Ninth Level Ireland

Abstract: Contract cheating services are marketing to students at discipline level, using increasingly sophisticated techniques. The discipline level reach of these services has not been widely considered in the academic integrity literature. Much of the academic understanding of contract cheating is not discipline specific, but the necessary solutions to this problem may need to vary by discipline. This paper reviews current knowledge about contract cheating services at the discipline level, including summarising four studies that rank the relative volume of contract cheating within different academic disciplines. The reviewed studies show high volumes of contract cheating transactions in the disciplines of Business and Computing. Examples of discipline level contract cheating research and service advertising are provided. The main contribution of the paper is an analysis of the discipline level reach by contract cheating services as seen through an analysis of Google search results from the United Kingdom. This analysis of 19 discipline groups uses measures of organic search engine results, paid results and competition. Three discipline groups are shown as currently being heavily exploited by essay mills; these are: (1) Architecture, Building and Planning, (2) Computer Science and (3) Law. In addition, the discipline group of Creative Arts and Design is shown to be at risk of future exploitation. The paper recommends that academics are made aware about continual change in the contract cheating industry including the involved marketing taking place at discipline level. The paper concludes with a call to action for academia to develop discipline specific solutions to contract cheating.

Lancaster, T, Academic Discipline Integration by Contract Cheating Services and Essay Mills. Journal of Academic Ethics (2020), doi:10.1007/s10805-019-09357-x. Published: 7 January 2020.

“Drivetime‘s John Cooke talks to students in UL about exam mills, and Deirdre Stritch, programme manager with QQI, talks to Mary about the new rules that have been introduced to clamp down on academic cheating …” (mp3)

[RTÉ – Drivetime, 18 November]

“A legal crackdown on the growing number of services writing essays or other assignments for third-level students is under way. New anti-cheating laws came into effect last week making it an offence either to provide or advertise cheating services or to publish adverts promoting such services …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 15 November]

“Academic cheating using online ‘essay mills’ is posing a significant threat to the integrity of higher education, the State body responsible for policing standards in third level has warned. International research indicates there has been a sharp rise in written-to-order essays and dissertations, with as many as one in seven graduates admitting to paying someone to undertake an assignment for them …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 14 November]

“PayPal is to stop providing services to essay mills – it is really good news. However, it is but one small step on the road to addressing this malign and corrosive influence on higher education …” (more)

[Paul Greatrix, Wonkhe, 8 April]

“News in today’s Guardian that ‘US essay mill firm targets new students through WhatsApp’ does not really surprise me – I’m sure essay mills have many clever ways to attract the attention of students who choose not to write their own essays. What does surprise me is the price, it is £7 per page (just over €8) …” (more)

[Careful With That Axe, Eugene, 8 April]

“Websites offering bespoke essays to those in third level education are to be made illegal. New laws are being introduced to make cheating more difficult for students who are ‘gaming the system’. It will also be an offence if a person or company advertises the provision of these essay mill services …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 29 October]

“New research on plagiarism at university has revealed students are surprisingly unconcerned about a practice known as ‘contract cheating’. The term ‘contract cheating’ was coined in 2006, and describes students paying for completed assessments. At that time, concerns over the outsourcing of assessments were in their infancy, but today, contract cheating is big business …” (more)

[Jedidiah Evans, The Conversation, 18 October]

“A campaign to outlaw essay mills in the UK has been running for a few months and 17 October marks the international day of action against contract cheating …” (more)

[Fanni Zombor, Wonkhe, 16 October]

“More than 40 university chiefs are reported to have written to the education secretary calling for a ban on so-called ‘essay mills’. The vice-chancellors have called for companies who offer essay-writing services to be made illegal amid fears they are undermining the integrity of degree courses …” (more)

[Guardian, 27 September]

“The British government has been urged to outlaw essay writing services that allow university students to pay for coursework for their degrees, after a study found that use of ‘contract cheating’ is rapidly increasing around the world. The study by Prof Philip Newton at Swansea University’s medical school collected evidence from surveys taken among students in higher education …” (more)

[Richard Adams, Guardian, 31 August]

“I’ve written here quite a few times now, including most recently here but also here, about the corrosive effect of the profiteering essay mill industry and the growing threat it represents to the integrity of UK higher education …” (more)

[Paul Greatrix, Wonkhe, 14 August]

“Ghost-writing academic work is nothing new but until relatively recently it was out of reach of most students. Now essay mills have started rolling on an industrial scale. Their sophisticated websites offer production of a whole range of assignments up to and including dissertations and theses. If required, a typical undergraduate essay, on pretty much any topic, can be turned around in less than 24 hours …” (more)

[Jon Scott, Guardian, 13 June]

“An online essay mill that claimed to provide a ‘guaranteed grade, every time’ has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for ‘misleading’ statements on its website. In what has been hailed as a ‘landmark ruling’, the advertising watchdog upheld two complaints about UK Essays lodged by the Quality Assurance Agency …” (more)

[Jack Grove, Times Higher Education, 21 March]

“Many readers may have heard whisper of companies that offer a range of writing services – some more ethical than others. Although some companies offer to edit and polish writing, others can write PhD research proposals, masters’ theses, or even a dissertation …” (more)

[Retraction Watch, 22 February]

“According to a recent UK Government-backed review, academics are topping up their earnings by writing for ‘essay mill’ sites which help students to cheat in their assignments. SA Mills was one of those academics and recounts the experience here; offering an insight into the allure of such opportunities for those either out of work or in precarious positions, as well as the transactional nature of working for these services and with their clients …” (more)

[LSE Impact of Social Sciences, 12 December]

“Notwithstanding the rejection of an amendment to the UK’s Higher Education and Research Bill that would have outlawed ‘cheating services’, political and public concern about essay mills remains at a historic high …” (more)

[Stuart Macdonald, Times Higher Education, 25 May]

“Richard Bruton, Minister for Education and Skills, has identified a problem that few others considered as such: ‘unfair’ essay mills, whereby students buy their written academic work online. Leaving aside the fact that there is little evidence – either anecdotally or seriously – to indicate that essay mills are indeed a problem large enough to distort student outcomes, this seems like yet another example of the government diverting our attention away from more important concerns …” (more)

[University Times, 21 May]

“Sir, – The Minister for Education speaks of the need to legislate to stamp out cheating by the use of ‘essay mills’ that sell essays on demand (‘Bruton outlines bill to tackle cheating in education system’, May 15th). Trinity College Dublin does not share the Minister’s concern. Trinity admit students to study law, of all things, on the basis of an essay whose author is unknown …” (more)

[John McAvoy, Irish Times, 18 May]

“The Education Minister is looking to clamp down on ‘essay mills’ that are selling work to third-level students. It will be made an offence under new draft laws aimed at cutting down on cheating in higher education …” (more)

[Fionnuala Jones, Newtalk, 15 May]