Students. Buying. Papers. Online. What a shock! When I first found out about this, I judged them. Why should someone get a good grade the easy way when others try hard and don’t get good grades? Oh, well, it turned out that the issue was a bit deeper than I expected.
Here in Australia, the practice of buying papers online is pretty common. I researched the market to understand how these services worked, and I interviewed students to understand their reasons for cheating. Is it cheating, really?
One of the students I interviewed made me reconsider my initial reaction. He is a highly intelligent person and trust me: you haven’t seen a more committed student. Still, he used Australian Writings service from time to time. It’s not out of laziness. It’s simply because this educational system is getting crazy and the students can’t handle the pressure without getting help with some of the projects.
There are plenty of writing services based in Australia. If you search Google for Australian essay writing services, you’ll get thousands of results. This problem is not localized, though. It’s global. The Guardian exposed the issue through this crazy popular article in 2012.
So, these services Google leads you to… are they all good? How do you choose the perfect one? Are the papers worth the money? Do students regret ordering papers?
Oh, I had a lot of questions. As I said, the issue turned out to be more complex than I first realized.
Why Students Use Writing Services
This was my main dilemma. Why do you need them? If you got into university, doesn’t that mean you’re good enough to cope with the challenges?
The student I talked to didn’t want me to reveal his name, so let’s call him Peter. I asked him to give me the reason why he decided to use a writing service for the first time.
“I was at the beginning of my studies, so you can guess how extreme the pressure was. For someone who just graduated from high school and spent an entire summer surfing, a new college assignment doesn’t come easy. I tried. It didn’t work. But then I asked around and found out that some of my group mates used assignment writing services and their impressions were rather controversial. Some of them thought these services saved their academic life, others were disappointed and got either bad grades or cheater’s reputation. However, after my professor asked for more creativity in my assignments, I didn’t know how to be creative within the limits of academic writing. That’s when I first decided to use a writing service.”
There, we see a problem: no one teaches students how to write an essay or any other type of academic assignment before assigning one. I have to emphasize this issue! It’s no wonder why students lack the confidence and skills for academic writing.
“So the deadline was approaching and I had no other choice. I knew other students were ordering essays online. I read about that on Reddit. I did a small research, read few reviews, and found a service that seemed just perfect. It was easy to place the order. The writer did a good job, so I kept ordering papers from the same service whenever I needed them.”
At the beginning, Peter’s main reason to order a paper was lack of skills. Why did he keep buying content online?
“Surprisingly, using a writing service helped me improve my writing skills a tiny bit. I’m able to write better thanks to the tips and examples I got from professional writers. However, even when you’re a decent writer, you can’t meet all deadlines.”
After the interview with Peter and other students, I identified these as the most common reasons for ordering papers online:
•They don’t know how to write.
•They don’t understand what the professor expects.
•The topics are too boring.
•There’s not enough time to write several papers with strict deadlines.
•Some students prefer not to try.
•Many students have to get high grades because they don’t want to lose the scholarship. They have to study harder and write better. Under all that pressure, it’s easy to crack.
The biggest reason, however, is that most students focus on the external reward – the grade. They don’t realize how important academic writing is for any career they plan to pursue. They don’t realize that each essay leads to development of critical and creative thinking skills, so they don’t bother paying much attention to the assignments.
The Pros: Is There a Good Thing about Hiring a Writing Service?
Yes, there are some pros to it.
•Students can get better grades if they order papers from professional writers.
•If they don’t understand how an academic paper should look like, they will learn through the collaboration with the writer.
•They save time, which they could use for studying.
The Other Side of the Coin; The Negative One
We can’t stay blind to the issue that students are basically cheating when buying papers. Maybe they will get better grades. But, wasn’t education supposed to be about a purpose higher than grades?
These are the main cons of buying papers I could think of:
•If you pick the wrong service, you’ll get scammed. You’ll be left with no money and no paper to submit. Yes, those things happen with some services, so it’s important to spend some time reading reviews before making a choice.
•When buying a paper online, students waste a chance to work on their creativity and problem-solving skills.
•Those students who fail to improve their writing skills will face problems throughout their career journey.
•The good services are expensive. A writer with an MA or PhD wants to charge more for the work. What’s fair to him is expensive to an average student.
•It’s cheating. Although the professor won’t detect plagiarism in a paper you get from a high-quality service, you’re still cheating. That’s against the rules of your university.
I asked Peter if the writing service changed his life in some way. He offered an insightful answer:
“I felt like I had to do it. Yes, the writing service helped me earn better grades. However, it was also a big investment and I was feeling guilty for spending my parents’ money on papers. Although I ordered several papers and things went fine, I still didn’t lose the feeling of paranoia. Will I get it on time? What if it has plagiarism in it? What if the professor finds out? What if he asks me a question and I can’t answer, and he realizes I didn’t write this?”
Does he regret buying papers online?
“Yes, actually, I do. I feel like I wasted the chance to develop important skills. Yes, the writers from the service helped me improve my writing, but I still don’t know how on Earth I will handle the dissertation if I proceed with postgraduate studies. I don’t have enough practice and confidence for such a challenge. I don’t even know how to write my first resume at this point.”
Is It Worth It?
Look, I’m not judging. It’s your studies, your grades, your life after all. I’ve never used writing services throughout my studies. I understand why students need them today. However, this issue is deeper and all students have to think about it carefully.
What about you? How do you feel about you and other students buying papers online?
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