Thursday, May 24, 2007
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The world needs ditch-diggers, too.
About Me
- Angry Professor
- I am a tenured faculty member at a large state university. My teaching efforts primarily consist of delivering statistics lectures to social science majors. These experiences have colored my perspective somewhat.
Disclaimer
This blog is 100% FERPA compliant. It is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Angry Professor is the creation of Mr. Norrell, who lives in Guam with four rhesus monkeys and a gecko. He has never taught at a university.
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2007
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May
(11)
- Crucifix? Check. Garlic? Check. Wooden stake? ...
- My head is already on vacation.
- In which I battle with tiny minds.
- Not in my building!
- Not even a bouquet of asters.
- I do not mourn the passing of whited sepulchres.
- Back in the saddle again.
- In which I poke my head out from under a rock.
- Enough about my ass, already.
- They didn't work.
- Mean Angry Professor Meanypants.
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May
(11)
11 comments:
Spoilsport.
The scary thing is how many of those tear-off bits were gone.
Gah!
OK, so I just clicked on their site. I chuckled at how bad the writing is on the site. If that's an example of the writing product they create, I'm not too worried!
I think I'd post the plagiarism guidelines right next to that bad boy, and highlight the important bits...
Well, I was about to comment that we have a writing center at our university that offers peer-tutored writing/brainstorming help. But I guess this is a *bit* different...
For a look behind the scenes at one of these places, see Abigail Witherspoon's article, "This Pen for Hire," from Harper's, 1995 (EBSCO citation below). Queasy-making and fascinating.
This pen for hire.
Authors: Witherspoon, Abigail
Source: Harper's Magazine; Jun95, Vol. 290 Issue 1741, p49, 9p, 6c
Document Type: Article
Subject Terms: *DISSERTATIONS, Academic
*EDUCATION -- Research
Abstract: Chronicles the author's experience on grinding out papers for college students. Writing of academic essays for college students; Tailormade essays, writing and research; Types of customers that avail of the author's service.
Some of the essays off of sites such as these are laughably bad. I usually download a few of the free ones and show them to my students, then place beside them examples of typical first-year student writing. Their reply's always the same: "You mean they charge $29.99 for THAT?!?"
We had a case in our department where the student was caught by a google search. He wasn't upset that he had been caught so much as that he thought he had paid $50 for a custom written essay!
I don't actually want to click on the link as my computer's connected to the university network.
That said, I'll take your word for it that the writing is poor. What I fail to understand is why students don't realise that the essay is likely to be written in a totally different style to their own. I know that some of my lecturers can tell my 'academic writing style' when my work is anonymised - is the same true of students across the board?
That said, I realise that the system is different (we have the same lecturers pretty much throughout the three years, whereas I know other courses don't).
When I was in college in WA, a classmate of mine mentioned he was planning on using a site like that. When I asked how much, I told him I would do it for about 80%. Then, when it was done, I sent an anonymous letter to our professor that he had it written my someone else, pointing out that the last few sentences' first letters spelled out I cheat.
Thank goodness for turnitin.com.
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