information

Ruben Comas Forgas

Balearic Islands University

Applied Pedagogy

Palma Mallorca

Tomeu Mut Amengual

Universitat De Les Illes Balears

Applied Pedagogy

Palma Mallorca

ROB WALKER

EAST ANGLIA UNIVERSITY, UK

JAUME SUREDA NEGRE

BALEARIC ISLANDS UNIVERSITY, Spain

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