Using Editing Sites
Some paper-writing sites also offer editing services. The student sends them her paper and the site's editors edits it for her. This seems like a reasonable service at first, since the student writes the paper. If the site only marks areas for improvement and gives tips on grammatical corrections to make, then the editors are serving the same purpose as a roommate who is asked to proofread a paper. Of course, most people are unwilling to pay four dollars a page for mere proofreading. It seems more probable that the sites are actually altering the papers they receive for editing. This is closer to co-writing a paper with your roommate than having him proofread it, and for most classes, falls into the category of “unauthorized aid”.
Using a Bought Paper
Buying a paper off a site is not, in itself, unethical, unless one considers that the student buying the paper is supporting a site whose papers are used for unethical purposes. It is obviously unethical for a student to put his name on a paper and submit it as his own if he did not write it, but what if the student buys the paper and uses it for ideas for his own paper? One could argue that simply using the paper for an idea is similar to discussing an idea with another student, which is usually permissible. However, because the paper is a written resource, if the student does not cite the paper as being responsible for some of his ideas, then he is plagiarizing it. If the paper is cited, then it should be treated as any other resource that the student could get from the library. The web-sites that sell these papers usually include a disclaimer that states that the papers they sell must be used as a reference and cited. The following is an example of a disclaimer from a web-site which sells papers: “All research papers are owned by The Paper Store Enterprises, Inc. and are the property of the corporation and our contracted writers. Our work is designed only to assist students in the preparation of their own work. Students who use our service are responsible not only for writing their own papers, but also for citing The Paper Store as a source when doing so.” -www.africanlit.com
A paper written by an unknown source is not the best reference to site in a paper, but it is possible that some students would seek to use the papers for only this purpose.
So far we’ve examined the ethical issues involved with downloading and using a paper. It is also important to look at the ethics of uploading papers. Paper-selling sites rely on people who are willing to sell their papers online. For those sites who write custom papers, they rely on a pool of students and other people who can write a paper on demand. To the students who write these papers, this may seem like simply an easy way to make some money. If you have to write it for a class anyway, why not make something off it, right? The students are clearly giving unauthorized aid to other students, even if they don’t know the student they are aiding.
But
what if the student merely uploads the paper to his web-site?
Perhaps he is proud of it, or perhaps he wants his parents to be able to
read it. Is
that student responsible for another student finding that paper and using it as
his own? The
student who posted it can be considered negligent, but if his intent was not to
promote plagiarism, then he hasn’t really done anything unethical.
Seen in the same light, the student who uploads his paper to a
paper-selling site may intend for it to be used as a reference only.
This seems unlikely because his name is not on it and so the paper
can’t be truly referenced, but it is possible.
Because it is almost impossible to judge intent, it will become
increasing difficult for schools to prosecute students who upload or download
papers from the Internet.