Anyone ever used an essay mill?

Elessar

Just wondering if anyone here has used one of the online essay writing companies to write an essay for college? Some of them are meant to be really good, they hire graduates from different courses to write a specific essay or paper for you. They are getting mention and verification in newspapers like the Times etc. although there are a lot of fraudsters in the market. The big names are really expensive.

I know it's wrong but if I had have known about these in college I probably would have used them at least once.

Come on, own up, someone must have used them

brianthebard

No and I really don't like it when people do, especially some people who are proud of it. All my college work was my own, some of it might suck ass but at least I got this far myself.

Elessar

#Elites wrote:

i would only use if it i had no time to do one for myself and it was an emportant essay..how does it work?

Essentially you tell them everything you need written in the essay, to what level, how many words, and mention all the specifics etc. then pay your money. They pass it on to a dedicated graduate in that area who will write it for you, on time, free revisions etc. That's about it. There is one company who only uses cambridge and oxford students. Everything is original, so the press say anyway, as a few papers did articles and had the papers verified by professors as 2:1 even 2:2 standard.

I hear they are very popular with law students, and often the essay work is passed onto real solicitors and barristers.

nesf

Elessar wrote:

Everything is original, so the press say anyway, as a few papers did articles and had the papers verified by professors as 2:1 even 2:2 standard.

Hmmm, get someone else to write it and drop from a 1H to a 2H1? No thanks.


That and lecturers aren't stupid. If it's a smallish class and they suddenly get an essay from you that has a completely different style, level of detail and obviously different level of ability it will be noticed. You might get away with it if it's a big class with multiple correctors though.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Dave

Any use for engineering?

Some lab reports can be a complete pain in the hole. Although not much use to me now, with one exam left of my college years.

randylonghorn

nesf wrote:

That and lecturers aren't stupid. If it's a smallish class and they suddenly get an essay from you that has a completely different style, level of detail and obviously different level of ability it will be noticed. You might get away with it if it's a big class with multiple correctors though.

QFT

Lecturers / departments are becoming much more aware of these issues in the last couple of years, and keeping a much sharper eye out.

Even if it's a big group and you're not familiar to the lecturer, most lecturers emphasise certain elements / take a particular angle on topics. It's usually obvious from essays whether a student has been attending lectures, tbh ... if the essay has been written by someone who obviously hasn't, and yet is turning in a decent essay, and one with perhaps an unusual tone or small linguistic clues which say "not local" ... well, questions WILL be asked. At best, a mental note will be made to compare that essay with the next one, or / and with your sit-down exams.

It generally takes far more work and intelligence to successfully cheat the system than to do the work properly yourself, so unless you're someone who gets high on the risk ...

drdre

Elessar wrote:

Essentially you tell them everything you need written in the essay, to what level, how many words, and mention all the specifics etc. then pay your money. They pass it on to a dedicated graduate in that area who will write it for you, on time, free revisions etc. That's about it. There is one company who only uses cambridge and oxford students. Everything is original, so the press say anyway, as a few papers did articles and had the papers verified by professors as 2:1 even 2:2 standard.

I hear they are very popular with law students, and often the essay work is passed onto real solicitors and barristers.

I think they will just send you crap and you wont have any comeback

nesf

randylonghorn wrote:

QFT

Lecturers / departments are becoming much more aware of these issues in the last couple of years, and keeping a much sharper eye out.

Even if it's a big group and you're not familiar to the lecturer, most lecturers emphasise certain elements / take a particular angle on topics. It's usually obvious from essays whether a student has been attending lectures, tbh ... if the essay has been written by someone who obviously hasn't, and yet is turning in a decent essay, and one with perhaps an unusual tone or small linguistic clues which say "not local" ... well, questions WILL be asked. At best, a mental note will be made to compare that essay with the next one, or / and with your sit-down exams.

It generally takes far more work and intelligence to successfully cheat the system than to do the work properly yourself, so unless you're someone who gets high on the risk ...

That and the penalties for plagarism or presenting someone else's work as your own are severe. In UCC the departments I'm studying in/have studied in take it very seriously from what I've heard. Not worth the risk if you ask me.

projectmayhem

am i the only one on this planet who enjoyed writing up papers and stuff? everyone seems to hate that part of education...

nesf

projectmayhem wrote:

am i the only one on this planet who enjoyed writing up papers and stuff? everyone seems to hate that part of education...

Depends on the paper. Some are interesting to write, others which you've no interest in can be annoying.

drdre

projectmayhem wrote:

am i the only one on this planet who enjoyed writing up papers and stuff? everyone seems to hate that part of education...

Yeah i think so i hate writing but love typing

Blush_01

I hate this kind of nonsense, to be honest. I might complain about it, but I wouldn't be in college if I didn't love what I do here. I'd never contemplate handing someone else's work in as my own because the only person I'd really be cheating would be me. Besides, if someone has written something, it's their intellectual property. I want my work acknowledged, otherwise I wouldn't hand it in. I have respect for the research and analytical skills of others, just as I expect them to respect mine.

I had a meeting with a lecturer today. Said lecturer asked me to give them a hand. They asked me to read a web page while they read to me from a bundle of papers. Almost word for word, that lecturer read what I saw in front of me. One of the first year students in that lecturer's module had handed it up. That stupid fool not only plagiarised a web page, but has risked expulsion for it (by the end of the year "I didn't know" really doesn't wash as an excuse) while even an utterly awful essay would have earned them something. A 3rd would have been better than that.

Some people are so goddamn stupid.

(Edit: sorry, wanted to keep the lecturer ambiguous.)

brianthebard

projectmayhem wrote:

am i the only one on this planet who enjoyed writing up papers and stuff? everyone seems to hate that part of education...

Yeah I've enjoyed most of them this year...except medieval english, eww.

Blush_01

brianthebard wrote:

Yeah I've enjoyed most of them this year...except medieval english, eww.

Heathen!

Caliden

Any reports I've ever done in college are just to complex and specific to get someone else to do them. That and we have interviews/presentations once the report is submitted to ensure we know what we're talking about and are liable to be asked questions about things that don't appear in the report that relate to the topic.

The cons far outweigh the pros for me I'm afraid

simu

Caliden wrote:

Any reports I've ever done in college are just to complex and specific to get someone else to do them.

Same here. Not that I would ever use one of these "essay mills" anyways.

brianthebard

Blush_01 wrote:

Heathen!

P1ss off, I don't care what anyone thinks, the green knight just doesn't cut it after Shakespeare has existed.:p

Black Swan

Essay mill? Cheat by having someone write a paper for you? No way!

Read a story about a new software programme that detects cheaters. I think it appeared in Wired magazine about a year ago or so. Compares styles of writing, and looks for large inconsistencies. Also compares papers that are submitted by several people to see if they are copying each other or are using the same paper. Apparently these essay mills will sell papers to students in the same course at the same uni (although they claim otherwise). Ha!

brianthebard

They have started testing a new system like that in Maynooth actually. I don't know if they found anything out. I wish the college was stricter abour plagarism, a guy in final year history basically copied a website word for word in an essay and got 30% for it and was told he'd be out if he did it again. But the essay wasn't even worth that much, he could've still gotten a first afaik.

boneless

I actually enjoyed writing essays. Plus, when it came to exams I felt it helped me that I actually had researched my own work; you come across some ideas or views on a subject while doing the research which may not be relevant to the work you are doing at the moment but if filed away in the head , it can get you a good grade in an exam.

Why would you want to cheat???

Tha Gopher

Elessar wrote:

Just wondering if anyone here has used one of the online essay writing companies to write an essay for college? Some of them are meant to be really good, they hire graduates from different courses to write a specific essay or paper for you. They are getting mention and verification in newspapers like the Times etc. although there are a lot of fraudsters in the market. The big names are really expensive.

I know it's wrong but if I had have known about these in college I probably would have used them at least once.

Come on, own up, someone must have used them

Dunno, but did you ever read the free essay sites like killeressays.com or something? Mostly written by Americans which makes them poor quality by default, I would have been embarrased to hand in most I read there.

Tar.Aldarion

No essays for my course, and i wouldn't trust somebody else to write one for me.

AlmightyCushion

The lecturer would figure it out soon enough I'd say. Plus it's not worth the risk.

herbieflowers

why go to college if you're not willing to do the work yourself?

gucci

im not sure what the costs are involved in these essays, but how would they be any better than something you'd properly research yourself??
what would be the point in using something that would be so crap for a majorly important part of your course?? in all fairness even if you were to read and quote from 3 books on any subject id say it would be better!!

AlmightyCushion

herbieflowers wrote:

why go to college if you're not willing to do the work yourself?

Probably for the boozing

kaimera

Mostly written by Americans which makes them poor quality by default...

Sure it does :rolleyes:

angelbaby

if only i hada known bout this when i was at college!!!!:rolleyes:

PCros

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

Essay mill? Cheat by having someone write a paper for you? No way!

Read a story about a new software programme that detects cheaters. I think it appeared in Wired magazine about a year ago or so. Compares styles of writing, and looks for large inconsistencies. Also compares papers that are submitted by several people to see if they are copying each other or are using the same paper. Apparently these essay mills will sell papers to students in the same course at the same uni (although they claim otherwise). Ha!

Its called Turnitin...doesn't work as well as it says on the tin! 90% of essays are typed up and printed out therefore the lecturer has to retype stuff up to see if its plagerised....not many do it coz its time consuming.

If handed up in electronic form then yeah the chances are higher of getting caught.

WhiteWashMan

Elessar wrote:

Just wondering if anyone here has used one of the online essay writing companies to write an essay for college? Some of them are meant to be really good, they hire graduates from different courses to write a specific essay or paper for you. They are getting mention and verification in newspapers like the Times etc. although there are a lot of fraudsters in the market. The big names are really expensive.

I know it's wrong but if I had have known about these in college I probably would have used them at least once.

Come on, own up, someone must have used them

no, and tbh, having a relative who lectures in TCD and UCD, she has caught a number of students who have used them.
as she says, students dont just become brilliant essay writers overnight!

and of course, you get caught plagerising (cause thats what it is, you passing someone elses work off as your own) and youre out on your ear.

i dont see the point tbh. if youre in uni to learn, then learn.

jimi_t

PCros wrote:

Its called Turnitin...doesn't work as well as it says on the tin! 90% of essays are typed up and printed out therefore the lecturer has to retype stuff up to see if its plagerised....not many do it coz its time consuming.

If handed up in electronic form then yeah the chances are higher of getting caught.

On the thing we sign in UCD anyways, it says they reserve the right to ask you for an electronic copy of it.

randylonghorn

PCros wrote:

Its called Turnitin...doesn't work as well as it says on the tin! 90% of essays are typed up and printed out therefore the lecturer has to retype stuff up to see if its plagerised....not many do it coz its time consuming.

If handed up in electronic form then yeah the chances are higher of getting caught.

... and some modern scanners will scan in the text from a typed document, which is a hell of a lot quicker / easier than retyping it.

People are caught, and TurnItIn didn't make that possible, it's just a handy tool for locating the original source, etc.

Certainly until recently, most colleges / departments didn't really want to publicise the fact that a student had been caught cheating (I think attitudes on that are changing) and the affected student(s) usually didn't go around shouting about it either.

The_Hustler

PCros wrote:

Its called Turnitin...doesn't work as well as it says on the tin! 90% of essays are typed up and printed out therefore the lecturer has to retype stuff up to see if its plagerised....not many do it coz its time consuming.

If handed up in electronic form then yeah the chances are higher of getting caught.

I volunteered to use Turnitin almost 2 years ago as the lecturer was testing it out. We had to submit it electronically alright through the Turnitin system. Never heard anything about it since though.

teresasaunt

A project group in college were recently caught using http://rentacoder.com to write a website for them. The project is worth 100% of the module grade with no choice to repeat in the Summer. I don't know what's going to happen to them now. Apparently our lecturer was forwarded on an email from a lecturer in England about the site.