We’ve written before about the problems of buying pre-written essays online. The quality cannot be guaranteed. Many are also plagiarised – meaning they are not original content. There are many potential punishments for plagiarism. At the very least you can be removed from the course and fail your degree. But the government wants to get tougher on plagiarism with potential criminal records likely in future.
Universities Minister Highlights Alarming Problem
Plagiarism is nothing new, but the internet has led to the rise of accessible online essay mills. Students can buy pre-written essays or pay somebody to write an essay for them. With online tools such as Turn It In, universities have been able to catch plagiarism and punish offending students. However, it seems that punishment of removal from the course is not enough of a deterrent and the Universities Minister Jo Johnson wishes to introduce tougher measures.
Several new proposals have arisen in the wake of a 2016 report from the Quality Assurance Agency on plagiarism in university.
Quality Assurance Agency
Essay mills are expensive. QAA reported that some charged as much as £6,750 for a PhD thesis with no guarantee of the quality of the finished product. Students who chose this route risk their PhD programme being for nothing, regardless of whether or not they contain any plagiarism. Reacting to the report, MP Jo Johnson said it was “unacceptable” that students were obtaining undergraduate and postgraduate degrees by fraudulent means. He vowed to take “tough action”.
The QAA reported this as a growing problem. In the last three years alone, some 50,000 students at British universities have been reported as cheating
What Happens Next?
The Department of Education is presently consulting with top universities on how to tackle this growing problem. There are no immediate plans to change legislation, either to ban these adverts in the UK or to introduce criminal records for students, but the current government has not ruled it out. However, new guidance comes into force in September ahead of the new academic year.
These measures include cracking down on advertising for essay writing services by applying pressure to websites and search engines. It is likely that they will also ask search engines to block such websites from their listings. An advert that appeared on the London Underground was brought to the attention of TfL; it was later removed.
Some countries have already banned advertising of such services. The government is monitoring their success before making a decision. September’s new guidance could eventually include more powers from government to university representative organisations to force the major search engines and websites to take down advertisements for essay mills. At present, they will simply take active measures.
Read the full QAA report on plagiarism here