DD paid £130 to get an assignment done for her.

[Piggie90]

DD went away this long weekend and completely ignored her college research project before she went away. Cut a very long story short, she used some of her birthday money (18th) to pay a company (didn't even know they existed) to write a 2500 word project for her.

AIBU to never lend her a penny again? I'm actually fuming.

It could end up really badly if they didn't kr you wouldn't tell them. Yep! I could have been done fo that other academic sin Collaboration and I would have lost the whole mark, at least!

@nspectorClouseauMNdivision I envy you. I'd love to do another degree or two. Maybe if I win the lottery

The anti-plagiarism software only flags up matches, i.e. work that has been copied. It would only flag up a purchased assignment if the same or similar work had been submitted previously

That's submitted at any university not just hers. Turnitin picks up matches from all universities using it, when DD ran her essay through it it came up at 7% because she had identical references (the entry in the reference list, not the in text reference) to other essays. As she said, at least she knows she's got the APA referencing down accurately.

I don’t know how anyone can think this is ok. It’s cheating, and can end up giving someone a qualification they aren’t entitled to.
I’m a doctor. How would people feel if I’d cheated on my exams in order to qualify?

Northern- similar story here. Final year of university a girl on my course plagiarised in one piece of work and ended up with a pass degree. This was in the 1980s so well before turnitin and plagiarism software too. An incredibly stupid thing to do. God knows why a few posters seem to think it shows some kind of incredible initiative - they must lead very sheltered lives. I expect the university or college have talked quite openly to students about essay writing companies and been strongly warned against using them. They’re common knowledge, not some dark secret.

The best thing for her long term is to get caught now, and she probably will be caught.

Disgraceful behaviour, but not unusual for a lot of todays, selfish entitled young people.

i wouldnt dob my daughter in.
if/when she gets caught it will ruin possibly her life if they expel her.which ive seen done.and then she will need you.
shes f* up.talk her through this and make sure she knows where this will go and how bad this is.but your her mum.this is where she need teachign and supporting not dobbing in and ruining

Silly girl. The exam boards use algorithm models now to spot these assignments. Won’t be long before lecturers are too.

Is that what you believe, Rosesaredead. First, because most print and send out generic pre-written stuff. There was a very interesting expose of these companies on Radio 4 a few weeks ago and a follow up debate on the Today programme with the young head of a British company in the studio. He was a pompous idiot, denigrating the mostly Chinese essay mills and their dubious methods then trying to defend his company as being oh so very different and much more ethical, of course. Twat.

Secondly, cheating your way through life just stinks. Imagine the emptiness of never achieving anything through your own efforts. Wouldn’t that leave you feeling very empty indeed? Feel sad for you if it wouldn’t.

Good bought essays are personally written.

This defence reminds me of a tale DH brought home from work.
Tutor: your assignment hasn't passed the plagiarism checks due to the copied content.
Student: that wasn't me! I didn't copy and paste. The guy I paid to do it for me must have plagiarised.
Tutor:
Student:

Funny thing. You pay peanuts. You get monkeys. If you can't be bothered to write 2500 good words on your own subject that you chose to study, with the carrots of your marks in the immediate future, and your academic performance in the units this essay will lead to, why would you expect to someone to put A* effort into it for just money? They don't have to sit an exam on it!

Can’t believe people would grass yo their own kid

She is 18 and at college, dobbing in at this stage means she can salvage her qualification and learn from it. If she does it at uni she will be expelled.

diddl

Nope. You would not believe what some try to get away with. I do supply so often go into places where a member of staff is on long term sick leave and the marking has piled up.

I get a pile of marking and spend a couple of days writing the web address they have copied from, then I have a discussion with them that changing a single word is still plagiarism.

Then the student goes off to the head of department and complains about me.

I've had a student claim that she wrote word for word the same academic paper because she had used the the same resources. She was on a level 3 course so no I did not believe she had written the same paper as someone with a pHD.

I've also had someone actually reference an essay mill website.

I don't have much info on this but I am confused how these 'companies' can get such in-depth knowledge on a particular area of study...

A number of these companies will get essays through turnitin without problems. They hire post grads who will research and do the work for you so the essay is unique.

All this cheating would certainly explain the fact that I've often worked with people and thought, 'They have a DEGREE??"

She is 18 and at college, dobbing in at this stage means she can salvage her qualification and learn from it. If she does it at uni she will be expelled.

Exactly.

but I am confused how these 'companies' can get such in-depth knowledge on a particular area of study...

Students and graduates from all disciplines work for them. There's not massive diversity of specialism in UG education. Still less at FE level.

Rosesaredead - if you think a student tapping a computer key to order an essay is ‘showing initiative’ then you’re easily impressed.

I work in education. These essay writing services are well known, we are quite open about them with students and the consequences of using them. You seem
To think the OPs daughter has had a highly original idea and shown great entrepreneurial skills!

You get monkeys. If you can't be bothered to write 2500 good words on your own subject that you chose to study

^ This. Also, writing 2500 words is a piece of cake when it's on your specialist subject.

When I completed my Masters I'd put blood, sweat and tears into and so was proud of what I'd achieved because of all the effort, how can somebody be proud of something that they cheated to get?

I hope that your daughter is found out.

Last time I was at University in 2016 I was so appalled by the standard of the lecturing that I'd have gladly paid someone to write mine.

I suspect she has a very good chance of being caught. And if caught may well be kicked off her course. You are right to be disappointed in her.

The OP is right to be disappointed but the chances of her being caught aren't as great as you might think. There is an entire industry in writing these essays. If people got caught that often, the industry would be much smaller. The larger firms have the same software as the universities. They run the essays through that software before they send it on to the student. Which is odd, when you think they claim they're just producing model answers!

Once again, these are original pieces being commissioned by freelance writers. The people in this industry know what they're doing, mostly. Plagiarism software won't catch it - though other systems might. As will good old reading it and thinking "well this isn't what it should be".

Bowchicawowow

That's nit cheating, and he should also talk to his tutor / teacher/lecturer.

Also not cheating is if he gives you the title and you look up the index in his text books and put post it notes on the pages that might be relevant.

CuriousaboutSamphire

If you do a STEM subject part time you can get funding for a second degree. I'm doing one now with the OU.

They run the essays through that software before they send it on to the student.

Wouldn't that then result in 100% plagiarism rate, as the essay has already been through the software?

I have told him to do exactly that sshh. The help I have given him is talking things through and finding a few quotes which I have sent him. As far as I am concerned it has to be his own hand that writes it. Like Tinkly I haven’t studied the subject either and the help I am giving him could actually be a load of rubbish anyway.

I said 'audience' as I see it has morphed into a business. Would you rather I said clients?

Students. The word you're looking for is students.

Maybe the future will be more exam-based stuff.

Doubt it. My university is doing its best to make it impossible to use exams for assessment on non accredited degrees.

A few people got chucked off my OU law course for cheating, and a few got warnings for stuff they posted on Facebook groups - the tutors go in the groups and keep an eye on them and if students discuss the essays in any depth they can get into trouble.

Discussing it is OK, the problem is with fb it's in writing and people then copy some of the stuff people put and include in their assignments (because they are stupid).

I’m an academic, and just a couple of weeks back went through the whole academic offences prosecution system with a final year student who had bought his final year dissertation.

When all essays are submitted via an online platform and something seems off, it’s very easy to call up a list of all that students’ previous modules and flick through the essays, looking at writing style, SPAG, general approach, the type of feedback the student has generally received.

This student was expelled from university in the final term of his final year, and his transcript basically has EXPELLED FOR PLAGIARISM stamped across it.

And don’t start me on the one my colleague found this year, where one of his students bought a cheapie essay that turned out to be reliant on an online source in Russian run through Google Translate. Also had her degree terminated.

BowChica

The help I have given him is talking things through and finding a few quotes which I have sent him.

Sometimes that's all people need- a helping hand down so they can get off the mountain they think they're stuck on. Then they step back and realise their uni assignment was a molehill all along and they can do it!