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Custom writing services, businesses that sell pre-made essays, may ease students' lives, but AU students who use them may face stiff penalties. One company, Custom-Writing.org, offers several types of written assignments in 14 subjects to students from high school through Ph.D. programs, according to the company's Web site. Pricing varies on the length of paper, time until the essay is due and the student's educational program. An eight-page research paper at the university level due in five days costs $139.91, according to the company's Web site. "Our company helps students organize their time according to their own discretion, giving [students] an opportunity to focus on more important things and subjects, which deserve extra attention," said Andrew Schwartz, a spokesman for the Web site. Custom-Writing.org's regular customers seldom order papers that are related to their own major, Schwartz said. He said most of the company's orders are seven pages or less, showing that students are using the service for assignments of "secondary priority," including non-major related courses or other subjects in which students are not interested. Prioritizing assignments in such a way defeats the purpose of attending college, academically and financially, said Nathan Price, special assistant to the provost at AU. "What is the student learning from that?" Price said. "[Students who pay for essays] are cheating themselves of the high-quality education they're paying for." Writing essays is an essential learning tool, said Josh Clearfield, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business. "It basically shows me what I know," Clearfield said. "Understanding is nothing without application." Besides missing out on important skills, buying an essay is a form of plagiarism. The Academic Integrity Code on AU's Web site states, "Dishonesty in papers covers but is not limited to submitting material obtained from another person or company or purchased from either." Price didn't have specific statistics but knew of instances where AU students were caught turning in pre-made essays. These students may face suspension. Academic code violations in general have been fairly constant, and punishments have varied depending on each school and the severity of the violation, said Erika Langhart, the former director of academic affairs for the Student Government and a junior in the School of Public Affairs. Online essays have played a role in some of these violations, Langhart said. In some instances professors became suspicious when students turned in papers that were "too good," Schwartz said. Custom-Writing.org now allows students to upload their personal writing samples, thus minimizing the chances of being suspected of plagiarism, he said. The uploaded papers, along with the ability to change the level of writing for differing levels of education or native or non-native English speakers, allow the company to provide a paper that seems similar to a student's writing. Masterpapers.com and Superiorpapers.com, two other paper writing services, also guarantee papers that are free of plagiarism. Both sites, like Custom-Writing.org, offer custom written papers and guarantee that their writers will not plagiarize anyone else's work. These promises are false and motivated by business, according to John Hyman, director of the College Writing Program. He said these companies will say anything to make a profit. Even though it's difficult to prevent online plagiarism, deterring students from participating in this form of cheating is one of the SG's goals, Langhart said. The SG has been working to promote Turnitin.com, which allows professors to scan student work for plagiarized material, she said. Students should keep in contact with their professors while working on an assignment in order to avoid resorting to plagiarism, Hyman said. This allows the student to notify the professor of any time management issues. The simplest solution is for students to avoid procrastinating, he said. Jenny Napolitano, a second-year graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she would rather turn in a poorly written assignment than cheat. For students struggling with a difficult paper, she recommended the Writing Center. AU's Writing Center is in room 228 of the Battelle-Tompkins building. They offer free consultations on problems such as organizing ideas, developing arguments and identifying recurrent errors, according to its Web site. The Internet can be a good source of academic help, but students should proceed with caution, Price said. "The Internet does pose a good educational opportunity for us to discern and scrutinize information," Price said. "Unfortunately, many [people] use it to make a buck.Cheating is a major problem at every level of education in America, from elementary schools to the university level. Although all students face the pressure to cheat at some point during their academic career, some are more likely to succumb to that pressure than others. |
Cheating is a major problem at every level of education in America, from elementary schools to the university level. Although all students face the pressure to cheat at some point during their academic career, some are more likey to succumb to that pressure than others. -73 percent of all test-takers agree that most students cheat at some point -35 percent of college officials believe that cheating is a problem -41 percent of the general public believes cheating is a problem -Cheating occurs most often in math and science courses -Primary reasons for cheating among college students include a lack of honor code, minimal penalties, low faculty support of academic integrity codes and low chance of being caught -Students who are more likely to cheat include: business or engineering majors, fraternity and sorority members, younger students and students with very low or very high grade point averages Source: Educational Testing Service/Ad Council Campaign to Discourage Cheating, http://www.glass-castle.com/clients/www-nocheating-org/adcouncil/research/cheatingfactsheet.html -CAROLYN PHENICIE |
