Term Paper Mills

Term paper mills are built to make money. Most such services require one to pay, and sometimes pay rather a lot of money. K-Praxis looked at a few-there are very many of them-to sample what is on offer. Amongst these sites, a random check seems to show that essays are charged according to number of pages, citations and references. In general, the rate seems to be 8 US$ per page. Essays range between five to 20 pages. The average minimum length seems to be 5 pages-with some citations and references.

One site (Collegetermpapers.com) asks students to submit their own term papers in order to be able to download others. Students are told "There is nothing wrong with submitting your paper. Teachers have no right to get upset with you for publishing your work. IT'S YOURS!!!" Another website (academictermpapers.com) claims to offer the lowest price per page, at 7US$. Some websites offer a monthly access, around 20 to 30US$ per month. Most offer various methods of delivery, including express delivery. The most common method, naturally, is electronic copies attached to emails. In many cases, delivery charges are separate. Though in principle delivery is made to any destination, in several cases, the default in the country field is "United States". These websites couldn't be said to be expecting customers/users from other countries.

Most sites offer a brief description of the essay, if you select one, and the following example, is typical (note the topic of the essay!): "Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Freire Investigates this work in light of the oppressed and their relation to governmental control, economic conditions and politics as it overrides individual assertion and choice. Written in 1980, 9 pages, $80.55." Some other sites display the first paragraph, or a stipulated number of words from the essay you select.

Most websites present categories to choose from, and a basic search mechanism. Naturally, all have some form of a disclaimer. Some websites install advertisements on your windows panel without seeking your permission, so you can spread spy-ware and adware as well.

'Higher' Education

Much could be said about higher education in the US, using the above information as a symptom of something deeper, hidden, and malignant. However, it must be remembered that it is not only students who plagiarize. (A Google search today-June 17th-on plagiarism is instructive).

Debates on plagiarism have tended to center on students plagiarizing partly because the number seems to be rising, and partly because there are services which make it easier for students to plagiarize.

It is necessary therefore, to understand why students plagiarize, especially those taking higher education. The university syllabi and academic expectations from students are such that students have to write term papers and assignments. Most students would say they have to write a lot. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to state that from amongst all the intellectual communities, it is in higher education that one has to write a lot of things: teachers have to write research papers (to be published in refereed journals), books (tenure!), students have to turn in assignments and term papers on a regular basis for each course that they take. Students also have to satisfy their professors with their written material, opinions expressed and so on.

Under such conditions, It can safely be assumed that all the essays on offer are 'run of the mill', and not terribly interesting academically. A certain mediocrity is to be expected of them, for such material is not academically 'risky'.

Detection

In principle, if a student submits plagiarized material, the professors are expected to identify the plagiarism. Because of the vast amount of material that is available, such identification is impossible: one cannot expect a person, even if he or she is learned and erudite to identify stuff taken from the Internet. The Internet is way too big for a single person, or even a committee. It is the vastness of the Internet that requires automation: search engines, crawlers, robots, and in this particular case, automation of comparisons between texts available on the Internet (and in prepared databases), and the essay submitted by a student.

In our next article we will look at companies that offer such comparison services.