buy a custom essay papers

buy a custom essay papers

Exploring the Ethics and Consequences of Buying Custom Essay Papers

1. Introduction to the Issue

The ability to buy custom papers, essays, and other forms of academic writing continues to be a growing industry. There are a multitude of services available for higher education students who may not wish to complete assignments themselves. This type of business can produce some ethical dilemmas for students who purchase work, teachers, and schools. The aim of this paper is to bridge the gap between research and practical implications by investigating three areas that may yield insight into the question of why students may choose to purchase custom writing services.

The Ethics and Educational Consequences of Buying Essays and Other Forms of Academic Writing addresses the ways in which cheating in academic writing can be hindered, prevented, detected, and subjected to disciplinary or non-disciplinary sanctions. However, policies, to be helpful, must be based upon informed consideration of the efficacy and side effects of specific measures. As there is a scarcity of evidence on these issues, this integrated study draws upon the extant literature, prior research conducted by the author, government investigations carried out in Australia itself, national guidelines, legislative provisions and administrative checklists in educational integrity, and websites of “essay banks,” giving a unique picture based on the Australian experience. The rapid growth of essay banks in the 1990s was found to be associated with intensification of national assessments and entry examinations for tertiary education, but a number of regulatory agencies examined essay banks because of believed direct or indirect links with corrupt and unethical practices. The evidence of such links was not compelling, but these inquiries, and the legal position, should lead to the closure of essay banks or their transformation into educational organisations. Also of note is the need to ensure that regulations do not inadvertently create more widespread educational malpractice. In conclusion, education about, and the design of, assessment and curricula, the availability of support services and changes in the composition of the student body are recommended to prevent cheating.

2. Ethical Considerations in Academic Integrity

There are many ethical concerns related to academic integrity that apply to the problematic practice of turning in a purchased custom essay as one’s own work. These ethical concerns apply to students whose academic development is hindered, to educators who are undermined in their privileged position, and to educational institutions whose trust relationship with students is violated. This section will explore those concerns, and it invites students, in particular, to take time to consider the moral implications of this choice.

The moral and ethical concerns about purchasing essays addressed in this module include the impact of cheating on the cheater, the erosion of trust in educational institutions as a result of cheating, and the importance of learning to cultivate moral and ethical virtues. It is unethical for the individual to buy a paper because in doing so they are failing to develop morally, do not retain respect for themselves, and are “denying the right of others to function as valuable members of a community, as potential friends or colleagues.” Everyone is harmed in the above examples because the purchaser has harmed his or her own moral and ethical character as well as shown disrespect for the person selling the paper. The cheater in the example has entered into a relationship in which they are unwilling to help the other person “develop his or her capacities as a social and moral being.”

3. Impact on Learning and Development

Purchasing custom essays for students has more significance than simply the monetary value. Purchase papers are all too often custom written, presenting challenges for those students who are not using essay writing services. Many of these occur without the consent of the class instructor. The ethical discussion on buying custom essays takes up the question of whether purchasing papers is okay under the circumstance. But the discussion of ethics seems to center on whether the essay is used as a “replacement” for classroom work by undercutting an academic institution where “teachers were seriously attempting to pursue interests that undergraduates couldn’t or wouldn’t.” In this scenario, the buyer isn’t just not learning anything, but they are depriving someone else of a learned perspective by delivering an obfuscation of their own limited one.

From this light, the greatest consequence of purchasing a paper, according to perhaps the most famous critique of students using custom essays, is that the student doesn’t strengthen their research and critical thinking skills that the writing process is meant to inspire. Despite the exceptionally high incentive reported to buy custom essays, the students who had engaged in the behavior showed no greater improvement than the rest of the students, either in terms of academic and professional development. Those who had been buying custom essays pursued and absorbed new material no more than the rest of the students when asked about it four to six years after graduation.

4. Regulatory Measures and Consequences

In light of the unethical nature of the practice, many educational policymakers, national and international agencies have introduced policies and published guidelines aimed at reducing academic dishonesty and contract cheating in particular. However, there is a series of perceived and actual drawbacks associated with the implementation of some of these measures.

Although such practices are illegal, most essays are found to be purchased from companies not only based outside the UK but, in particular, outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This shows not only that it would be difficult for legislation concerned with such activities to be enforceable, but also that the institutional penalties incurred may do little to dissuade the practice. The penalties for plagiarism appear to vary, depending on the perceived impact of the offence. Consequences are difficult to assess; however, one senior systems and software engineering lecturer has suggested that coursework submissions must be less similar than “a dozen English-language versions of a well-written Urdu-language version”. The author suspects that either plagiarism may be widespread, or this module is “deeply lacking in original thought” to have a reference point such as this deployed by an experienced academic in response to the suspicion of the purchase of an essay. Monetary fines (up to £1,000) are legal, but are they the right approach to dealing with a situation creating such a significant imbalance of power? A more ‘educative’ response may be the way forward. Rather than entering a student on the penalty track, ensuring a debrief session instigates learning and recovery from the issues encouraging dishonesty may prevent this from happening to the same individual again.

5. Conclusion and Recommendations

Custom essay services have proliferated, posing various ethical questions about the purchase of papers. This paper explained four ethical models that can be used to consider this issue in depth. It has argued that purchasing a paper is morally wrong, although perhaps excusable in certain situations. While students might not actually learn anything from the essays, purchasing them can still create other valuable opportunities for students who are so inclined.

In response to services, it has been suggested that learning environments should be re-designed to make purchases of this sort less attractive to students, especially by individualizing assignments, and that cultural beliefs and norms about academic honesty be mobilized to direct the behavior of students away from purchasing essays. Strict legal consequences for these businesses are not recommended, since there are good arguments for why a moral rather than a legal approach is appropriate.

This paper ends by issuing a short list of practical recommendations based on the norms of the argument. It is recommended that educational institutions outline and enforce high standards of academic integrity. However, it is also true that some students are not very good at planning, and/or clever at any kind of research, and are advised to focus on developing other useful skills. Sincere educators ought then to make every effort to identify and counsel these students.