Students get academics to write their essays for €50 an hour

According to some educational institutions, plagiarism is no longer their biggest problem. It is the issue of external people writing essays and other papers for students that are very troublesome for colleges and universities. It seems that today’s educators face another form of academic fraud, caused by sudden increase in a number of internet services offering prompt essay writing services. As a result, universities revise their policies of plagiarism detection and anti-plagiarism combat policies. At the same time, educators agree that the rise of the internet has provoked new challenges, one of which is the proliferation of internet services offering “pay as you go” essay writing services.

It seems that today’s educators face another form of academic fraud, caused by sudden increase in a number of internet services offering prompt essay writing services. As a result, universities revise their policies of plagiarism detection and anti-plagiarism combat policies. At the same time, educators agree that the rise of the internet has provoked new challenges, one of which is the proliferation of internet services offering “pay as you go” essay writing services.

Many students use websites offering essay writing services where they post ads for freelance writers to write their essays and papers. The rate begins at €50 an hour. The service is really popular with the students. For example, a student offers €560-€700 for a 4,000 words paper (nearly 15 hours work).

People working at these services say that demand for essay writing services has been increasing in the recent years. The websites of essay writing services refer to themselves as academic assistance services and say they do not support plagiarism. They charge €150-€600 for a paper depending on the level and word count. At the same time, these companies state that their work should not be used for educational goals and that they do not approve any kind of plagiarism.

In return to this new threat, colleges and universities turn to new kinds of plagiarism test and teacher plagiarism checker services. Meanwhile, representative of teaching enhancement units at colleges and universities note that in the modern litigious world it is quite a challenge to provide evidence that someone has plagiarised.

Colleges and universities use software for plagiarism detection, for example, noplag service, which checks each essay. If more than 20% of essay text matches other sources, it raises alarm. In the meantime, the software is used across the university although it is not obligatory. Thanks to this software, it is relatively easy to detect essay writing services.

There are also other kinds of essay checker and college plagiarism checker.

Also, teachers have some pedagogical solutions to fight academic fraud. For example, students have to submit papers and drafts in stages. Also, there are different types of assignments. This approach helps to prevent cheating without using anti-plagiarism software and, at the same time, it is an excellent teaching practice, useful in today’s environment which is highly litigious.

Another kind of such software is SafeAssign which is used for detecting and fighting plagiarism.
However, educators agree that most cases of plagiarism they come across are not intentional, done through inadvertence rather than malice. They point out that in most cases students do not reference in a right manner. That’s why teachers spend a lot of time and efforts to explain to students what plagiarism is.

There is no precise data concerning what students think about the new anti-plagiarism policy. However, the survey conducted n 2011 showed that more than 50% students were less than happy and did not demonstrate any wish to follow the new rules.

The truth is, many students admit to getting other people’s help in completing their assignments.
In the meantime, as essay service providers admit, modern students face a lot of hard, boring and tiring work. That’s why essay writing services providers, referred to “pay as you go”, offer exam grinds and paper grinds. They note that more than half of college grades and learning are made up of constant exams and other forms of assessment. So, it is important that students can get the assistance they need.