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Original poster

has anyone ever bought an essay?

139 replies

sunnyjim · 02/04/2007 11:27

there seem to be loads of those 'write your essay for you' sites. HOw on earth do they work? I mean most unis have set text books for a course so how coudl they manage to write your essay for you without those texts?

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giddyfeet · 02/04/2007 11:38

I dont htink that is a good idea at all. Aside from the fact that your tutor will expect you to cover stuff dealt with in lectures, they are not stupid - they would see straight through an assignment that wasn't written by a particular student. Plus they might question your understanding of what you have written! Andd if you got caught you could be chucked off your course. Much better to do the work yourself and reap the benefits.

Original poster
sunnyjim · 02/04/2007 11:41

no lectures and my tutor doesn't know me from adam nor will they have any personal contact with me!

OP posts:
KathyMCMLXXII · 02/04/2007 11:46

There was an investigation into these sites in the Times Higher Education Supplement recently and they discovered that the essays tended to be much lower quality than they were sold as. They blind marked some and many which were sold as first or 2.1 standard would actually have got thirds or less.

Not to mention the fact unis are constantly updating their plagiarism software and in some places are running all essays through plagiarism checkers.

How do the essay selling sites work.... um, they prey on those students who are naive as well as lazy and dishonest.

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zippitippitoes · 02/04/2007 11:50

I think expat is an expert on this

batters · 02/04/2007 11:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
sunnyjim · 02/04/2007 12:05

ah well I go down the route of intellectual dishonesty then and write an essay that I don't agree with and one which is logically flawed to fit in with my tutor's specific polticial and moral bias.

OP posts:
LilyLoo · 02/04/2007 12:08

A complete waste of money tried it once it was so bad i never used it and no refund !

Original poster
sunnyjim · 02/04/2007 12:10

thanks lilyloo - i wasn't actually looking for the moral /legal argument to NOT do it but whether or not it worked! (ie gave you a good essay)

OP posts:
zippitippitoes · 02/04/2007 12:11

why are you doing the course if it is so bad?

batters · 02/04/2007 12:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Molesworth · 02/04/2007 12:14

If you can demonstrate that the argument is logically flawed then go ahead and do it regardless of your tutor's position!

zippitippitoes · 02/04/2007 12:16

what is the essay title

KathyMCMLXXII · 02/04/2007 12:21

If you genuinely think you are not being fairly marked because of the biases of your lecturers, please, please, write the essay as you believe you should write it and be prepared to contest the mark, giving clear reasons why you think you have been treated unfairly.

Remember that the Faculty or Department may not be as monolithic as it appears from the outside; there may be those among the academic staff who do not share the prejudices of others. At the very least it will make the markers think very carefully about whether they are right. Don't take it lying down and definitely don't take the dishonest way out of buying an essay.

ScummyMummy · 02/04/2007 12:21

ah well I go down the route of intellectual dishonesty then and write an essay that I don't agree with and one which is logically flawed to fit in with my tutor's specific polticial and moral bias.

Or be brave and write what you really think in a well evidenced way?

Chandra · 02/04/2007 12:21

When I was at Uni there was a student (who having dislexia and an inexistant interest in the subject) offered another student who was very poor to pay for all the materials the poor one will need during the course in exchange of the other writing the final essay for him. Both had excellent grades in all subjects so it seemed a bit fair.

It happens poor student spent day after day writing the essay, got all the material but at the end the essay was marked with a C (the agreement had been done in the understanding of an A). My guess is that the student who wrote the essay read all the books but had not had much experience discussing the topics with some one else so... no sufficient creative outcome, no way for her to know whether the essay she wrote was wonderful or just average so...

after all this bable... no, it doesn't work and I think both were incredibly lucky not to be chucked out of Uni (as it was the practice), further more, the one who paid for the essay badmouthed the other one with everyone who was happy to hear him, so both were seen under different eyes ever since.

zippitippitoes · 02/04/2007 12:23

or even the topic if not the title..intellectual curiosity here

Molesworth · 02/04/2007 12:24

chandra

Chandra · 02/04/2007 12:27

But Scummy, people who teach at University or do research find a great pleasure in challenging other's ideas. Finding a student willing to challenge yours with good arguments it's a joy. But the arguments have to be good, "I feel" won't do.

expatinscotland · 02/04/2007 12:38

I will go so far as to tell you this, passing off someone else's work as your own is considered plagairism.

It is NOT illegal or in any way a violation of any rules for the writer, so long as he/she sells the work with the codicil that it is to be used as a reference. Of course, the writer is not there to monitor what the buyer does with the work once it is sold.

But if you, the student, uses someone else's work as your own than it is plagairism.

I would never buy from one of those websites, because you do not know the origin of the work and it's entirely possible it's been sold and used by others, hence, not original, and therefore may be picked up by software designed to catch plagairism.

Most sites cater to common first and second year introductory courses. Those are pretty easy writing to the experienced.

But the truth is, if you have to patronise one of these anonymous websites you're straying into dangerous waters.

expatinscotland · 02/04/2007 12:38

And also so long as the writer is not a student of the university him/herself.

ScummyMummy · 02/04/2007 12:42

Agree chandra- the first part of my post was a quotation from sunnyjim (should have made that clearer with speech marks, sorry.)

The 2nd bit was my (weak) riposte to what I felt was a bad plan.

PeachyClair · 02/04/2007 12:46

We have to submit all ou essays to a resource (Jisk) that searches databases for similar thinsg that you may ahve palgiarised- Jisk, it is called.

I wouldn't touch anyting like this with a barge pole. Apart from being pointless (what do you learn?) If things are that dire you can get an extension.

At least student I know of buys essays written for her (well 2 but I cannot rpove it) but nobody I know would touch anything like that- people do get expelled for it.

PeachyClair · 02/04/2007 12:48

Oh and write the brave essay

Brave essays at our Uni, IF backed up, always score better (they need to be relevant too of course)

Yurtgirl · 02/04/2007 12:52

Isnt it cheating??

expatinscotland · 02/04/2007 12:53

It is plagairism to pass off someone else's work as your own.