Craig Coulson, the University of Nottingham
29th March 2020
Essay mills and ghostwriting (or ‘contract writing’ as they might prefer) have been a concern of mine for some time. Being able to tell a writer what you want them to research and write in exchange for money, even choosing the grade quality of the final paper, is to me the dark web of Higher Education: a place where the vulnerabilities of students are exploited for financial gain and which could lead to harmful longer-term consequences for those who succumb.
I remember almost ten years ago privately tutoring a postgraduate student who on one occasion showed me a sample of his written work, work that he'd 'written' outside of our lessons. It demonstrated a grasp of English way beyond anything I'd seen him produce whilst I was physically sat with him. Vividly, I recall seeing the phrase 'the monotony and drudgery of...' Naturally, alarm bells started to ring and I suspected the integrity of his work may have been compromised.
It was around that time that I first became aware of essay mills or ghost writers.
Essay mills were motivating factors for helping develop something called the Online Writing Environment with my former colleagues on the Nazarbayev University Foundation-Year Programme (NUFYP) in Kazakhstan. Over the course of three years, we successfully developed, piloted and implemented a cloud-based mechanism and approach into which students would write their projects, store their sources and make notes. One of the ideas behind this was to help students develop a sense of and appreciation for academic integrity and at the same time hinder dishonest practices. It was also designed to facilitate modern online channels of tutor-student communication: tutors could see how students' ideas were developing, how sources were informing their thinking, and understand better how they were approaching writing as a process. (I will be co-authoring a short Nazarbayev University article giving more detail of the Online Writing Environment in the near future).
The notion of ghostwriting services producing and selling essays to students is, to me, wholly unethical. They may claim to warn their student customers that purchased essays should be used as ‘models’ or ‘study aids’, but at prices upwards of £120 per paper, it is highly likely that students, particularly those under financial pressures, would want to gain more from their purchase than just a model. Models that provide guidance, if they want, can easily be found online, and teachers are there to support them in their development of research skills and writing. But of course, with 'high stakes' pressures to produce to standards perceived by some as too difficult to attain, it is easy to see their allure.
In a video by Saskia Hicking called ‘Reading Between the Lines: Exploring the Essay Mill Industry: Short Documentary’ on YouTube, the response provided by a representative from an essay mill was that regulation of the industry is required and that all parties (e.g. educators and students) need to know how their products are used as an academic tool. I for one would love for someone to tell me how stripping back so much of the thinking and application away from students could actually help them. Surely the ‘learn by doing’ element is the whole point of research and writing. That’s how we as humans learn and develop. And within a time where immediate (but short-term) gratification and instant access is now so embedded into our modern society, this really isn’t helping.
To me, the whole argument pitched by essay mills simply does not stack up and starts to unravel with their guarantees of 'plagiarism free' essays. What is the real subtext behind the promotion of this claim? In the support section of one essay mill website, they promise that Turnitin will not pick anything up. Why then, if their essays are not designed to be submitted by students, would its detection by Turnitin matter so much? The real reason, as most of us would probably agree, is that they will be submitted by students and though Fair Use policies may exist which touch on this point, they aren’t always located front and centre on their websites.
If such companies see their products as supportive tools for students, then why don't they submit their written essays to the Turnitin database repository before giving them to their student customers? Surely, doing this and making a visible effort to inform website visitors about their policy, would act as a deterrent to those considering submitting paid-for essays as their own.
But then if essay mills, ghost writers or ‘contract writers’ put into place such practices, I wonder how many students would still use their services, particularly as a 'learning aid'.
The takeaway for us as educators, especially at the time of writing with the momentous drive to move teaching online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is that we continue to do what we can to support students, discourage dishonest practices and be vigilant. For many of us, this new way of working may present new challenges as we potentially become more ‘socially distant’ from our students. With a lack of face-to-face contact and organic community building, I worry that the temptation by students to use ghost writing companies and the belief that they may get away with it could grow. That is why we need to try and build community spirit, make students feel involved, and strengthen our efforts to show them that we are there to help and that they should be encouraged – not afraid - to seek support and guidance from us when they need it. Through an awareness of our students’ needs despite the challenges distance presents, and through well-thought out systems and approaches such as the Online Writing Environment, I believe we can use I.T. to help us facilitate this and steer students away from feeling the need to outsource their work.