Contract plagiarism

[brightncheerful]

The vast amount of information on my website is appreciated and over the years I have received many requests from university students asking for my help in answering their course questions. Sometimes I do help, but generally I can't be bothered, either because the question requires me to think or time constraints (clients take priority). Also, I have at the back of my mind a comment to me by a tutor on a university degree course I had embarked upon who, when I told him that it wouldn't be possible to answer the question in a few words because there were too many permutations, said that it was only because I have such knowledge of the subject that I would know that.

I mention all that because I have received a request from a student asking me to write an essay for the person and be paid for it.

Even if the ethics were acceptable to me, to agree to help would, for various reasons, do the person disservice.

What would you do if you were approached similarly? Or perhaps you have been? Or perhaps you do?

(This isn't in the same league as helping your own child /children with their homework. When my sister as at school, my father and i would compete for which of us could get the highest marks whenever she got stuck with her homework. My father won on languages and arithmetic, I won on chemistry. )

[Lootman]

I mention all that because I have received a request from a student asking me to write an essay for the person and be paid for it.

Even if the ethics were acceptable to me, to agree to help would, for various reasons, do the person disservice.

What would you do if you were approached similarly? Or perhaps you have been? Or perhaps you do?

Not quite the same thing but about 50 years ago, during my first visit to the US, I got to know someone who was about my age. Evidently he thought I was bright bloke because he asked me to sit the SAT for him. The Scholastic Achievement Test is a 3-hour written exam that provides a standardised baseline for college and university admission in the US.

Back in those days you did not have to provide ID when the test was taken, so it was entirely possible and not unusual for people to sit the test on behalf of others, for compensation of course.

As I recall the offer was about a week's pay, so a nice payday for a morning's work. But I declined the offer, whilst being flattered by it, as it seemed to be wrong on so many levels. As with IQ tests there are controversies over cultural bias in the tests but, even if I accepted that, the solution is not for people to cheat the system in my view. I have no idea if he found someone else to do the test for him, but I do not regret not helping him.

[vrdiver]

I have received a request from a student asking me to write an essay for the person and be paid for it.

Even if the ethics were acceptable to me, to agree to help would, for various reasons, do the person disservice.

What would you do if you were approached similarly? Or perhaps you have been? Or perhaps you do?

To be honest, I can't decide between just declining the request, or reporting it to the relevant department.

If you don't write it, presumably the student will seek someone else to write this essay for them? If they subsequently get a better result than they could have achieved on their own, then the education system they are enrolled in is being abused. There may be repercussions for others, both another student who may lose out if they get bumped down the rankings (if, e.g. the top 5% of students get one grade, the next 15% the next etc.), but also later, when your student is applying for jobs and misrepresenting themselves as more academically competent than they really are, thus potentially gaining a job opening that another candidate was actually a better fit for.

There is also the issue of ethics. Do you really want to see this sort of person succeed, or would they be better served learning the consequences of cheating? Whilst neither I nor you are the judge, jury or executioner, it may be a matter that the relevant teaching authorities might like to respond to!

Finally, when we look at the senior figures in life and see them lie and cheat, and get away with it without consequence, we have only ourselves to blame if we have condoned or at the least, turned a blind eye to this behaviour when confronted by it in our own lives. Your student of today may well become a significant figure of tomorrow.

VRD

[bungeejumper]

There is also the issue of ethics. Do you really want to see this sort of person succeed, or would they be better served learning the consequences of cheating? Whilst neither I nor you are the judge, jury or executioner, it may be a matter that the relevant teaching authorities might like to respond to!

I don't think of it as cheating - somehow fraud seems a better word.

BJ

[scrumpyjack]

This sitting SATs tests for others for a fee is what the character played by Patrick Adams did in the TV series Suits (Meghan Markle played his love interest).

In the series he was then employed by the large US law firm, pretending that he had graduated from Harvard, practising as a lawyer when he wasn't qualified - all of which was known by the partner who engaged him. The only issue seemed to be whether he would be caught. Still I suppose the level of ethics in US Law firms and in Politics may not be dissimilar. All profess the utmost probity, but for most it is a veneer. However I have to say I do know several English lawyers who are very principled people!

[scotia]

To be honest, I can't decide between just declining the request, or reporting it to the relevant department.

Agreed

[scrumpyjack]

To be honest, I can't decide between just declining the request, or reporting it to the relevant department.

Agreed

In the UK if you are in a regulated profession (accountant, solicitor etc) and become aware of such an attempted fraud you have a duty to report it and are committing an offence if you don't.

[Lootman]

This sitting SATs tests for others for a fee is what the character played by Patrick Adams did in the TV series Suits (Meghan Markle played his love interest).

In the series he was then employed by the large US law firm, pretending that he had graduated from Harvard, practising as a lawyer when he wasn't qualified - all of which was known by the partner who engaged him. The only issue seemed to be whether he would be caught. Still I suppose the level of ethics in US Law firms and in Politics may not be dissimilar. All profess the utmost probity, but for most it is a veneer. However I have to say I do know several English lawyers who are very principled people!

I have not seen that show but if is about a law firm then it was probably the LSAT test, which is a SAT test specifically geared towards getting into US law schools:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_School_Admission_Test

[88V8]

There is also the issue of ethics. Do you really want to see this sort of person succeed, or would they be better served learning the consequences of cheating? Whilst neither I nor you are the judge, jury or executioner, it may be a matter that the relevant teaching authorities might like to respond to!

I don't think of it as cheating - somehow fraud seems a better word.

I understand there are websites to which can go for course essays.

Here's one https://englishessayhelp.com/.
Took me about five seconds to find it.

Post-Blair, degrees have been much devalued. Universities should be for an elite, not Jo Bloggs.

V8 (not elite)

[UncleEbenezer]

Post-Blair, degrees have been much devalued. Universities should be for an elite, not Jo Bloggs.

V8 (not elite)

Pre-Blair, too. The 1960s expansion, for instance, when the UCCA was invented as (in part) a propaganda tool: more-or-less automatically get every student to submit five applications so they could demonstrate the massive demand for places from well-qualified applicants. And from memory, it was under the Major government that polytechnics and miscellaneous colleges got re-branded.

But did it devalue them when they opened up to those of us with no Latin?

[Lootman]

Post-Blair, degrees have been much devalued. Universities should be for an elite, not Jo Bloggs.

V8 (not elite)

Pre-Blair, too. The 1960s expansion, for instance, when the UCCA was invented as (in part) a propaganda tool: more-or-less automatically get every student to submit five applications so they could demonstrate the massive demand for places from well-qualified applicants. And from memory, it was under the Major government that polytechnics and miscellaneous colleges got re-branded.

But did it devalue them when they opened up to those of us with no Latin?

Dunno, I did Latin and it never did me any good, although I still can decline "puella".

In the last 50 years we have gone from sending 4% of school-leavers to Uni to sending 40%. How could standards not decline?

[UncleEbenezer]

Dunno, I did Latin and it never did me any good, although I still can decline "puella".

I should be so lucky. What does she have to do to be declined?

[brightncheerful]

I have contacted the authorities (provided them with the salient information) and asked if they would like me to bcc when I reply to the student so that they can follow through if they want.

My op subject description is a phrase that i got from a site about the subject of plagiarism. Apparently, what students don't always appreciate is that the copyright for the essay belongs to the author, regardless of the student having paid for it (unless the parties agree that the copyright is also acquired), which means that the author could offer the essay for sale to other students on the course.

Some interesting info here - https://www.studyinternational.com/news/plagiarism-uk-software-turnitin/

[brightncheerful]

Update:

The course tutor apologised for any inconvenience the student has caused me. It is cheating and not acceptable: I hadn't taken this in before but it's a post-graduate MSc course. The matter has been referred to the University authorities who have told me they are keep to take it up as a conduct matter and as they cannot keep my identity secret (as I'd asked). because the student might not have asked anyone else so would know it was me, my permission for them to disclose my identity has been sought. I have agreed to that and to avoid becoming further embroiled have told the person that it is the first time I have received such a request I checked with the University whether the request is in order and apparently it is not; and from my on-line research comes under the heading of contract plagiarism.

Hopefully it will be the end of the matter as far as i am concerned.

[bionichamster]

Many years back on TMF I wrote about this sort of thing, a friend of mine is a lecturer at a major university and had just encountered this sort of essay writing service. He had one terribly lazy underachieving student who out of nowhere turned in an amazing essay that bore no resemblance to anything he'd done before.

Obviously friend was suspicious but the very simple plagiarism checks that he could undertake back them turned up nothing, he showed the essay to a few other lecturers along with examples of the students previous work and all agreed it was very unlikely the same person, which is when someone suggested it was an essay writing service. Interestingly he also sent the essay and examples to some external experts in the subject at other universities and one reply really stood out. All but this one reply said they had no doubt the structure, language and coherence of argument suggested the essay in question was by a different person, but this one person said he could see nothing and thought they were quite similar and maybe the student had just pulled their finger out. On closer inspection of that external expert's output my friend noticed some similarities in language use and structure leading him to suspect that this might actually have been the guy who wrote the essay!!

Anyway they hauled the student in for a wee question and answer session on the topic of the essay and he hadn't a clue about the content and was unable to explain even the basic arguments 'he' had made in it so it was rejected. That was just a start, he's encountered this sort of problem many times over the years since although he says often the essays are easy to spot because they deviate so dramatically in language use and style, 90% of the students fess up the moment they are hauled in.

As to what I would do, probably just report like you. Although temptation would be to refuse the cash and write a rubbish essay for free, filled with direct plagiarism of my own work that a University plagiarism detection algorithm would find in two seconds flat.
I once did something similar at university, there was really lazy guy on our course who rarely showed up for lectures. As we approached exam season he started looking for lecture notes and was really harassing a friend of mine for hers for several days, I told her to send him to me and when he did I said 'sure, come back tomorrow', that afternoon and evening I took my lecture notes for a couple of subjects and rewrote them, switching stuff around, making stuff up, inventing new theories, redrawing graphs etc. (this was pre world wide web so not easy for him to check stuff without expending major library effort). The next morning he greedily took my notes and photocopied them..... To be fair I suspect they weren't completely useless, I'm sure he'd have learned at least one thing from them!

BH

[Charlottesquare]

To be honest, I can't decide between just declining the request, or reporting it to the relevant department.

Agreed

In the UK if you are in a regulated profession (accountant, solicitor etc) and become aware of such an attempted fraud you have a duty to report it and are committing an offence if you don't.

Not sure the proximity to monetary gain is close enough to make a SAR, is there actually a fraud or is there merely attempted deception? In addition you tend to have to come across the issue in the course of your professional activities, albeit the OP is I think a solicitor and presumably it was via his professional website.

Can you link the activity to the person dishonestly gaining financially, not sure you can (albeit implicit, better result, better career, more money)

Having said that, the professions have standards of behaviour expected from their members and they can be disciplined for breaches outwith their profession, so assaulting someone, drink driving and manslaughter, might have one thrown out, but these have nothing to do with MLR requirements.

[Charlottesquare]

Post-Blair, degrees have been much devalued. Universities should be for an elite, not Jo Bloggs.

V8 (not elite)

Pre-Blair, too. The 1960s expansion, for instance, when the UCCA was invented as (in part) a propaganda tool: more-or-less automatically get every student to submit five applications so they could demonstrate the massive demand for places from well-qualified applicants. And from memory, it was under the Major government that polytechnics and miscellaneous colleges got re-branded.

But did it devalue them when they opened up to those of us with no Latin?

Latin was not a requirement by the late 70s but Edinburgh back then still had the somewhat obscure requirement for an O Grade in a foreign language irrespective of the course to be undertaken. (There was also a school qualification in English but that one does make sense). My poor O Grade French was the dividing line to my acceptance, that C pass was the difference between acceptance and non acceptance.

[genou]

Post-Blair, degrees have been much devalued. Universities should be for an elite, not Jo Bloggs.

V8 (not elite)

Pre-Blair, too. The 1960s expansion, for instance, when the UCCA was invented as (in part) a propaganda tool: more-or-less automatically get every student to submit five applications so they could demonstrate the massive demand for places from well-qualified applicants. And from memory, it was under the Major government that polytechnics and miscellaneous colleges got re-branded.

But did it devalue them when they opened up to those of us with no Latin?

Latin was not a requirement by the late 70s but Edinburgh back then still had the somewhat obscure requirement for an O Grade in a foreign language irrespective of the course to be undertaken. (There was also a school qualification in English but that one does make sense). My poor O Grade French was the dividing line to my acceptance, that C pass was the difference between acceptance and non acceptance.

I recall that O Grade Latin was still a requirement to read Law at Glasgow ( that would have been entry 75, which may, memory willing, have been the last year in which that was true ). At that time the postal address was

The University
Glasgow

which they have given up, since it caused endless grief at other, younger, institutions. I'm not sure I have a view on how many should go to Uni, but I recall that for my cohort, a degree involved under 9% of the population.

[tjh290633]

I recall that O Grade Latin was still a requirement to read Law at Glasgow ( that would have been entry 75, which may, memory willing, have been the last year in which that was true ). At that time the postal address was

The University
Glasgow

which they have given up, since it caused endless grief at other, younger, institutions. I'm not sure I have a view on how many should go to Uni, but I recall that for my cohort, a degree involved under 9% of the population.

In my day (1951), you had to have a credit in School Certificate Latin to go to a top university.

Certainly more women at university nowadays. In my year of Chemistry there were only 5 women, one from each of the Ladies Colleges. One of those was a nun.

TJH

[Charlottesquare]

I recall that O Grade Latin was still a requirement to read Law at Glasgow ( that would have been entry 75, which may, memory willing, have been the last year in which that was true ). At that time the postal address was

The University
Glasgow

which they have given up, since it caused endless grief at other, younger, institutions. I'm not sure I have a view on how many should go to Uni, but I recall that for my cohort, a degree involved under 9% of the population.

In my day (1951), you had to have a credit in School Certificate Latin to go to a top university.

Certainly more women at university nowadays. In my year of Chemistry there were only 5 women, one from each of the Ladies Colleges. One of those was a nun.

TJH

I suspect that was financial.

My Dad and two of his brothers won bursaries to go, my mum was an only child so her father supported her going to Edinburgh but had she had brothers that would have been unlikely. Similar thought processes applied with my stepmother, whilst she was academically gifted (Dux of her school, Holy Cross Academy, Edinburgh) it was her younger brother who was supported to university in the 1940s, the family could not afford two. Same happened with my grandfather much earlier (pre WW1), he apprenticed as a tailor (like his father) and his brother was sent to Glasgow, their sisters would never have been considered for the one university place the family could afford to support.