This link has been bookmarked by 57 people . It was first bookmarked on 15 Oct 2008, by Matt Kramer.
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02 Oct 12
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01 Mar 11
shanucoreOne great way to briefly turn the conversation toward myself at a party is to answer the question, "So, what do you do?" with, "I'm a writer." Not that most of the people I've met at parties have read my novels or short stories or feature articles; when t
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29 Nov 10
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24 Nov 10
Kim PhamThe lucrative industry behind higher ed's failings.
article culture education plagiarism writing cheating interesting essays
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16 Nov 10
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15 Nov 10
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07 Oct 10
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But that sort of thing was just average for the bottom of the barrel student-client. To really understand how low the standards are these days, we must lift up the barrel and see what squirms beneath
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précis
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26 Sep 10
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20 Dec 09
Christian DCurious about the state of higher education in America? Get a job churning out pages on Shakespeare, Faulkner, and who one client called "Plah-toe."
education culture funny plagiarism writing for:elsapozu delicious
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02 Jun 09
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18 Apr 09
Elizabeth FuriThis could be a movie: Thank You For Buying Your Term Paper. Kind of funny in a macabre sort of way.
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21 Mar 09
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30 Jan 09
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30 Nov 08
Kay Cunningham"Writing model term papers is above-board and perfectly legal. Thanks to the First Amendment, it’s protected speech, right up there with neo-Nazi rallies, tobacco company press releases, and those '9/11 Was An Inside Job' bumper stickers."
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05 Nov 08
Dennis OConnor"If I want attention for an hour or so, however, I'll tell them my horrible secret — for several years I made much of my freelance income writing term papers. " A good read that raises real questions about writing term papers.
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03 Nov 08
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27 Oct 08
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24 Oct 08
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The term paper biz is managed by brokers who take financial risks by accepting credit card payments and psychological risks by actually talking to the clients. Most of the customers just aren't very bright. One of my brokers would even mark assignments with the code words DUMB CLIENT. That meant to use simple English; nothing's worse than a client calling back to ask a broker — most of whom had no particular academic training — what certain words in the paper meant. One time a client actually asked to talk to me personally and lamented that he just didn't "know a lot about Plah-toe." Distance learning meant that he'd never heard anyone say the name.
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In broad strokes, there are three types of term paper clients. DUMB CLIENTS predominate. They should not be in college.
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The second type of client is the one-timer. A chemistry major trapped in a poetry class thanks to the vagaries of schedule and distribution requirements, or worse, the poet trapped in a chemistry class.
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The third group is perhaps the most tragic: They are well-educated professionals who simply lack English-language skills.
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Term paper work is also extremely easy, once you get the hang of it. It's like an old dance routine buried in one's muscle memory. You hear the tune — say, "Unlike the ancient Greek tragic playwrights, Shakespeare likes to insert humor in his tragedies" — and your body does the rest automatically. I'd just scan Google or databases like Questia.com for a few quotes from primary and secondary sources, create an argument based on whatever popped up from my search, write the introduction and underline the thesis statement, then fill in the empty spaces between quotes with whatever came to mind.
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21 Oct 08
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20 Oct 08
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Patrick HigginsNotes from the "dark" side. A writer confesses to having written term papers for a money. It's a nice perspective from someone paid to beat the system.
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19 Oct 08
Dean ShareskiInteresting perspective of someone who wrote term papers for students. via courosa
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Reuven WerberThe Term Paper Artist
The lucrative industry behind higher ed's failings. -
Alec CourosInteresting article "Term Paper Artist", insightful for academic integrity, plagiarism, and poor pedagogy.
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nate stearnsAn online magazine of culture and ideas.
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16 Oct 08
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15 Oct 08
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Matt KramerThe Smart Set From Drexel University
Home > First Person
First Person
The Term Paper Artist
The lucrative industry behind higher ed's failings.
By Nick Mamatas
One great way to briefly turn the conversation toward myself at a party is to answer the question, "So, what do you do?" with, "I'm a writer." Not that most of the people I've met at parties have read my novels or short stories or feature articles; when they ask, "Have I seen any of your stuff?" I shrug and the conversation moves on. If I want attention for an hour or so, however, I'll tell them my horrible secret — for several years I made much of my freelance income writing term papers.
I always wanted to be writer, but was told from an early age that such a dream was futile. After all, nobody ever puts a classified ad in the paper that reads “Writers Wanted.” Then, in the Village Voice, I saw just such an ad. Writers wanted, to write short pieces on business, economics, and literature. It was from a term paper mill, and they ran the ad at the beginning of each semester.
Writing model term papers is above-board and perfectly legal. Thanks to the First Amendment, it’s protected speech, right up there with neo-Nazi rallies, tobacco company press releases, and those "9/11 Was An Inside Job" bumper stickers. It's custom-made Cliff Notes. Virtually any subject, almost any length, all levels of education — indulgent parents even buy papers for children too young for credit cards of their own. You name it, I've done it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the plurality of clients was business administration majors, but both elementary education majors and would-be social workers showed up aplenty. Even the assignments for what in my college days were the obvious gut courses crossed my desk. "Race in The Matrix" was a fashionable subject.
The term paper biz is managed by brokers who take financial risks by accepting credit card payments and psychological risks by actually talking to the clients. Most of the customers just aren't very bright. One of m -
12 Oct 08
Yvonne FrindleThe secret to the gig is to amuse yourself. I have to, really, as most paper topics are deadly boring. Once, I was asked to summarize in three pages the causes of the First World War (page one), the major battles and technological innovations of the war (
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