OK, so this is probably not the most ethical thing I've ever contemplated: the other night, I was grading student papers and I suspected that an essay I was reading was plagiarized. I popped onto the internet and visited a couple of sites that sell term papers, to see if I could locate it. I've never had any luck with this anti-plagiarism technique, though other faculty claim they have been able to catch students cheating this way.
I was at a site called AcaDemon, and as I was browsing its extensive collection of "research aids," I realized that term papers sell for a lot of money. And then I thought, "Hey! What a way to make an extra buck!" I was delayed in my grading for a good ten minutes as I read up on how to submit materials to the AcaDemon site.
I'm still mulling it over. Right now I am enjoying the fantasy that I receive a paper I know is plagiarized...because I wrote it! "You get an F, you little cheater!" I would cry triumphantly. "And, no, I will not refund your money!"
This is not the first time I've been tempted to supplement my meager teaching stipend by turning to a life of crime. My department uses a portfolio system, which means that at the end of every semester all the comp students turn in their two best essays and two faculty members who are not their teachers decide whether they pass or fail. The pass rate is currently very low: 64% last semester. I've considered plastering the student hangouts around campus with signs reading, "Writing 122 instructor guarantees passing essays! Complete portfolio $75! All materials to fake writing process from formulating thesis through peer review draft and final revisions, $150!"
I'm excited about AcaDemon, though; with a nationwide, instead of merely local, market, I could make a lot of money selling the same papers more than once.
Of course, the trick would be to write badly enough to look authentically freshman-like. The reason I suspected plagiarism the other night was that the writing was much more polished and sophisticated than your run-of-the-mill community college first-year student generally produces. The obvious solution to this problem, modifying papers my students turn in, is clearly over the line.
Unless I cut them in on a share of the take....
Posted by Su Penn at April 6, 2003 10:40 PM | TrackBack