a custom term paper writing service

a custom term paper writing service

Exploring the Ethics and Impact of Custom Term Paper Writing Services in Higher Education

1. Introduction

The concept of academic dishonesty is as old as formal higher education itself. Cheating, engaging in plagiarism, buying papers, having someone else write papers for a price, recycling one’s own paper(s), some forms of collaboration during assignments, and using crib sheets and similar aids have long been the well-documented ways of taking shortcuts through the learning process. SafeHarbor found that 84.2% of respondents define plagiarism even more broadly, as “using the words or work of another and/or presenting written or oral work that is not entirely one’s own without properly crediting the author(s) and/or source(s) of those words or work, regardless of a lack or intent to deceive or the presence of the wrongful reproduction of original materials.”

In the fall and winter of 2005, the authors became aware of a fairly widespread and growing phenomenon that is more troubling and novel even than higher education’s other dishonorable constants. This latest is not just that some students are willing for a fee to take shortcuts through the learning process, but that there exists a professional “underground” of online for-profit businesses that specifically as their business model offer an array of custom term-paper related, test-taking services such as using USB drives, and are now considering using advanced laboratory instruments during an exam. Different forms of student cheating have different ethical implications. A cheat-sheet written on a fingernail, for instance, does not involve directly harming another person.

2. Ethical Considerations in Using Custom Term Paper Writing Services

In discussing the ethical considerations, we are concerned with the academic integrity and right conduct associated with the employment of a third party to write custom term papers on behalf of a student. While there is a role for technology where a learning approach for students emphasizes problem-solving abilities and maintaining deep learning experiences, there is also the need for teachers to emphasize the importance of developing critical thinking, analytical abilities, and writing skills in preparation for written assignments, which are common in knowledge work employment. A clear understanding of the expected acceptable use policy for the custom term paper writing service providers is in order.

On the most important characteristic, typically, universities and colleges have established conduct codes and academic honesty policies that students are expected to adhere to, and these expectations extend to those providing the educational services that are part of the process made available to students. Legal precedent establishes that students must be in compliance with a university’s standards of academic integrity, which means that those employed to assist them to achieve educational objectives are also required to comply with these university’s standards of academic integrity. This concern is usually raised from a teacher’s perspective: if the teacher or university holds a position that a third-party custom term paper writing service provider is against university policy, is a breach of individual university student’s conduct codes or academic honesty policies, or generally held standards of academic integrity, then the teacher should advise the student that this is not allowable.

3. The Impact of Custom Term Paper Writing Services on Academic Integrity

The impact of custom term paper writing services on academic integrity is a topic that has sparked a compelling argument. Some argue that these services should be established or publicly accommodated, with the creation of an internal academic resource center dedicated to assisting undergraduate students who have expressed a commitment to their own intellectual and personal growth during their higher education journey. The business of academic assistance should be accepted, and internal academic support programs and centers should be established to help students in need, regardless of whether they seek help confidentially or openly pursue their educational goals.

In order to effectively support students, academic assistants must be well compensated and respected as scholarly personnel within the institution. They should be recognized as influential resources for the personal and intellectual development of the students they assist. This role is distinct from the role of higher education in determining ethical behavior and personal responsibility. Positive reinforcement and compensatory rewards should be made available to encourage ethical conduct and discourage questionable behavior.

Ultimately, each student must personally and consciously determine the kind of person they are or wish to become. This determination is individual and cannot be enforced by external factors. Academic cultivation can only be encouraged, not coerced.

4. Regulating and Addressing Issues Surrounding Custom Term Paper Writing Services

Both government bodies and education stakeholders can easily overlook the ethically suspect practices related to custom term paper writing services or fail to respond effectively to the ethical issues stemming from custom term paper writing services-related problems. Often, the utilized content owners are the primary parties negatively affected by the commissioning and usage of the custom term paper writing services. Despite the influence of such issues, the decreasing number and volume of custom term paper writing services indicate that a website ban by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is unlikely because the FTC prefers minimal involvement in website operation decisions and prefers that website operators solve the issues themselves. Also, the issue would need to pose significant risks to consumers in terms of monetary loss or health and safety, and if the companies are primarily foreign-owned, have disabled the website to avoid the FTC’s action.

Educators should stay current on the ethical or legal solutions required by consumers who commission custom term papers online, as outlined on the websites’ terms of service. Presently, the services’ refund policies may force one to avoid escalation of problems between content aggregators and UL consumers, for example, blatant dishonesty claims and academic disciplinary processes. These policies can be added onto the graduating and professional bodies’ established rules for retention and legal defense of physical documents to deter consumers from believing educators will accept one’s products for use in the classroom. Furthermore, upcoming policies may discard such ethical and legal responsibilities by affording well-established education institutions with the chance to enroll additional income-generating students. To augment this approach, universities should make a deliberate effort to calm consumer fears of coursework disqualification by widely publicizing their actions, particularly when the institution officially expels a student.

5. Conclusion and Future Directions

It is clear that the phenomenon of custom term paper writing services is no longer a fictional occurrence in higher education, with evidence of their existence highlighted through industry reports, advertising in the university press and academic journals, and concerned commentary in such media. However, no previous studies had sought to scrutinize the business environment, ethics, and impacts of this academic writing outsourcing industry; its relationship with higher education; and the potential fiscal and policy responses of institutions and policymakers. This paper fills this void by offering the first descriptive study of such entities and examining this phenomenon through complementary ethical frameworks, from business ethics, through the reflections of student educators who seek to bridge theory and practice, to a framework closer to that of the whistleblowers and ghostwriters who are actors within this out-of-sight business, that of work ethics.

By applying a range of ethical perspectives to a rarely researched topic and offering ongoing avenues for future research, it is hoped that this study offers an important and rigorous step forward in concurrently capturing and analyzing an exploratory but critical new ethical and business environment in higher education. Our work also has implications for practice, which are divided into six main areas. The interdisciplinary exploration of this paper therefore generates both business and educational value through the development of four out-of-sight perspectives—employer, internal, customer, and latent—and we believe this exploratory discussion should inform further robust empirical business ethics research in this area.