This guy has written over 5,000 pages of scholarly material-all for others. Wow.

[proof]

This guy has written over 5,000 pages of scholarly material--all for others. Wow.

in the past year.

http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329

:-( does this bother any of you?

 

[Newtime]

in the past year.

http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329

:-( does this bother any of you?

I wasn't too suprised by any of it (cheating is everywhere) until I got to the part about him writing an entire thesis for someone else. That's pretty absurd in a few different ways...

 

[jbunniii]

Pretty amazing on so many levels. I wonder if he can do science papers, and if so, which subjects are most amenable to his self-described bullsh-t artistry.

Math is apparently beyond his domain:

As long as it doesn't require me to do any math or video-documented animal husbandry, I will write anything.

 

[Farmergregor]

I'm fairly apathetic towards others cheating. I guess I have faith in the idea that their inadequacy in their given field will come back to haunt them. Still, the idea that he is writing entire thesis papers for graduate students is chilling.

I wonder if his type of service is abused in the math/physics/engineering fields. I'd imagine a thesis that is based around mathematics would be hard to BS.

 

[Pengwuino]

The thing I'm wondering is how do the thesis actually get by the people that are suppose to review them!??! There has to be a difference between a student who has been doing something like sociology for 4-6 years and a good writer that only spent a few weeks writing on the subject.

I've even written pharmaceutical-treatment courses, for patients who I hope were hypothetical.

OH LORD! :P

 

[Andy Resnick]

in the past year.

http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329

:-( does this bother any of you?

I don't have any essay component to my classes, so not much of this affects my classes. What bothers me isn't the student cheating per se, but the shadow scholar's attitude toward education:

"They need help learning and, separately, they need help passing their courses. But they aren't getting it."

"I'm tired of helping you make your students look competent."

"How dispiriting to find out that college was just another place where grades were grubbed, competition overshadowed personal growth, and the threat of failure was used to encourage learning."

I understand he was an unhappy student, saw a money-making opportunity, and went for it. I don't blame his desire to make money doing something he is good at. Besides, this sort of activity has been going on for a looooong time- and that's not counting Division I athletes having someone else take their exams:

http://www.science.smith.edu/exer_sci/ESS200/Ed/Yeager.htm

But he can't blame me for not educating my students when he short-circuits the mechanism by which I can determine which student is learning the material and which one is not.

 

[Dembadon]

...

But he can't blame me for not educating my students when he short-circuits the mechanism by which I can determine which student is learning the material and which one is not.

Excellent point, Andy. He's exacerbating a problem that has roots which run much deeper than simply having poor instruction.

 

[Mathnomalous]

5000 pages in a year is approximately 20 pages per workday (8hrs), assuming 252 workdays in a 365 day year, no vacation, no sick time, no holidays, etc. just straight up cranking out pages; also, assuming all jobs take the same amount of effort to complete (impossible). We are talking 2.5 pages per hour during your typical workday, no lunch, no bathroom breaks, no distractions, no tardiness, etc. assuming each and every page takes the same amount of effort (impossible).

Either my math skills are truly horrible, this guy is amazing, or he is lying.

 

[Chunkysalsa]

That was an interesting read. I can expect people to do this at lower level BS Gen Ed. type classes, but when you start getting into graduate work or even upper level undergrad. At that point I'd have to ask, why are you even studying it.


Personally I don't think the university system is all that flawed. More so I find its the mindset about education. Almost all of my friends see every class as a goal to finish so they can get to the end and get that degree so they can get that job. However that kind of thinking never ends.

Yes, I go to school so I can get that job, but I'd also like to learn and thereby better myself from it.

 

[jbunniii]

5000 pages in a year is approximately 20 pages per workday (8hrs), assuming 252 workdays in a 365 day year, no vacation, no sick time, no holidays, etc. just straight up cranking out pages; also, assuming all jobs take the same amount of effort to complete (impossible). We are talking 2.5 pages per hour during your typical workday, no lunch, no bathroom breaks, no distractions, no tardiness, etc. assuming each and every page takes the same amount of effort (impossible).

Either my math skills are truly horrible, this guy is amazing, or he is lying.

Also, if he is doing all of this for only $66k per year, he's crazy in my opinion. He could drive a bus and make more money than that in most municipalities, not to mention a full pension upon early retirement.

 

[jbunniii]

That was an interesting read. I can expect people to do this at lower level BS Gen Ed. type classes, but when you start getting into graduate work or even upper level undergrad. At that point I'd have to ask, why are you even studying it.

My guess in the ESL cases:

Graduate school = student visa
Graduate degree = good chance to obtain permanent visa if you can find someone who will hire you

 

[Troponin]

5000 pages in a year is approximately 20 pages per workday (8hrs), assuming 252 workdays in a 365 day year, no vacation, no sick time, no holidays, etc. just straight up cranking out pages; also, assuming all jobs take the same amount of effort to complete (impossible). We are talking 2.5 pages per hour during your typical workday, no lunch, no bathroom breaks, no distractions, no tardiness, etc. assuming each and every page takes the same amount of effort (impossible).

Either my math skills are truly horrible, this guy is amazing, or he is lying.

He says he has a "staff of roughly 50 writers."

I'm assuming he is using "I" as his "business?"

 

[Mathnomalous]

So, 100 pages per year per writer? That is the problem with the article: too many assumptions, very few facts. The best way to confirm what this guy is saying would be disclosing all the theses, essays, dissertations, etc. written by him but then that would get many people and at least one university that granted a Ph.D. in trouble.

 

[PoyDuo]

That students emails... are there actually college students who write like that? That might be more disturbing then anything...

 

[Pengwuino]

And I can. It's not implausible to write a 75-page paper in two days. It's just miserable. I don't need much sleep, and when I get cranking, I can churn out four or five pages an hour. First I lay out the sections of an assignment—introduction, problem statement, methodology, literature review, findings, conclusion—whatever the instructions call for. Then I start Googling.

I can believe it. Obviously this guy is 1) good and 2) not expected to write up award winning papers so 'concise' is not a pre-requisite.

 

[Mathnomalous]

I can accept 4 pgs/hr but I cannot see how basic Googling is fooling that many college professors, instructors, and adjuncts. I see no factual evidence to support his claims. I'd like to know what graduate school granted a graduate degree based on a 160pg thesis not written by the recipient of the degree.

 

[Pengwuino]

I can accept 4 pgs/hr but I cannot see how basic Googling is fooling that many college professors, instructors, and adjuncts. I see no factual evidence to support his claims. I'd like to know what graduate school granted a graduate degree based on a 160pg thesis not written by the recipient of the degree.

... have you ever read some of the trash that college professors accept? My students are mainly juniors and seniors and their writing skills make me want to stab my eyes out. And this is in a physics lab. My standards are NOT high at all.

The actual thesis and dissertations are worthy of some more skepticism though. I've heard of some awful masters thesis before so I'm not THAT skeptical. The dissertation is the crazy one though. I can imagine it considering some of the dissertations I've heard of.

We all know these people exist too. I've seen dozens of places that will create things like that for you. It's no secret to me... it's just the efficiency that this guy has is an eye-opener and the fact that it's not just all rich business majors is the thing that astounds me.

 

[Pengwuino]

But he can't blame me for not educating my students when he short-circuits the mechanism by which I can determine which student is learning the material and which one is not.

I wholeheartedly agree! If you don't test people, how can you tell who knows and who doesn't know the material? Who should get that scholarship and Dean's award and who should be looking into vocational schools? I think the moronic assumption by people who complain about testing is that they believe everyone is in college to learn and to become a better person. I overheard a conversation the other day about a girl who was about to graduate. What was she going to do with her degree? She didn't know because the only reason she is in college is because her mother wants her to be! People like this will not become more productive and intelligent members of society due to college; if it does happen, it will be because of something else.

 

[Anonymous217]

It seems like too strong of an exaggeration, but there probably still is an underlying truth to it, although not possibly as big as he makes it out to be. He is a writer specialized in BS after all.

 

[Jokerhelper]

I read this article a few days ago. Honestly, there are most likely people that do that kind of work, but I get the strong feeling that his facts are exaggerated to say the least. It was an interesting read, nonetheless.

 

[nobahar]

Don't the professors sit the student down and ask them questions connected to the paper? How can they answer if they haven't written it?

 

[Chunkysalsa]

Now remember for stuff like the thesis and dissertation I doubt he did any research. I'm sure the student did all the research and planning and collaborated with this guy.

 

[Andy Resnick]

And note, it's not *that* difficult to fool a dissertation committee, or peer-reviewers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogdanov_Affair

 

[MaxManus]

But how much is an online-degree worth? All ordinary schools/universities in my country have exams.

 

[Pengwuino]

It seems like too strong of an exaggeration, but there probably still is an underlying truth to it, although not possibly as big as he makes it out to be. He is a writer specialized in BS after all.

No No, he is a writer specialized in getting you a BS.

Don't the professors sit the student down and ask them questions connected to the paper? How can they answer if they haven't written it?

At most major universities, papers are written in classes of 300 people and are looked at by TAs who couldn't give a rats *** about what the persons actually saying. Hell, one English professor at my university openly admitted to fellow professors from around the university that they just read the first page of a paper and grade it based off that.

Now remember for stuff like the thesis and dissertation I doubt he did any research. I'm sure the student did all the research and planning and collaborated with this guy.

I don't see why there is no question of the academic integrity of the universities here. In some fields, you'll find major major research projects that sound like they were thought up by someone with a mental disorder (ok slight exaggeration!... probably). Let's be honest, not all departments in every field demands high quality, sensible reports.

 

[eri]

I've checked out those dissertation writing sites before. Not that I would ever try that, of course, but I was interested. I really don't see how people get away with that; my adviser worked with me on every step of my project, continually asked for drafts, results, etc. But who would trust one of those sites anyway? Look at them sometime; the spelling and grammar on their own websites is atrocious. Who would trust them to write a paper?

The Chronicle has another report on this a few years back where they did an expose of some of those companies; turns out at least 10 of the biggest essay-writing companies are owned by a single company in the Philippines. If they could get repeat business, they wouldn't have to pretend to be 10 different companies. And many of their writers had poor English skills themselves.

 

[JyN]

That was an interesting read. I can expect people to do this at lower level BS Gen Ed. type classes, but when you start getting into graduate work or even upper level undergrad. At that point I'd have to ask, why are you even studying it.


Personally I don't think the university system is all that flawed. More so I find its the mindset about education. Almost all of my friends see every class as a goal to finish so they can get to the end and get that degree so they can get that job. However that kind of thinking never ends.

Yes, I go to school so I can get that job, but I'd also like to learn and thereby better myself from it.

I think this is a lesson that people should be taught/learn for themselves at a young age. If i could get a job paying just as much now as i could after i got a degree, i would still go to school and get an education. People should realize that there is more to life than the pursuit of material things.

 

[G01]

I wholeheartedly agree! If you don't test people, how can you tell who knows and who doesn't know the material? Who should get that scholarship and Dean's award and who should be looking into vocational schools? I think the moronic assumption by people who complain about testing is that they believe everyone is in college to learn and to become a better person. I overheard a conversation the other day about a girl who was about to graduate. What was she going to do with her degree? She didn't know because the only reason she is in college is because her mother wants her to be! People like this will not become more productive and intelligent members of society due to college; if it does happen, it will be because of something else.

Agree.

Too many people view a bachelor's degree as either:

1. Something everybody is just supposed to do, no matter your plans and life goals.

2. A means to an end.

The first attitude tends to saturate colleges and universities with people who don't care about learning to begin with. The second attitude leads to people viewing the piece of paper you get when you graduate as a magic "job granting" scroll. It's not the piece of paper, it what it represents!

My take on the situation is that the same amount of people take higher education seriously now as at any time in the past. The difference is that we are sending more and more people to college.

 

[Chaotic42]

Agree.
The second attitude leads to people viewing the piece of paper you get when you graduate as a magic "job granting" scroll. It's not the piece of paper, it what it represents!

Unfortunately too many employers also feel that the degree is the real source of value in an employee. When I got hired on at my current job, I didn't have a degree at all. Now I have an Associate's and I couldn't be hired on right now.

It's absurd.

 

[flyingpig]

I feel tempted to ask him for help lol

 

[DR13]

The one thing that I do not understand is how they can do the oral defense. Sure, they have done all of the research and will probably know what they are talking about. But if one of the people on the commitee asks about a specific part of the paper I feel like it would be tough to talk about it if you didnt actually write it. Yeah, I get that you will obviously read what this guy wrote but one would be much more familiar with one's own work.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

The one thing that I do not understand is how they can do the oral defense. Sure, they have done all of the research and will probably know what they are talking about. But if one of the people on the commitee asks about a specific part of the paper I feel like it would be tough to talk about it if you didnt actually write it. Yeah, I get that you will obviously read what this guy wrote but one would be much more familiar with one's own work.

Presumably the graduate students that use his services do *something* with their time. They might read things that their supervisor provides, or read things that the writer references. They will know something about the work, and in a meeting with their supervisor or say an oral exam, might just come across as being very nervous and struggle to articulate themselves verbally. But if they've provided a reasonable quality paper or thesis...

It's an interesting topic for sure and whilst I'm not sure about whether he exaggerates the numbers or not, I don't think it really matters. Clearly this guy and lots of other people he knows make a living out of this sort of thing. Though the numbers are still very small, it's a problem that the academic system can do without. Perhaps instead of dishing out threats for cheating, or punishments for not getting good enough grades we need more effort in encouraging students to understand the benefits of the assignments that are being set. It's quite difficult to convince someone of the full value in some seemingly arbitrary essay work, when all they're thinking about is grades to pass the year.