A week ago I was contacted by Andrew Schwatz from Custom Writing. He was offering me $25 per month to put a link on my website to his. Naturally I was flattered to think that someone out there thought that my blog would be a good vehicle to promote another webservice, and I was curious to know what that service was.
Boy! was I surprised and riveted by the audacity! Custom Writing is a service that will write you an essay that is guaranteed to be free from plagiarism and to not get picked up by plagiarism checkers like turn it in.
Custom-Writing.org offers professional academic research and writing services in any field of study. We guarantee highly qualified, confidential essay writing strictly in accordance with your instructions. When ordering paper writing services from Custom-Writing.org, you can have your essay completed in 12, 8 or 6 hours! Custom-Writing.org organizes own work using simple formula: Quality Writing + Responsibility + Personal Care = Success. When ordering essay writing services, rest assured, we are fully dedicated to your academic success!
We Guarantee:
— Quality research and writing
— FREE plagiarism report
— FREE unlimited amendments
— FREE title page
— FREE bibliography
— FREE outline
— FREE email delivery
— FREE formatting
— 24/7 Instant Support
— 275 words per page
— Double-spaced, 12pt Arial
— Essay within 12 hours!
— Fully referenced
— Any Citation style
— Up-to-date sources only
— PhD and MBA writers
— Discounts for returned clients
— 100% Confidentiality
— No hidden charges
— Highly professional
— Satisfaction guarantee
Check out their pricing! Not too bad at all!
So I’ll add a link alright, and I’ll do it for free! This is thoroughly interesting stuff and right down my alley, in terms of pressuring education and academia to rethink its role and practices.
So I replied to Andrew and asked for an interview. Within a few hours he replied with a, “yes, send the questions through..” I buzzed my office with the disturbing news of a service that will write essays for you, and the questions came flying. I noted them down and sent Andrew the list. He had the answers for me next day. Here they are:
Is this a kind of plagiarism? Does your service get around the plagiarism checkers like ‘Turn it in’?
Yes, the papers we provide are plagiarism free – neither TurnItIn, nor any other plagiarism detecting software cannot find any plagiarism. Papers are 100% custom written, so the only way to find out that the paper was not written by a student is to compare the regular writing style of a student with the writing style in the paper. Still, at our writing service, a student can upload samples of own work for writer to review – so, the possibility for a teacher to find out is really minimal and for a teacher to prove – virtually impossible.
How do you see your role in the field of education?
No person can be equally good at everything – if he/she is, then this is the wrong path, a student talent is lost. There are people who are good at Math and IT – let them develop their skills in this field instead of torturing them with writing assignments. What is really the point of this, if students must waste hours developing skills they will never be professional in instead of concentrating on the field their future career will depend upon? I really see the role of custom writing services in education as a relief for those who have already chosen their career, who know their path, and have already somewhat succeeded in it – since services are somewhat costly and in order to buy a custom written paper, a student must have a job (the most part of our customers). Furthermore, academic writing services spare time for students to develop in the field they chose to, so, to some extent, this is a plus for their education too.
The very existence of custom writing services shows that educational system is imperfect: assessment tools are not objective. Writing services simply indicate that a problem in assessment techniques exists and push educational system forward to development and innovation by making them analyze the appropriateness of writing assignments as an assessment tool.
How much do you think your service potentially subverts assessment in education?
Do you really know any widely recognized tests that assess writing skills, aside from assessment of students majoring in writing? Student knowledge simply cannot be assessed by off-class writing assignments. I do not think that assessment in education is subverted by the work of writing companies. Instead, it points out the possible failure of academic assessment techniques and, by doing so, makes a favor. Essay writing is not an effective assessment tool with or without existence of custom writing companies.
Does you your service subvert academia? – good bad, doesn’t matter, other…
To some extent, yes, but not without help of educational system itself. Since essays are used as an assessment tool, which is a wrong method for testing student knowledge, students are seeking the way out. This is not bad in itself, since, as previously stated, they receive an opportunity to devote themselves to the path chosen – whether Math, IT, or Dance, but this, perhaps, shapes a wrong worldview, as students have to deal with ethical dilemmas imposed by society, which should not have happened if academic institutions were to develop better assessment techniques and a more personalized, individual interests based educational program.
Does your company object to standardised assessments like essays?
Yes, definitely, yes. Take-home essays are simply pointless for objective assessment of student knowledge, especially if it is for classes like Economics or Math – where exact, subject specific knowledge is what does count.
Does your service undermine the quality of education and hence the work that people take on through their educational credentials?
Nope, do not think so. Once again – the question and the problem itself lies in effective assessment techniques, which definitely should not be in essay format. When it comes to applying for a job – experience and testing conducted by a hiring company – is what does count, not educational credentials. From this perspective, companies like ours only help – we spare the time for students to develop in the field they chose to, which will then be their career path.
Do you have alternative visions for knowledge creation and sharing?
With the advent of online social networks, I think that one could definitely come up with an alternative to regular writing assignments. Why not let students communicate and develop their own interest based social networks where they could stand up for their views in academic related subjects that do interest them? For students majoring and/or interested in IT or Math – let them discuss in a written form questions that interest them – both professional knowledge and writing skills would develop. Math and IT students need writing for communicating own ideas in a written form in a professional manner, perhaps, using specialized IT/Math vocabulary. What would develop their writing skills better than an open discussion on an education related topic of own choice? Academic institutions perceive Internet as a threat instead of enjoying all the benefits and opportunities it offers for improvement of education.
Without giving away your competitive secrets, how does your company work? what is the process for your creations?
Basically, we accept orders from customers through an online order form, where they fill out assignment details, provide a deadline. We then make the order available to our writers who work remotely for them to apply for the work. Once a number of applications is submitted, the best writer is chosen and the order is transferred to his/her personal work account. Students can upload files needed, communicate with writer directly to guide him/her. Once the work is completed, it is uploaded directly to our support team. We then check the work and send it to customer. That’s it.
Where do the people who write for you come from? What is their background? Are they paid well? What are their conditions (working from home?)
We have a large database of writers working remotely, primarily from home. Most of our writers come from UK and US. A few years ago it was rather difficult to find a good writer. Now, we receive 5-10 applications daily. Are they paid well? I guess enough for them to work for us, not to drop the work, and receive overall positive customer feedbacks. Not long time ago, we gave a try to foreign writers and, let me tell you – we were really surprised by the quality of work produced. You can get a PhD writer from India , who is a lecturer in a University, where all classes are taught in English, to produce a neatly written document that will get an A+ for a native speaker. Even though we are not yet switching to writers with PhD degrees whose English is second language – believe me, IT is not going to be the only field outsourced to India in the nearest future. Check out optimization forums, where content for most of US based websites is written by teams of writers coming from the Third World .
I imagine your service has to be fairly generic – how would you approach quite specific subject areas, where either specific knowledge or local dialect is needed?
You are a bit mistaken here, for off-line writing agencies – you are right, but for online – we have hundreds of writers who can log in into their accounts and apply for the work they are most skilled at.
Anything else you would like to add? what are the stats of people using your service? How many, where from? etc
Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with the exact stats of people using our services and even if I do, it will not be representative in terms of students overall, since the market share of company can hardly be estimated with a certain level of accuracy. Overall, most students are either US residents or foreign students studying in the US (about 70%). UK – the next country on the list (15%), Australia , Canada – the next ones (5%). Some – coming from Japan , China , Russia , Poland (10%). Most students who use our services are overloaded with work, have family problems, or are too busy with all the different activities. They are not cheaters; they are simply seeking a compromise in difficult situations and imperfection of assessment techniques helps to find it in custom writing companies.
42 comments
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July 11, 2007 at 2:44 am
hugh davies
Wow – this is cool Leigh.
Nice work. Very funny, very thorough.
Did you write it all yourself?
July 11, 2007 at 10:51 am
Merrolee
Hmm.. I think it raises some really interesting areas – I think he is right that academics don’t necessarily think through what is an appropriate assessment task for the discipline in which the student is studying – ie – if in maths why write essays… or even in occupational therapy. Essays in our profession are not necessarily what therapists will be expected to write – but they are expected to document in reports, to put together applications, written proposals etc. They have to be able to write well and essays are a type of measure of this… as are other written outputs. Most of our assignments (but not all) reflect this – ie we ask students to write in the medium that they will use as registered therapists.
What I believe the author is wrong about is that students who use this service than have time freed up for further study in the area… that I think won’t happen for most people using this type of service. Most would be driven to this service because of issues either in understanding the material, or family pressure to gain higher grades, or ……etc etc… I don’t think they would use the service to give them more time to further their study.
I also think the sad thing is that written assignments often ask the student to search for material, to read and process this (as opposed to exams which ask for regurgitation of what has been given) to synthesise from different sources, to critique etc… The process of coming to the point of writing which would be important for many professionals is lost for the students using this service. Again – perhaps what should be assessed is their ability to search, analyse, critique and integrate – and yes an essay may be the wrong output to use – but change the output, don’t provide a service that takes away all of the learning experience!!!!!!
July 11, 2007 at 11:17 am
Alexander Hayes
Interesting concepts and issues raised here leigh.
It’s amazing that after all this time ( in time ) we still place so much emphasis on the false-accord of assignments and “projects” to substantiate a students digestion of trite or treat.
Says a lot for using OWP.
>Again – perhaps what should be assessed is their ability to search, analyse, critique and integrate
July 11, 2007 at 11:18 am
Alexander Hayes
…….Again – perhaps what should be assessed is their ability to search, analyse, critique and integrate………..
Time for my applause 🙂
WordPress dosent like either > that nor that
July 11, 2007 at 5:40 pm
James Neill
great stuff leigh
BUT
this is still plagiarism – unacknowledged use of another person’s work as though it were your own
July 11, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Leigh
This? or it is still plagiarism? This (this blog post) is fair dinkim. Its an actual interview via email with an Andrew Schwartz.
July 12, 2007 at 10:34 am
Daily Bookmarks 07/11/2007 « Experiencing E-Learning
[…] It’s not plagiarism, it’s an easy essay « Learn Online […]
July 12, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Mike
Another in a continuing saga of “have money will graduate”. Why not just let the wealthy pay for their degree outright. Why burden them with any academic standards at all?
I know of many non-native English speakers who passed the TOFEL test on the basis of their superior grammar but can, with only the greatest of difficulty, write an essay. They would love this service because they can avoid the difficult task of improving their written communication. Does graduating from an American University (with a Masters) suggest that this person has an ability to write an essay and communicate in English? It certainly does where I live right now (China).
It is silly to suggest that someone is avoiding a writing assignment purely because they don’t have the time. Let’s get serious, these people avail themselves of this service because they want to get good grades without putting in the work. It is the same thing as asking someone to cut my lawn for me. I make 50 bucks an hour so I can afford to pay someone else to do the job for me.
The only catch is, that no one can learn for you and if the assignment is designed to provide a learning experience then the teaching process is subverted. Papers do more than act as assessment tools. They have many other important purposes as well.
To me this service sounds like crack cocaine. Use it once and you are hooked because subsequent papers can’t be allowed to fall below the writing standards of the “purchased paper”.
And what about all the unfortunate students who can’t afford this service and are graded against these papers? Well, pity the poor student that must be graded on a curve.
You are right, this service will change education, but I hate that this guy makes himself out as some kind of savior when all he has done is provide another service for people to convert cash into a desired product. Welcome to the commodification of education.
July 12, 2007 at 2:33 pm
leighblackall
strong argument Mike, but hopefully there are still enough people inside the education system with a social conciousness like yours (and mine). Hopefully this service will highlight the the flaws in the commercialisation of education and not just pressure us to change our assessment methodology (including learning through assessment – formative), but the very way we facilitate and manage education for society… thanks for the sobering comment
July 12, 2007 at 6:38 pm
James Neill
leigh, of course i don’t mean this blog is plagiarism – the sources are cited.
and i mean ‘great stuff’ bec. you’re raising the issue in the context of the commentary it makes on ‘banking education’ [how to hyperlink? http://faculty.dwc.edu/wellman/Friere.htm%5D – it is a phenomenon that isn’t talked about enough honestly – cheating and plagiarism is more common than most realise – this is part of the hidden curriculum
i would urge you to rethink the title, though, that’s my point – using such services and submitting as your own work (rightly or wrongly) is still plagiarism
btw i don’t see the add on your site yet?
July 12, 2007 at 9:13 pm
dreamer
read this plagiarism blog. http://dreamerbigmoney.blogspot.com/2007/06/blog-plagiarism.html
July 13, 2007 at 3:20 am
OLDaily[中文版] » Blog Archive » 2007年7月11日
[…] Leigh Blackall, Learn Online July 11, 2007 [原文链接] [Tags: Cheating, Experience, Web Logs] [参与讨论] […]
July 13, 2007 at 3:59 am
One small step for man » Blog Archive » Cheating: an arms race between students and faculty
[…] delivered online exam (I am assuming the typical multiple choice timed exams.) Then today I found It’s not plagiarism it’s an easy essay where the Easy Essay folks purport to offer essays that will not be detected by […]
July 13, 2007 at 5:38 am
Gary Pandolfi
The initial argument, that students using this service now have time to pursue courses pertinent to their career choice is fine for those who know at 18 what they want to do, but not for those exploring career paths.
This line of reasoning speaks more to distribution requirements in university programs. I had none at Hamilton when I was a student in the seventies. I took courses I was interested in and didn’t take any science or math in college. I sometimes regret that, but I had significant exposure to these subjects in high school.
Opportunities that challenge students to be thoughtful, more thoughtful than they otherwise would be, have merit.
July 13, 2007 at 6:24 am
And He Blogs » links for 2007-07-12
[…] It’s not plagiarism, it’s an easy essay « Learn Online (tags: plagiarism assessment writing turnitin) […]
July 13, 2007 at 11:44 am
Cameron Nichol
It’s bollocks really. The guy is out to make a buck, the rest is rationalisation.
July 14, 2007 at 3:04 am
Ellen
God bless you, Mike and Cameron, for speaking the truth! As someone who teaches writing at the college level and has done so for years, I must confess that this plagiarism service thoroughly disgusts me, morally and pedagogically, and renews my resolve to design written assignments for my students that they will not be able to delegate out to a hired pen. I’ll have them do more in-class writing that will enable me to get a sense of their own authentic voices and writing strengths/weaknesses. I’ll have them do drafting of their essays. I’ll craft assignments that build on previous work done in class or in groups, and I’ll continue to create interesting assignments that will challenge my students to articulate and develop their own original ideas and take pride in their own work. Those who establish these plagiarism services are among the worst sort of self-justifying, opportunistic, bottom-sucking leeches.
July 14, 2007 at 10:42 am
leighblackall
Hi Ellen, some good ideas there.. apart from your first and last sentence. I hope you don’t/won’t take this level of emotional response to ‘your’ students, and decide just by the existence of this type of service that ‘your’ students (or the world) are all cheats and plagiarists and that you are the only righteous defender of their moral pathway! I hope you’ll consider more the pressures that may push people into using these types of services, and the ways we (the gate keepers) in education might try to ease those pressures and not simply compound them. Anyway, thanks for the ideas for improving the relevance of essay writing for those who value it as a quality learning exercise.
July 15, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Samuel Mann
“The very existence of custom writing services shows that educational system is imperfect: assessment tools are not objective”
This comment is bizarre, it may be a longish bow but is it the same as “anyone who gets away with murder shows that life is not precious”? I don’t think that a service such as this can be even remotely justified.
I agree with Merrolee, while the exact form of the essay may not be replicated in professions, the ability to coherently present an argument (with evidence etc) is critical in every profession. I think the essay is a fine tool in the kit for developing these skills.
BTW, my only essay is one where students are asked to respond to a series of industry speakers. Don’t get me started on plagiarism in code…
July 17, 2007 at 8:38 am
Rene Meijer
I think there’s 2 completely different issues here:
First of all there is the validity of essays as an assessment tool. While I think they are certainly overrated, overused and usually very poorly delivered, I do not think they are useless. Someone’s critical thinking is rather wasted if it isn’t combined with the ability to express that thinking. If the learner has any sort of ambition to climb the corporate (or other) ladder, writing reports and proposals will be something they do regularly. So as long as essay assignments are given some sort of relevant subject and format, I think they are a very valid form of assessment.
The second point is the validity of a service like this. And personally, I don’t care how service providers attempt to rationalize this, but it is just morally wrong to provide a service in this way as it is obviously designed to let people cheat. The audacity to claim that the objective here is to transform education baffles me. If you really want to change education, I could think of a million other and better ways of doing it then by making money out of helping people cheat. I have no respect for anyone in this line of business whatsoever.
July 17, 2007 at 9:39 am
leighblackall
G’day Rene, morality aside for the time being – I’d be interested to hear your response to Mikes July 12 comment.. the notion that this service is simply offering an outsourcing avenue.. combined with the argument by the provider that this frees up time for a student to continue study in an area of more relevance. Given that you accept that a large amount of assessment through essay is poorly done – perhaps the student who also sees that makes the decision to outsource. So back to the moral issue – is it over all morally wrong? Is a student who uses this service to outsource what they see as a waste of time assignment so that they can concentrate on a more relevant assignment.. is that simply cheating, or obtaining the “edge” in corporate style.. sure! it is a form of cheating – but a different form, possibly a more productive one?
July 17, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Rene Meijer
Hi Leigh,
I think the main point here is that it is not up to the student to decide on the outsourcing. The degree that they are awarded is meant to represent the university’s appreciation of a learners abilities and accomplishments, not the learner’s appreciation. As such the university has the right to name the conditions and circumstances in which it wants to award that degree.
A degree is only worth what society thinks it represents. If we start undermining that link by falsifying assessments, degrees will loose their value altogether. If anyone is of the opinion that the degree represents the wrong values, a notion I woudl certainly support in many cases, then that should be the subject of an open debate where this transparency is not lost. Resorting to cheating on the other hand muddies the waters, as it takes away that transparency. It results in degrees representing a mixture of your abilities and how much money you had to spend on outsourcing your learning.
Because that is what you are doing, you are outsourcing your learning. That to me is a contradictio in terminiis. Learning, by definition, is something you have to do yourself. And yes, assessment is part of learning, not seperate from it.
July 18, 2007 at 9:27 am
Bligter - will it make my blogging easier? « Sean’s Emerging…
[…] This feels somehow related to Leigh’s post about customised essay writing services. Although there’s no deceptiveness involved here, and there’s no plagiarism as full […]
July 20, 2007 at 9:32 am
Chris
This was really interesting. As a student myself I can understand why someone would be tempted with this service. Sure, it can be a struggle to get the work done sometimes, but without a challange how would I ever grow?
I honestly don’t feel like I should be doing essays in my design course, but without them I would be in a poorer place now.
July 20, 2007 at 10:07 am
Mark
This to me seems like a computer virus, as much as you would hate the virus itself, you have to appreciate it later for showing the vunerability in your system.
I can imagine if you could outsource your driver’s license test, they would fix that issue immediately!
He does bring up some a valid point about the relevance of this type of learning for everybody, but why not use that big brain of his to invent a solution, rather than just profit from the problem? He supposedly has a network of clever thinkers at his disposal, what a waste!
August 8, 2007 at 12:00 am
Andrew McCann
Maybe there was a transcription error? But any service that would ‘craft’ the following train wreck wouldn’t get my money:
“Yes, the papers we provide are plagiarism free – neither TurnItIn, nor any other plagiarism detecting software cannot find any plagiarism.”
Not sure what the fuss is all about. Sure, the idea of PhDs in India writing Economics papers for students dismayed to find themselves in a ‘writing intensive’ course is depressing. Although perhaps the profs would be, in a perverse way, happier! Imagine reading 25 sparklingly original essays vs…
I was an undergrad in the late 80s and early 90s. The back of Rolling Stone magazine was filled with companies like this one. Sounds like he’s doing really well if he’s paying $25/month for links on (high traffic) blogs.
Or was it all a hoax?
August 8, 2007 at 9:21 am
leighblackall
Great comment Andrew. I too remember some of the more nerdy students in my lectures writing essays for pay.. perhaps this was all just a hoax! I haven’t heard from them since this post, and it has certainly generated a lot of attention…
October 10, 2007 at 10:27 am
Derric
Chek out this article: http://www.customwritings.com/non-plagiarized-essay.html
October 14, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Angela
Why in the world are you giving those dirtbags backlinks without nofollow tags? You do realize that you are improving their rank in search engines, right? You are helping them to reach more kids. Please remove the hyperlinks or attach the nofollow tag to them.
As a teacher, I would surely appreciate it.
By the way, the post from “Derric” is nothing but SPAM from another term paper mill.
October 15, 2007 at 5:03 pm
metamorphallic
I was doing a bit of research looking at some other essay writing sites and this is the fifth link to the search “easy essay” as relayed by Google… so Angela is correct that you are providing a free service for them and enhancing their traffic. So if you morally support this then you should take the money lol but if your opinion has swayed at all and you’re against it then you should probably remove the links. I have never cheated in this manner and think it demeans education but carry a certain amount of respect for a good hustle. I can just imagine rich snotty kids cheating their way through life and looking smug and that’s a bit disheartening.
October 16, 2007 at 8:09 am
Derric
Hello Angela!
May be you are thinking that I’m post my article and forgot about this blog forever…so you are wrong! I’m very happy that you are thinking about me so good, please rechek your opinion and if you have more questions about me or my posts write down more about this
November 24, 2007 at 7:21 pm
Angela
Hey, Derric, your trashy link now has NOFOLLOW.
🙂
Way to go, moderator!
March 3, 2008 at 7:18 am
Suresh
I have learnt something new from your site. Thank you. I’m Math Teacher working in a school. I need students to take online tuition.
December 30, 2008 at 1:29 am
Rene’s Assessment » Essays and plagiarism
[…] it was with some curiosity and expectations that I started reading It’s not plagiarism, it’s an easy essay on the Learn Online blog, where an interview was posted with a provider of an online essay writing […]
May 6, 2009 at 1:10 am
david
Hello what a great blog
May 6, 2009 at 1:11 am
George
what a great style. Very informative one, I hope you will continue your research.
I will even buy essay on this subject.
Thanks
May 10, 2009 at 11:57 am
faizaatif
Choosing An Online Plagiarism Detector To Check For Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a growing problem in academia and the work place. The internet has made it easy for nearly anyone to copy written material and pass it off as their own work. Because of the legal and ethical dilemmas associated with plagiarism, plagiarism checking software is now readily available. With so many online plagiarism detectors, choosing one may seem like an overwhelming task, but it can be easy if you know what you’re looking for.
You can also find more details and services about plagiarism at here:
In depth plagiarism checking service
Thanks
September 2, 2009 at 11:20 am
bookwormlab
Well, sounds good… it better work as it sounds )
Promotion Paper
September 2, 2009 at 11:21 am
bookwormlab
Promotion Paper
October 4, 2009 at 10:16 pm
narrative_essay
It’s a great blog, thanks author!
October 24, 2009 at 7:13 am
faheem
a great article many things to learn from it http://www.learningquranonline.com
January 12, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Chelsea
Great blog!
Just a question though….is Andrew’s last name Schwartz or Schwatz? You say “A week ago I was contacted by Andrew Schwatz from Custom Writing.” in your blog, but say
“July 11, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Leigh
This? or it is still plagiarism? This (this blog post) is fair dinkim. Its an actual interview via email with an Andrew Schwartz.”
in a reply to a comment.
Just wondering what his name was, thanks!