Essay Writing Services Are Unethical And Must Be Banned In Academia

 

Plagiarism has evolved into much more than a simple copy-and-paste job. In the last decade, "essay mills”—companies that supply written works from critique papers to entire dissertations, with students comprising majority of customers—have become accessible enough to provide viable options to students struggling with coursework (Shahabuddin 2016). The process is simple: Go on a mill’s website, give the details of your assignment (and credit card), and a writer can whip up a piece decent enough to submit in class. Although it’s easy to compare this to freelance ghostwriting, the academic context makes the ethics behind essay writing services wholly different from the situation in the professional world. There may be a dose of instant gratification offered along with it, but the use of essay mills is a highly unethical practice that must be banned in academia. 

Essays and papers are assigned in higher education to aid learning—such works develop numerous skills from communication to critical thinking—to provide a diagnostic medium, and to assess (Henderson 1980; Riddell 2015). However, it is undeniable that some students will have a harder time completing these than others. Not all students, for instance, are native English speakers. Others have to balance school with pressing responsibilities. Essay mills tend to play to these vulnerabilities, arguing that, as Daniel Dennehy, the chief operating officer of UK Essays, writes, "Accepting that the support students are seeking can be a huge benefit to them” (Dennehy 2016). While it is true that students who turn in ghostwritten essays are unburdened of the writing process, the long-term consequences involved are more dangerous than relieving. Students have been expelled for engaging in this form of "contract cheating”—and even if submissions slip through professors and plagiarism-detection software, the impact is just as deplorable (Jacks 2016). Regardless of the underlying reason, turning in work bought from an essay-writing service raises questions as to why students even enroll in universities if they were unwilling or unable to put in the work needed to achieve their educational goals.

 

By advertising with the allure of getting work off students’ shoulders, essay mills exploit students’ weaknesses instead of encouraging adaptation to the rigors of academia. University results are undermined as unmerited degrees are awarded to students who graduate scot-free. In turn, this results in career disruption and a loss of professional credibility as students choose not to develop the competencies that come with completing school work (Tauginienė & Jurkevičius 2017). The use of essay mills is especially abhorrent in college admissions, where universities are looking for pieces that don’t just show effective communication skills, but character and personality. Applicants with ghostwritten personal statements won't be admitted for their fitness for the institution; instead, their application will be built upon another’s work and writing style. This poses additional dangers for them if admitted—when faced with a rigorous course load, they may, once again, turn to essay mills. After all, research has shown that contract cheating is generally a habitual behavior (Clarke & Lancaster 2006).

 

Still, essay mill supporters argue for the service’s ethicality because of its supposed provision of academic value through "model essays”. "Most universities do not offer any such provision, but this is the essence of our service: we simply help students who need additional guidance by connecting them with qualified academics,” again, Dennehy says (Kelly 2017). "We embrace working with university tutors and academics to create model questions and answers, a recognised learning tool that helps guide students to success.” There is nothing unethical about using a model essay to gain inspiration. However, the vast range of essay-writing companies show inconsistencies in two significant areas: the standard of writing produced, and how ethics and academic integrity are treated (Medway, Roper, & Gillooly 2018). Due to the first aspect, it is not guaranteed that any given essay mill can produce work worthy of being "modeled”. Neither can the use of these essays be controlled. In a 2017 study analyzing the behaviors of essay-writing companies based in the United Kingdom, researchers found that all the investigated websites provided disclaimers stating their essays were for "research purposes only” (Draper, Ibezim, & Newton 2017). Unfortunately, it was also found that thirty-one percent of these had "potentially misleading advertising” that contradicted their terms and conditions, encouraging the idea that students can use the essays for submission in class. While the increase in mill usage exposes weak points in universities’ operations and assessment design, Dennehy’s argument does nothing to reverse how many students worldwide see education as a series of business transactions rather than a learning experience.

  

Contract cheating has yet to explode into an epidemic, but universities and government mustn’t wait to take action against it. It’s time for professors to rethink their assessments, and for students to remember that the goal of education is not to pass, but to learn—even if that involves initially getting low marks in the process of improving. Academic success shouldn’t have to revolve around industries. Rather, it roots from grit, organization, and confidence to do one’s best despite setbacks. Frankly, you don’t need a ghostwriter to develop those.

 

Works Cited

Clarke, Robert, and Thomas Lancaster. "Eliminating the Successor to Plagiarism? Identifying the Usage of Contract Cheating Sites.” Proceedings of 2nd International Plagiarism Conference, Jan. 2006.

 

Draper, Michael J., et al. "Are Essay Mills Committing Fraud? An Analysis of Their Behaviours vs the 2006 Fraud Act (UK).” International Journal for Educational Integrity, vol. 13, no. 1, 2017, doi:10.1007/s40979-017-0014-5.

 

Dennehy, Daniel. "View from an 'Essay Mill': the Best Offer Legitimate Support for Struggling Students.” Times Higher Education (THE), 15 Sept. 2016, www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/view-essay-mill-best-offer-legitimate-support-struggling-students.

 

Henderson, Euan S. "The Essay in Continuous Assessment.” Studies in Higher Education, vol. 5, 1980, pp. 197–203., doi:10.1080/03075078012331377226.

 

Jacks, Timna. "Deakin University Students Kicked out for 'Contract Cheating'.” www.theage.com.au, The Age, 18 May 2016, www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/deakin-university-students-kicked-out-for-contract-cheating-20160518-goxm1y.html.

 

Kelly, Guy. "Inside the 'Essay Mills' Offering to Do Students' Work for Them.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 12 Oct. 2017, www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/10/12/inside-essay-mills-offering-do-students-work/.

 

Medway, Dominic, et al. "Contract Cheating in UK Higher Education: A Covert Investigation of Essay Mills.” British Educational Research Journal, vol. 44, no. 3, 2018, pp. 393–418., doi:10.1002/berj.3335.

Riddell, Jessica. "Performance, Feedback, and Revision: Metacognitive Approaches to Undergraduate Essay Writing.” Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, vol. 8, Dec. 2015, p. 79., doi:10.22329/celt.v8i0.4256

Shahabuddin, Syed. "Plagiarism in Academia.” International Journal of Teaching and Learning, vol. 21, 2009, pp. 353–359.