Need a report on the Civil War? That’ll be $44. How about a 10-page paper on the effects of global warming? That’s $60, please. Papers carefully laying out the ethical theories behind any number of topics will cost you even more.
Term papers doled out from Internet Web sites are becoming increasingly problematic for universities around the country. For a fee, in some cases as little as $3 a page, students can order complete essays just by accessing the Web.
There are hundreds of papers floating around out there, including “Themes of Sex and the Human Mind” and “The Effects of Quantum Chaos.” For $15 a page, students can even order a customized term paper on the topic of their choice written by professionals specializing in that subject.
“Students who don’t want to do the work have always found ways to get out of doing it; this is just the newest way,” said Kathryn Hochstetler, a political science professor at Colorado State University.
Last year, two students from the University of Denver were caught using papers from the Internet after their professor went online and found very similar papers for sale. Both students were put on probation.
Professors are aware of papers available on the Internet and, ironically, are using the Web to combat the problem. Instructors find two Web sites particularly helpful, Hochstetler said.
“Student Term Paper Web Sites” and “Plagiarism Websource Alert” list more than 40 additional Web sites offering term papers on a variety of subjects. Professors also access a list provided by Duke University’s Center of Academic Integrity to find even more papers available from Internet paper mills.
Also effective, Hochstetler said, is the “grapevine” system of communication professors use to keep up with the newest Internet mills.
The fate of Internet paper mills is being tested in the courts. Last month, Boston University filed suit against several companies with hopes of getting a court order barring them from doing business in that state.
Some of the companies included in the lawsuit are A-Plus Termpapers of Jersey City, N.Y.; A-1 Termpapers of West Chester, Pa.; The Paper Store Enterprises Inc. of Jackson, N.J.; and paperz.com of San Antonio.
A-1 offers 20,000 pre-written term papers at a range of prices. Custom documents cost up to $35 a page, plus shipping. The Paper Store, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offers essays for $12 a page and will send them by e-mail or federal mail. They also offer an emergency option if an essay is needed within 48 hours.
Paper mill companies should not be allowed to operate anywhere, said Colorado State University instructor Heather Urschel.
“It encourages plagiarism, and it goes against everything education is about,” she said.
Most of the term-paper Web sites carry disclaimers encouraging students to use papers for research, not as original material.
“I believe if students use the papers for research and cite where they got the paper from, then the Web sites are all right,” said Colorado State freshman Crystal Presnell. “But as far as using the papers as your own work (goes), that is wrong.”
