Essays being written by 3rd parties - your views.

[Word Perfect]

Hi,

I was just wondering what people's views on these ever popular 'ghostwriting' services are. It would seem that with the stress of clinical placement, tutorials, and academic work students are finding less and less time to write essays and exam papers.

I work for a couple of companies and write this type of academic paper and even though I do it, I sometimes feel a pang of guilt at how the work may be being wrongly used once I submit it??

What are people's views on this?

Cheers

Word Perfect

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

I think it is wrong. Would you supply test answers also?

Reminds me of a guy who was arrested for selling dope. His justification was he just responded to market demand and HE was not a user so where was the crime? Not with him, with the buyer. But the police did not agree.

[zenman]

Imagine what the stress was like when you actually had to go to the library and do your research! No, I could churn out papers everyday with no problem with the internet and sit-at-home library access.

What you complaining about, lol!

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

I'm glad to hear you feel bad, because I feel pretty bad when I turn in a paper that I have busted my butt over and am being graded alongside people who have paid for essays written by professionals.

It's also good to know what I'm not the only one who feels guilty, although my guilt is because I haven't spent as much time with my family as I would have wanted to, not because I am helping someone cheat (and getting paid quite well in the process I am sure).

Have a nice day!

[elkpark]

"MAY be wrongly used"?? What "right" use is there of a purchased research paper or essay? These companies know good and well that students are purchasing their products to cheat in school, and, apparently, that's fine with them as long as they make a profit. That's the whole point[/uI] of those businesses -- facilitating academic dishonesty.

What do you want people here to say, "No, no, don't feel guilty -- it's okay that you get paid to help students cheat"?

Teaching nursing has gotten much more difficult and even more time-consuming now that it isn't enough to just read and grade a paper (40 or 60 papers), you have to put the time and effort into trying to figure out whether or not the student plagiarized it from somewhere ...

I agree with classicdame; my view is that these outfits are somewhat on a par with drug dealers. I would like to see them become illegal.

[TazziRN, RN]

It's cheating, plain and simple. Students are receiving grades for work they don't do, and that's not fair to the students who busted their patooties over their papers. It's the same as a child who's parent does the homework for him/her.

Part of writing papers is to see how well the assignment is understood. What does the student learn if the work is paid for rather than done?

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with the other posters here. It is cheating and definitely wrong. If any of my students are found to have submitted a paper they did not write themselves, they are failed and may be thrown out of the university -- and rightly so.

The OP says she feels a little guilty. Well she should feel guilty because she is helping people to cheat and lie their way to a credential they do not deserve. Her conscience bothers her because somewhere deep down inside, she knows she is doing the wrong thing. She should listen to her conscience and find a new line of work.

[LydiaNN]

I don't understand how there can be more than one view about this. It is wrong. Students are meant to submit their own work. There isn't an academic institution anywhere that gives credit to students who going out and finding someone else's work to submit, and everyone knows it.

[mauxtav8r]

You have an opportunity to answer that "little pang of guilt." You know what is right.

I think this is very different from some other competitive advances that relate to money - hiring tutors or trainers, buying test preparation materials, enrolling in better schools. This does ZERO to help the student, their school, or any profession that accepts this bogus work as genuine.

Thankfully, most schools are pursuing better and better plagiarism detection to put folks out of business who produce this pox on society.

Go and do the right thing.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

I don't think it's a matter of making it "illegal"; it's morally, ethically wrong. Something doesn't have to be illegal in order for it to be misconduct elible for termination from a school.

I'd love to see the students' reactions, if two or three were to turn in the SAME paper to the same instructor one day. Would love to see how THAT group conversation would go!

It's legal because these cheesy "research" companies say that they are providing papers soley to be used as a 'tool' or 'resource', or some other such nonsense. Yeah, as if telling the purchaser that they shouldn't turn in this polished, finished professionally written piece they've just paid for, just as it is is going to make THAT happen.

Doesn't matter who wrote the paper, or for what purpose. If the student turns it in as HIS own work with HIS own name at the top, well, it's plagiarized. And that's grounds for dismissal from any program or university that I've ever heard of.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Add me to the list of people who think it is wrong and you should stop.

steph

[Word Perfect]

Well I actually run my own business tutoring students by email and checking work and just generally steering them in the right direction.

I remember as a student getting diddly squat help so the people I mentor get help from a nurse who understands their plight too.

I actually get a great deal of satisfaction knowing I can be of help and let them actually do the work themselves!

Word Perfect :typing