Playing With Fire - Internet Paper Mills

At two o’clock in the morning and a research paper on “The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire” is due in a World History class at 8 a.m. Does the student stay up all night, frantically writing and hoping the professor doesn’t notice the last minute attempt or does the student give into temptation and download a perfectly good paper off the Internet to turn in as their own work? In this day and age of high tech gadgets and gizmos, more and more students are turning to the Internet to do their homework. Yet, with the increasing number of Internet paper mills springing up, webmasters are encouraging students to “play with fire” by providing the tools to cheat, not only their educators but also themselves.

The definition of “plagiarize,” according to Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary, is “to steal and pass off (the ideas and words of another) as one’s own.” (Webster’s) To download a paper off the Internet and pass it off as the student’s own is plagiarizing. Since every college and university has a code of ethical behavior similar to the University of Alaska Fairbanks’s Honor Code, plagiarism is a very risky proposition. The University’s Honor Code states in Section 2:

Students will not represent the work of others as their own. A student will attribute the source of information not original with himself or herself (direct quotes or paraphrases) in compositions, theses, and other reports. (UAF, pg. 22)

So why would a student risk breaking a code they are expected to live by while pursuing a college education?

The Internet paper mills appeal to students on many different levels. With the ease of finding the materials on a web site and the easy “cutting-and-pasting” functions of modern word processing programs, these sites make procrastination look like an attractive option. Most students resist doing the work when someone will do the work for them for free. Of course, many students do not view this as a bad thing either. One student, who would only identify himself by his first name, said, “It’s only cheating if you get caught.” (Young)

Desperate students do not consider the likelihood of their being caught plagiarizing from one of the websites. The odds of getting caught cheating are better than being dealt a pair of anything in a hand of poker. Most colleges and universities keep copes of very completed research paper from every department on file for at least a year. That way, if any professor suspects that a student may be plagiarizing, the papers are there for comparison.

Also, if students have been in a class for any length of time, the professor already knows their writing styles. “There are several red flags that can expose a plagiarized paper,” says Dr. Pitkin, English professor at Utah State University, “especially if I already have a sample of the student’s writing.” (Houshmand)

Another way a professor can “catch someone in the act” is simply by logging on to some of the same websites the students use and performing an Internet search using a group of words of a key phrase taken from the paper.

Another downside of using a downloaded paper is that the student is selling his or her own abilities short. “The whole purpose of higher education,” according to Pat Terrell, vice president of Utah State’s Student Services, “is learning where to look to obtain research and access information. A student that is plagiarizing someone else’s work is not getting their money’s worth out of their education.” (Houshmand) Nothing could be truer. When students do not complete their own work, they are deprived of developing their abilities to analyze information, judge source credibility, express their thoughts and feelings clearly, properly quote sources, and cite information. Since these skills are required in any successful career a student may choose after college, one who plagiarizes loses the most valuable skill preparation of a college career.

The consequences for turning in a paper that’s been downloaded off the Internet can be quite severe. While the instructor has complete authority to decide the ultimate fate of a student who has turned in someone else’s work, every college and university has set up guidelines to assist the instructor. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Honor Code clearly states the following:

Violations of the Honor Code will result in a failing grade for the assignment, and, ordinarily, for the course in which the violation occurred. Moreover, violations of the Honor Code may result in suspension or expulsion. (UAF, pg. 22)

Beyond collegiate consequences for plagiarizing, the buying and selling of term papers is actually illegal in 18 states. Students could be prosecuted and either jailed or fined for the simple act of downloading a paper. Considered as a case of fraud, the Federal government could become involved as fraud is a federal offense.

Failing grades, suspension, expulsion, prison time… are any of these consequences worth the extra time students actually burn by turning in a paper they have downloaded from the Internet? While turning in an online paper when a deadline seems to be flying by may be extremely tempting, the consequences for such a crime are too high. By trying to bypass the research and writing stages of an assignment, downloading a term paper from the Internet is simply “playing with fire” that could ruin students’ future chances for career success.