has anyone ever bought an essay?

[sunnyjim]

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?

To clarify - for my first degree I was given a reading list as long as my arm at the start of each lecture block, and spent an inordinate length of time fighting over volumes in the library and standing over a photocopier. Once I had read the papers ont he reading list, I did not have the time or the inclination to read anything else. Now I am provided with the materials. I have more time and inclination to use my (much more limited) resources to find additional material.

Of course, I am natuyrally studying a different subject this time.

There is a scheme whereby OU students can use other academic libraries (UK Libraries Plus iirc), but of course this can be difficult for many students who study with the OU because they can't get to such facilities (living abroad, disabilities, or simply too busy with work and family)

I use Amazon Marketplace extensively

and this time you are a mature student. In my experience mature students oftyen tend to be more enthusiastic

Mrs dolittle, I am glad you think that I must be academcially stupid - I'm not but hey whatever makes you happy.

It actually cheers me up a bit to know that there are other people who recognise that lecturers can be very biased. Yes I did query the essay when I was told not to use outside sources no matter how relevant or well referenced. But I was told by the regional advisor that it would cause more trouble for me if I pursued it as it was a subjective area and all I'd accomplish would be to put my tutors back up.

It does depend very much on your tutor, some will welcome evidence of independant thinking - others won't.

I think the OU does make you stick very closely to course texts and whilst they can be well written, inevitably they can also be outdated.

Giddy your example is the type of thing I have experienced, one year I had a fantastic tutor who was very keen on the subject and read widely. They welcomed independant thought and I got excellent marks for drawing contrasts between classic marxism and Marxism interprited via nationalism in India. The next year I used the same schools of thought in addressing a different question -both questions were about political philosohpy btw, and I was told that as Marxism wasn't specifically in the course text i was just referring to things from my own experience that weren't relevant to politics and I hadn't cited enough references for it.

anyway thanks to all who have given me tips and support - with any luck I'll write an essay that maintains my 80% average but is also one that I am happy with.

academia can be both very fustrating and rewarding, we just have to hope the good outweighs the bad.

I don't believe I ever said you were academically stupid, I simply said you may have misunderstood the question. Your answer is unnecessarily defensive.

There are countless times very intelligent students have been marked down simply because they haven't answered the question. A student I know admitted to complacency, he was so sure he knew what was required he went ahead and answered his own question. He failed.

All that said, I assume you are an academically able student. Therefore there is no reason why you shouldn't beable to go out there and write a damn good essay all on your own with the tools provided.
You have no reason to jeapordise an academic future.
Goodluck.

"There are countless times very intelligent students have been marked down simply because they haven't answered the question." Can't agree more with that, not that I'm saying that you are one of those Sunnyjim, but I had a good number of students every term having the problem. What they wrote was good, no doubt, but it was not what they had been asked for.

The following is irrelevant to the thread but I thought of mentioning just to do some justice to the good resources of the OU...

The department I did one of my MAs at had a 5* in research, a 24 in teaching quality, entry requirements very similar to those of Cambridge but... when I couldn't organise in a coherent way all the varied information we were given during the first term, the OU books solved the problem, and soon started to circulate between the students.

The texts are quite good and I confess to be very jealous of a friend who was doing a MA at OU at the same time, as I spent 3/4 of my study time chasing the basic books while she got everything she needed via post, and, as the basics were covered, she could spend far more time than I did researching other sources

In my first year at the OU studying for a degree in telecommunications I had to supress a great deal of my knowledge (I've worked in Telecomms for 20 years) and just answer from the course notes. I got a distinction

Certainly at year 1/year 2 BSc level I treated this as playing the game, and for sure, my tutors would not have been able to grade a lot of my industry knowledge.

I would be very frustrated to have to do something similar at PhD level though.

You wouldn't do that at PhD level though.
By the time you get to PhD level you are the expert.
It's marked based on your ability to justify the processes you have been through to produce your work.

I am a university lecturer in a social sciences faculty, I find this thread utterly depressing I'd be making a complaint to the external examiner or certainly above my department.

However I do know of lecturers who refuse to consider other viewpoints outside of their own and are hopelessly out of date i.e. don't keep up with current thinking. Like any job you get excellent and incompetent individuals - although in SJ's case it sounds like the culture of the institution - worrying.

I think that it is worrying that sj doesn't feel that she has any means of appealing a mark.

There should be double or even third marking and external moderation, surely?

I agree Lionheart - she should not feel afraid of appealing for fear of putting backs up. If she has been told to avoid it for that reason then there is something wrong with the system.

Personally if someone is concerned about a mark I am always extremely happy to discuss it in person (apart from anything else we get little enough direct student contact as it is so any excuse for a meeting is good in my book ). It is probably true to say it is very unusual for a mark to be changed, but that tends to be because the student is happy with the mark once it's been properly explained - I don't think I've ever had a meeting of that sort where the student has gone away still wanting to take things further.

I agree. In fact, I agree with everything you've said so far, Kathy.

Thanks Lionheart. Maybe I won't quit my job and be a SAHM after all then

It's sometimes tempting, isn't it?

(I'm tempted whenever the RAE is mentioned).

And when I think about the six months in which I have to finish the book I haven't even started.

Gawd mere mention of the RAE bring sme out in a cold sweat...

Who mentioned the RAE?

You and me both, lionheart. In fact... I'm not here... you haven't seen me... I'm writing my book...

IME marks are often changed by External Examiners, though usually not dramatically (i.e. they may be raised from 68 to 70 in order to help someone achieve a First Class profile overall), though as External I have often been asked to adjudicate in cases where first and second internal markers can't agree... and we're sometimes talking about differences of more than a whole class! What worries me, in SJ's case, is that there doesn't seem to be any process of second internal marking or moderation. (However, on the basis of this thread, it does sound a bit as if SJ quite likes the 'misunderstood genius' role...)

Anyway, I am not here....

lionheart, monkey, Kathy... shall we start an RAE hand-holding thread?

I thought external couldn't change marks, only make suggestions??

Good idea!

I agree with the self inflicted tormented genius role .

Maybe the problem is the culture of the OU so that even the second marker would mark down any assignment that did not use course materials?

Returning to the original question about buying an essay, anyone see this in today's Guardian Education?

The external can 'put pressure on' and question the validity of marks, I have been present at a number of exam boards where the external has pushed for marks to be moved significatntly up or down.

MrsD, for us the External has the last word, so can change any mark and we have to go along with it (her/his word is final). This is the case in all the departments where I've worked and externalled (6 institutions). However, it may vary from subject to subject.

I'm actually not being submitted for the RAE as I'm on mat leave till the autumn and will have spent almost all of the previous 3 years either on leave or pregnant and throwing up.

Don't like to think about where this leaves my career, but it takes the pressure off for now

However I'm happy to come and be encouraging on an RAE thread for everyone else.

Ah, Kathy, that's where I went wrong. I should have had more babies! (Though I don't do the throwing up bit, thank the Lord, so would doubtless have been expected to produce something in between times!).

I currently have only one item out (though it is a book, so carries a few brownie points) and two more need to be out by the end of the year. (I am allowed to submit three items as I have a bit of maternity leave dating from 2002.) Aaargh! Must go and do something....