| torchwood1981 |
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Nov 7, 08, 06:48PM
| #1 |
Joined: Nov 7, 08
Posts: 2
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Hi guys
I was wondering if someone could help me a little. Is using essay services considered plagiarism? I would say yes and am totally against cheating due to wanting to uphold the integrity of academic studies, however......i recently started an Msc and became bewildered with one particular academic essay regarding strict critical analysis. I have always been ok with essays, but someone still miss the whole critical part so I searched various terms on google such as essay help, support etc. I found essaywriter as the top answer and decided what the hell, id approach them to write the piece (going against all my morals). I intended to use it honestly by basing my work upon theirs in order to support the structure of my own work, for guidelines. I know some students actually try to pass the work off as their own which is plagiarism really.
Anyway, stupidly enough i am at one of the top uk universities and my course convenor is aware someone off the course of 40 people has approached them - they admit they monitor these sites due to this growing issue. I am obviously not going to base anything on the work at all as they will clearly find out who i am, and il be chuked off the course and never work again!! What worries me is not the fact i lose £300 but that my uni will someone find out who i am due to the name and email and catch me anyway!!
How protected is my identity as i used real name on the order, my credit card etc. Will the lecturer posing as a writer be able to catch me out. I have never done anything like this before and never will again as im scared ive screwed up and they know who i am.
What are your thoughts will they be able to find out my details and expel me. Can i get the service to delete my details etc?
Cheers
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| exwriter |
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Nov 7, 08, 11:52PM
| #2 |
Joined: Nov 5, 08
Threads: 4
Posts: 289
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My advice would be to check the essay you have paid for and see of you can find the same resources that the writer used in the piece. If these are available to you either electronically or in paper form you can these access these yourself and decide how to use these in your own piece.
If you use the paper you bought for ideas only and develop those ideas in your own style etc then you should be ok. Whoever wrote the paper for you would have had to have access to the sources quoted so it is likely that these saem sources are available globally. this would mean that if you hadn't approached one of these companies you might feasibly have found these sources from your own initiative.
By no means hand this in as your own work as this will be what the lecturer is looking for. using the ideas in the essay would not be considered plagiarism if you accessed the same sources and then did your own interpretation of the article accessed. remember to properly cite the pieces you have accessed and if they are internet based include the date on which you actually went on that site. using a pre- written essay in this manner is no different to consulting a model answer. if the sources quoted are easily accessible to you and it is obvious from the content of your work that you have read those sources then the lecturer could not accuse you of plagiarism. developping the ideas in the essay you bought and adding your own interpretation shows that you were only using this as a guideline.
alternatively if there was more than one question you could do for your course (and there usually is) you could do an entirely different question and then there is no way you could be accused of using an essay writing service.
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| JenniferAA |
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Nov 8, 08, 05:42AM
| #3 |
Joined: Oct 30, 08
Threads: 1
Posts: 122
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Also, TW, essay companies don't usually pass on your real name or any of your personal details to their writers.
Might be worth checking your uni terms and conditions as to whether essay companies can be used - but as exwriter said, if you don't hand in the work but instead use it as a guide and do the work yourself, they'd be hard pushed to accuse you of plagairism.
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| exwriter |
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Nov 8, 08, 06:49AM
| #4 |
Joined: Nov 5, 08
Threads: 4
Posts: 289
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JenniferAA: Also, TW, essay companies don't usually pass on your real name or any of your personal details to their writers.
Sounds like your almost saying that it doesn't matter if he hands it in as his own as the writer wouldn't know the customers identity.
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| torchwood1981 |
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Nov 8, 08, 08:53AM
| #5 |
Joined: Nov 7, 08
Posts: 2
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Thanks for your comments much appreciated. I'm too petrified to pass it off as my own work as risk losing my place at uni. Im still stunned that these services exist - there seem to be hundreds if not thousands around - are they not considered types of fraud?
Im surprised they are legally allowed to exist if people do pass it off as their own work. Like ex writer said i think they are good for model answers but i do feel it is now a rip off. I paid £270 for the piece, which is good but not as critical as i had hoped. Also because my lecturer or someone who knows my course structure posed on the site as a "writer", they stated they were only offered £100 so in fact these sites are making a huge profit which is not being passed onto the writers.
May i ask how and why you become a freelance writer for these sites? And if you are lecturers yourselves what are your thoughts of these sites in general.
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| exwriter |
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Nov 8, 08, 09:20AM
| #6 |
Joined: Nov 5, 08
Threads: 4
Posts: 289
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torchwood1981: May i ask how and why you become a freelance writer for these sites? And if you are lecturers yourselves what are your thoughts of these sites in general.
I initially joined up with UKessays in the mistaken belief that these essays were being sold to universities as model answers. Indeed the first email I had from this company purported to be associated with birmingham university. I had no reason to doubt that the essays would be used in this way especially since I had previously written model answers for colleges and universities.
When I discovered that students were using these sites and passing them off as their own work I was annoyed at having been conned into believing that the work would not be used in this manner. I found out that these were being used in this way through an email from the quality department which stated that the customer had complained that the essay did not get the requested grade. It was obvious that the essay had therefore been submitted without alteration otherwise the customer would not have been able to claim that the essay did not get the required grade if they had altered the paper into their own words.
I did what any reputable person would do and quit and now only assist with proof reading and editing services as well as online tuition in some cases. I find this rewarding morally and am happy not to be associated with assisting a student to cheat to succeed.
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| whitegrim |
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Nov 8, 08, 09:25AM
| #7 |
Joined: Oct 2, 08
Threads: 5
Posts: 87
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You have to look at something more legitimate in these sites. Most of the times you will get a lot of help from this forum as nearly all the sites are discussed here... Most of the members in this forum are freelancers as well and have experience with some sites and will help you in taking any decision about your project etc.
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| JenniferAA |
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Nov 8, 08, 06:42PM
| #8 |
Joined: Oct 30, 08
Threads: 1
Posts: 122
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EW, do you have a copy of that first mail? I haven't been with the Company from day 1 so I'd be interested to read it.
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| exwriter |
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Nov 9, 08, 12:04AM
| #9 |
Joined: Nov 5, 08
Threads: 4
Posts: 289
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JenniferAA: EW, do you have a copy of that first mail? I haven't been with the Company from day 1 so I'd be interested to read it
I very much doubt it since this was probably 3 years ago that I received it. I quit your company quite some time ago and started my own legitimate business not as a writer.
Due to the way that the email was worded i passed this to several of my friends and colleagues who also started writing for your company also believing these were model answers for universities. These friends have also quit mostly due to ethically issues although some have simply not got the time to do it anymore and others had issues regarding the fines, and the way they were treated by the company as a whole.
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