Reuters Interview  -  September 30, 2006

What prompted you to start the EssayFraud.org Web site?  What's your association with the term paper business?  Do you run or work for an online service that sells term papers to American college students?

I graduated from a well-known university in 2004.  During my years of study, I was forced to submit my papers through a plagiarism-detection program to prove that I was not cheating.  Had I ever been caught plagiarizing in the past?  No.  Had I ever been caught peering at another student's answers during a test?  Absolutely not.  At no time did I ever give my professors any reason to believe that I was a cheater, but did they treat me like a cheater nonetheless?  You bet!

Plagiarism is wrong, but professors should not create and foster an atmosphere of distrust by making honest students feel that they are guilty until proven innocent.  What kind of message does that send to our youth?  We at EssayFraud.org are not alone in this sentiment.  An increasing number of universities have begun banning professors' use of Turnitin.com (LJWorld.com) because it creates an atmosphere of distrust and presumption of guilt.  It also violates students' copyrights.  (Students are given no choice but to submit their intellectual property to Turnitin.com.  If a student refuses on the basis of principle, he or she faces an "F" grade and/or expulsion.  Sound fair?)  Without students' papers, Turnitin.com could not exist.  However, Turnitin.com "borrows" students' intellectual property, generating millions of dollars in undue profit every year, but does not pay a single penny in royalties to any of the unwilling, student authors.

I created EssayFraud.org because I am sickened by the following:

• plagiarism;
• Turnitin.com's profiteering at the expense of unwilling students' copyrighted, intellectual property;
• fraudulent term paper mills that do not abide by American laws and regulations, thereby tarnishing the respectability of online research in general;
• hypocrisy in higher education;
• the minority of cheating students, who contribute to the undeserved distrust by professors against the entire student body.

We have no ties to any commercial sites.  In fact, we explicitly inform our visitors (www.essayfraud.org/recommendations.html) that we have absolutely no interest in promoting any particular services, and we will ignore all recommendation requests.

Many academic institutions regard online businesses selling term papers to students as being an illicit enterprise; schools want students to write their own papers rather than buy them from online service providers.  Do you believe it is appropriate for businesses to sell papers online to students?  Why?

What critical educators often do not recognize is that there is a vast difference between conducting legitimate research and engaging in literary theft.  EssayFraud.org condemns academic fraud and plagiarism in any form.  However, legitimate companies and consumers should not be demonized for engaging in the exchange of ideas and secondary research materials.  Outraged educators often cloud the line between "research" and "writing."  Of course, consumers must always write their own, final product, while properly referencing all sources of research (books, newspapers, articles, journals, Web sites, research assistants, etc.).  Just because there are bad apples (companies/students), doesn't mean that academic institutions should automatically condemn the entire bunch as spoiled.  That is unfair and absolutely wrong.  We at EssayFraud.org have no problem uncovering scams and fraud, but we refuse to demonize the honest companies that conduct legitimate research, maintain copyright, and refuse service to anyone who openly communicates intent to cheat.

On a related note, why is it that academic institutions do not condemn professors for using research assistants?  As you may be aware, many professors have been found guilty of plagiarism recently (www.essayfraud.org/professor-plagiarism.html).  If a professor is found to have plagiarized material provided by his/her research assistant, would other professors blame the RESEARCH ASSISTANT?  (I assume they would, considering that professors blame legitimate research companies for providing secondary research material to students.) Professors tend to be quite strict when it comes to student plagiarism.  However, the same professors tend to look the other way when it comes to acts of plagiarism perpetrated by fellow, "esteemed educators."  If professors don't practice what they preach, can they really expect their students to reference properly?  Quite simply, plagiarism is plagiarism, no matter who perpetrates the act, and the hypocrisy in higher education must stop.

You raise the issue on your Web site of some foreign-owned Web sites using plagiarized materials in their papers.  People who I've spoken to, including some who have worked for these services in the United States, say that is also standard practice among American online term paper services.  Is this true?

Speculation aside, the laws of probability dictate that there are some American research companies that engage in deceptive advertising and other fraudulent practices.  However, we have been unable to identify them after reviewing over 550 different Web sites.  We invite (www.essayfraud.org/american.html) visitors to let us know about any American-owned companies that engage in fraudulent business tactics.  We will be happy to place such sites in our list of fraudulent companies.

Further, many would make the argument that by handing in a paper purchased from an online vendor, a student is already committing plagiarism in that he or she is passing off work done by another as his or her own?  Given this, is it all that material whether the paper in question has already been plagiarized from another source?

Consumers have the right to expect that the example, custom research and unique ideas for which they pay will not be plagiarized from a third party.  If a consumer contracts a freelance writer to research and compose an example document from which the consumer intends to glean unique insights/viewpoints on a given topic, the consumer must properly cite that writer and/or that writer's employing Web site when writing his/her own paper.  Now, if the freelance writer deceives the paying consumer by plagiarizing from a third party, the consumer's bibliographical reference to that freelance writer and/or that writer's employing Web site will not be accurate! Therefore, it is the completely honest consumer who can be accused of academic fraud because his/her cited sources are not genuine.

I see that many online paper services describe their work as providing "sample" or "model" papers, with the idea being that students will use them only as a reference, and cite them, as a model in writing their own papers.  Do you believe that a meaningful portion of students who pay in the range of $15 a page for these papers actually use them in this way, rather than handing them in unchanged or with only minor edits?  Given that most university students have access to libraries and other free information resources, why would someone opt to buy an online paper to use in the manner rather than simply reading up in the library for inspiration?

I'll begin my answer by asking a few questions of my own.  Why would a student pay for a hard-to-find book?  Why pay for a study guide?  Why pay for Cliffs Notes (that are proudly sold in most college book stores)?  Why pay for a tutor?  Why would a student pay for ANY learning aids that are not deemed mandatory by his/her academic institution?

Since the beginning of recorded time, there have been cheaters.  There were cheaters long before the advent of the Internet.  There always will be cheaters.  However, we at EssayFraud.org believe that the vast majority of people are honest, including students.  Most students who conduct research online do not cheat.  Most students do not cheat, in general.  We believe that any study conducted by any university will prove this point.  In fact, Boston University sued several term paper vendors in 1998 for selling papers to BU students.  The case was thrown out, partly due to the fact that 6 out of 7 BU students properly referenced the example papers that they purchased (eSchoolNews.com).  So, yes, we do believe that most students reference example papers properly.  Unlike many in the academic sphere, we have faith in students and trust in their innate honesty.  We do not subscribe to the popular theory—apparently championed by the majority of professors—that all students are automatically "guilty until proven innocent."

In regard to why students choose to make use of paid resources online, the simple fact is that most professors actually require students to reference online sources when writing papers! Whether or not a student chooses to pay for a particular, online resource is his/her personal choice.  We've communicated with hundreds of students.  The most common reason why students pay for online resource materials (including example papers) is because they feel that the majority of other students in their classes will not have access to such paid materials.  Some students are willing to pay for the opportunity to properly reference unique information/viewpoints that they feel will make their papers stand out at grading time.

I'd also like to mention that it is absolutely no different for a student to pay a university for access to an electronic copy of a past student's dissertation than it is for a student to pay a commercial research site for access to a dissertation written by one of its employees.  Either way, the student must properly cite the source.

Some would argue that by allowing others to write papers for them, college students are doing themselves a disservice and not getting the most out of their education dollars, basically by interfering with the learning process that paper-writing is intended to encourage.  Do you believe this is true?  Do you believe there is value in the typical paper assignments given to college students?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I've already addressed these questions.

May I ask your full name and the city or region of the world that you operate out of?

We are located in the United States.  As stated on our Web site, we do not post our personal contact information in order to avoid putting our families at risk.  Since EssayFraud.org launched in November of 2005, we have received numerous death threats from essay mill owners in Ukraine and Pakistan.