Risk of getting "caught" for purchased model essays?

This question is for writers. Do you think the students' professors know that some of their essays are purchased "model" essays? Have you ever had a student who got "caught"? In the case of an all-original paper, I would think the only way to "catch" a student would be by asking the student questions about the paper, but would that yield enough proof? Do professors bother to pursue this stuff? If anyone has stories, please share.

I have never heard any professor asking questions about the project. Every university has so many students. no one is actually bothered till the time you submit the project

If I knew that their English skills were poor and they turned in something that appeared to be written by a native speaker, I'd know it was fraud.

I have noted that a good number of professors ask that foreign students get their work proofread by native speakers because in most cases the research is not testing their language skills. However, in a few instances I have found some being questioned about the elegant language used in the paper. The thing that gives away most students, IMO, is the fact that writers are a times unaware of the course content. If a student sends me a one liner requirement, I will simply proceed to write the paper the best way I know how yet for the Prof. he wants to see engagement with the course. They already know that the facts to deal with the question are on Google and Emerald but that is not all they want-you have to show that you have been in class and you are familiar with the course.

I hate it when students get caught by their professor, and come back for a revision. "the professor says it's not in my voice. can you change it to make it more like my voice?"

if you're a student, and your professor calls you in to talk about the paper, the best thing to do is to say that a tutor helped you. stick to your guns, and admit nothing.

Of course. The professors might "know." But do they actually pursue discipline in such cases? Are they able to prove anything? What is the outcome?

Most lecturers are going to find it blindingly obvious when a student who can barely speak English one day (you only have to look at the instructions of some clients to know this) then turns in a native quality paper the next that it is not their work. However, since overseas students are a lucrative source of tuition fees compared to domestic students few questions are ever asked in many cases in UK institutions.

You're right here; however, this is also important to note that getting students write term papers (regardless of their aptitude) also does not work. It is this reason that many native English speakers are found looking for writers who can write for them, only because their talent lies in another area than writing.

not to disparage, and just for the sake of clarity, I think Meo means that "making" students write term papers outside of their area of expertise is ineffective.

getting someone to do something requires an infinitive, and doesn't convey the correct meaning.

causatives are difficult, Meo; keep practicing.

that said, written communication is an effective skill to have, no matter what your major.

Is the writer ever in any danger?

What kind of danger? The writer is doing their job by writing an original piece of model paper and earning their honest livelihood. That's it.

They are never likely to find out who the writer really is, although I certainly wouldn't recommend using my real name in any of these situations.

A university cannot take an action against a writer.

Yeah that is true. Writers are in a win win situation

I'd like to hire someone credible, but this site does not make that particularly easy. Most of the writers do not, as far as I've seen so far, post email addresses and the site prohibits any direct contact unless one has posted a large number of comments. Considering that many prospective customers would presumably have time constraints, I'd say that was inefficient to say the least. Now, can one of you clearly more erudite writers assist me?

But under most universities codes of conduct, foreign students are allowed to use proofreaders or assignment editors to improve only the language component of their work, so this would not necessarily be the case.

Note that that applies to both "manual" (human) proofreaders and automatic grammar correction tools.


In my final year at uni, our Philosophy lecturer questioned every student regarding their papers - this was at Greenwich, UK.


This is a valid point, however, in my experience students run into problems because they themselves have absolutely no idea of how to do the work themselves, even if they had the time, and are therefore incapable of providing sufficient instructions to the writer, and they also do not understand the work when it is delivered to them.

I had one particular client who literally couldn't understand the Economics paper which one of my writers had prepared and who then had to spend hours on the phone explaining everything to him.

I had another client who can't even have read the paper at all, as when their lecturer questioned them about it they were unable to answer anything at all.

So there are students who should not be "allowed" to study under normal circumstances, but since academia is a business as any other then whoever has money to study can study (despite their intellectual talents or lack thereof).


I absolutely agree.

Karen, out of curiosity, what was result when the student could not answer questions about the paper? I have heard of these "viva voca" exams to root out cheaters, but usually in a British context. In U.S. universities, my impression is that it is not common. But curious as to what other writers have seen or heard. I have had ESL students ask me to throw in a few bits of poor grammar or some awkward wording here and there so their paper won't appear too "native." Others just want the best paper they can get. It doesn't seem to affect anything either way.

In all honesty I cant remember exactly, but I think all that happened was the lecturer gave them a poor mark and the student was hugely embarrassed.

I admonish each of my clients to read the paper carefully before handing it in, in case any questions come up. The student can also pick up on any formatting issues, as in most cases the students have an idea what the professor wants in that regard, even if they aren't familiar with the course content. And finally, they can make sure the content is what they wanted, as I am willing to do on rewrite if it's needed.

I doubt many of them take my advice, but I always offer it.

Well, I'm rather thankful that most online paper mills never cooperate with plagiarism checking sites and organizations. That would really affect me. As for students getting caught off my work, so far none of them have been caught. While I normally consider submitting someone else's work as your as plagiarism (since all papers I've ever submitted under my name were made by me and me alone), the fact that these people hired someone else to write, and paid for it, means that they automatically become its owner. It should not be considered plagiarism.

P.S. I know people who think up of a proper way to make a patent document, hired to write down claims for certain inventions (The inventor finds it difficult to express it himself.). They are paid, but you never find their name on the patent document(and they're fine with it), do you?

This isn't necessarily true. Many companies retain the copyright to the work produced, and it says so in the purchase agreement.


This is an entirely different scenario. It's like trying to compare hired academic writing to ghostwriting.

This isn't really true, it is the act of handing something in as your own which you did not write which is the plagiarism. Whether you infringed copyright law is dependent on if you own the rights to the work or not. As such the two issues of plagiarism and copyright are separate. Also like JohnsMom states in many cases the contract (if buying from a company) does not necessarily transfer the rights to the work from writer to customer, there is no automatic transfer, it is the terms of the contract which will define who is the owner.

Having someone write a paper for you and then passing it off as your own is not just plagiarism but academic fraud, and students who get caught doing it may end up being suspended or expelled. That's just a fact of life.

Of course, it's not the writer who is going to be punished for it since they are just being paid to perform a service, basically like a doctor, dentist or hooker. Of course, if a teacher or professor got caught doing this type of work they would almost certainly lose their job and perhaps even have their degrees revoked.

I kept doing it because it was easy money. That's all.

Forgot about the license agreements. Thanks for pointing that out, although if they are not part of the agreement, then.... ^_^.


Not really. There are cases when the invention being claimed is a student output.

Having a patent lawyer put together the patent documents/write the description is entirely different from a customer hiring someone to write academic work for them.

To me they're the same thing. The lawyer is the one who patches up, notarizes and help process the patent document. The writer of the document though is someone else. So long as you make someone else write something which you ought to be writing, it's just the same as making someone write an essay for you.

The difference is there is no "ought to be writing" onus in the patent scenario. People that write their own patent documents without the expertise are likely to have them rejected, and hiring professionals to do it instead is a common and entirely open practice. It's the same as having an attorney draw up incorporation papers--it isn't expected that you drew them up yourself and the attorney's name is almost always prominently displayed, sometimes by law.

^ Although to most that is indeed an acceptable practice, and lawful (undeniably), it's definitely a no-no for me. I'll stop here since we'll definitely never agree on this issue. :)

I don't think lecturers have the time to probe the source of the paper. If they did, many students would get straight fails.

I am having the exact problem. What is the point of this website really?

We're still not allowed to post our emails in posts, but the rules were recently changed to allow us to post our personal websites as a signature that now appears under our first post in any thread. That should help you and some of us.

Professors definitely know when the student is using a model paper for his submitted homework or research paper. The most telling sign for them is when the student, who doesn't do well in terms of class participation, exams, and homework, suddenly turns in a stellar research paper. Which is why I always tell the students to grab hold of a writer at the start of the semester and then have that writer do all the homework, essays, and research papers for them throughout. That is the only way to "dispel" and possible doubts the professor may have about the student's ability to write. Then again, they need to be able to participate in class as well. I also tell them that, in order to keep the deception active, they must enroll in English language lessons so that they have a "provable" reference for the "overnight" improvement of their English language grasp and written presentation. If they fail to create their backstory and then suddenly come out as proficient English writers, then they will definitely be in trouble and in that instance, the writer will not be able to help the student anymore.

Wrong, once again. Professors "definitely" know? If that was the case, this industry wouldn't be filled with so many players shoving each other for space

There's a difference between knowing and being able to prove something. I'd imagine most students who write for themselves and then order papers that they submit for credit have a much higher chance of being discovered than those who use writing services from the get go. Also, swapping writers tends to increase the chances of being discovered. However, professors cannot know for sure, unless they receive some intel from a third party. They can, however, suspect a great deal of things, including a student is buying papers.

In numerous cases, professors have dozens of students in the same class, and barely know the academic/writing abilities/styles of even a handful of their students. It wouldn't be that easy for them to sniff out a bought paper

That's true, but only in 1st year classes. Junior and higher tend to have a more close-up and personal connection to the teacher, especially in smaller schools.

Since professors don't really get to know the writing style of their students until later in the school year, I really do not think it is right to assume that they can tell right off the bat who among their students are using a writing service. Hired early on in the semester, as in, before the first written homework is passed for a grade, then the professor could remain oblivious to the fact that the student is getting academic writing help. I mean, it isn't hard to believe that some students will sound horrible speaking in English while in class while sounding perfect normal on paper. It is easier for the student to claim to "edit" oneself or get "editing help" from the writing center than it is for the professor to prove that the student did not have a hand in writing the paper at all.

This protection is only available to students who know better to use (and request, in the case of writing companies) the same writers for all their papers. Sad truth is that most essay writing companies post available orders on a bulletin board for every manner of writers to bid on. An innocent yet clueless student could submit two consecutive papers miles apart in coherence and overall quality


Actually, it is hard to believe


There's nothing hard at all in claiming


This is almost impossible to prove.
But more importantly, the professor doesn't need to PROVE anything. It is upon the student to avoid raising any suspicions whatsoever

If you don't speak English very well, it's quite dopey to hire a professional writer and then turn in the work for credit, especially in any situation (such as an ongoing dissertation-review process) that includes face-to-face interactions with supervisors about the project. I recently had a client do exactly that, and then, when he couldn't answer any questions about the arguments in the proposal that he was supposed to discuss with his dissertation committee in person, he actually responded that he got all the ideas in question from his "friend." They didn't fail him or bring him up on any charges as they easily could have, but they refused to accept the proposal and indicated that he needed to resubmit a new proposal that represented his own ideas.

If you're going to hire a writer for your projects and if you choose to submit them for credit instead of using them as models for your own work, that's entirely your business, not ours; but, for your own sake, at least take the time to read them very carefully first and make sure that you understand everything in them and all of the vocabulary and language. Also, if your English isn't very good, let your writer know that you want it written as simply as possible when you order the project. Finally, exercise a little common sense and imagine obvious consequences that are so easily predictable: So, if your professor has been reading your ESL writing and rudimentary vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar all semester, don't suddenly turn in a project written by someone else whose English use and grammar are both perfect.

Exactly! Too often clients want an excellent paper and then complain that their professor suspected they didn't write it. While you want to show improvement throughout a course, a drastic jump from poor to excellent writing is a bad move. It's an automatic red flag and professors see right through it. At the very least, revise the work to fit your verbal style (which you should be doing anyway).


Whew! He got off lucky! I've known a few students who encountered a similar issue and of those, only one got off lucky by being allowed to submit a new paper BUT they also lost points for the issue and for it then being submitted late.

To avoid these issues, as @FreelanceWriter said, don't order a service level above your own, and always review the paper and make it your own. This will also help as you are working to improve your writing skills.