Most everyone enjoys a good discount but a number of disadvantages arise for both freelancers and academic writing and research companies that work with freelancers. This post examines how discounts and coupons can benefit freelance income and increase clientele, reviews the risks of too many discounts, and provides recommendations for effectively offering promotional savings.

To understand the advantages and disadvantages of offering discounts and coupons in the academic writing industry, one must first understand the different types of promotional savings typically offered. Some companies use a generic coupon code that can be applied by any customer at any time while others use a one-time coupon good for one use per customer per semester or during special events (e.g. holidays). Others might offer savings when customers book a writer for a full semester. The only discount that freelancers are wise to offer continuously is a new customer discount. Any other discount should be offered carefully and with clear limitations.

Generic code coupons

Some companies offer an open-ended discount for all customers where the discount typically ranges from 5 to 15 percent off any service. While the offer is admirable in one's efforts toward engaging customer loyalty, it also presents some problems when the complexity of projects mean the discount risks cutting into what the freelancer is or can be paid. Essentially, this type of coupon offers a blind discount before the freelancer or company knows that the project entails. For example, offering a discount on a general research paper would be wise whereas offering a discount on a major project such as a Master's thesis or dissertation would be risky. Many large academic projects involve data collection and analysis, meaning there is no way to predetermine the total cost of a project without having all the information upfront-something that is not always possible with large projects. In these cases, any discount should apply to general writing only with clear limitations on what is excluded (e.g. data collection, data analysis, interviews, appendices, etc.).

One-time use per semester coupons

The one-time use coupon is highly recommended as the wisest choice for academic freelance writers and companies. This gives the customer the opportunity to save and lets them know they are appreciated while it restricts the risks of price haggling. For those opting to offer the one-time coupon, make sure the terms of use are clear. If certain types of projects are not included, list exclusions and restrictions in a clear and easily accessible way.

Book-a-writer discounts

Most freelancers appreciate on-going and long-term work and are willing to offer a better rate to customers who will be bringing repeat business. In academic writing, the shorter the project the higher the rate in most cases. Freelancers have stated that it often takes as much time to research for 1-2 pages as it does for 3-5 pages so the rates for shorter projects are typically higher. When a customer books a writer for an entire semester, they might still have several short (1-2 page) projects but they are getting a lower per page rate because the writer knows their work will carry forward for the coming months.

New customer discounts

Virtually every freelancer and company across all industries should offer some type of new customer discount. It's simply good business practice. The new customer discount gives a possibly skeptical individual the change to try one's services at a lower rate. However, it is the responsibility of the freelancer or company not only to provide a high quality product or service that encourages the customer to return but that the quality is continuous. Offering savings on a single order does nothing to further the growth of one's clientele if the quality of subsequent services decline.

Recommended discounts and why

Of the discount types discussed, the most beneficial are "book-a-writer" and "new customer" discounts. Why not offer all types of discounts, all the time? Discounts that are not specifically limited open the door to hagglers. What is a haggler? Someone who constantly asks for a lower price, even going so far as to argue that "you gave me a discount last time, so you can do it again". Similar to other freelance writing industries, academic writing is filled with tight deadlines and no time for back and forth over price. When much of the time from the onset of the order to quoting and receiving payment (whether one's policy is partial or full payment before the work begins) is spent haggling over price, the time that should be spent researching and writing high quality work is lost. The risk of rushing is increased, thus increasing the need for revisions. In these cases, such types of revisions could cost the customer more in the long run. As such, there is no real savings in these cases and everyone walks away disappointed-an outcome that no freelancer or company should ever want.

In short...

There is much more that can and should be said about discounts and coupons but these examples and recommendations give an idea of what works best for most freelance writers. Holiday discounts are often effective and worthy of further discussion. What types of discounts or coupons do you like to see?

Describe four appropriate strategies teachers can use to monitor student understanding of research material for your selected grade level or content area.

One strategy for monitoring student understanding is grading homework. Sometimes students dread this practice because they may be good at the subject, but over-committed in their free time, and therefore get zeroes which impact their grades in a manner that is perceived as unfair. However, not all homework has to be graded. Grading homework can be seen more like a pop quiz, done a half-dozen times total over an entire semester.

A second strategy for monitoring student understanding is pop quizzes. These quizzes are designed to catch students unprepared and test baseline understanding.

Another, third strategy could be monitored classroom discussion. If discussion can be kept on track, then learning objectives can be stressed. "Two experimental research studies have shown that students who understand the learning objectives and assessment criteria and have opportunities to reflect on their work show greater improvement than those who do not" (Concept, 2014) These types of assessments can become more formalized around student needs.

A fourth strategy is teacher observation. "While feedback generally originates from a teacher, learners can also play an important role in formative assessment through self-evaluation." (Concept, 2014) There are many strategies that can be used.

Describe an adequate monitoring system that could be used in classroom for students struggling with academic assignments.

Students who are ELL or have disabilities are often in need of monitoring systems which stress metacognition, within the general paradigm of the inclusion-based classroom. Although these students may need special attention, they still have to often function along with their peers who do not have disabilities, in terms of keeping up with the core curriculum. Therefore, assessment needs to be based on that curriculum through the use of "curriculum based measurement (CBM). CBM is a set of standardized and well-researched procedures for assessing and monitoring students' progress in reading, math, spelling, and writing." (Hasbrouck and Tindal).

At the same time, the student needs to be taught to monitor their own progress and a sense of pride in accomplishment has to be engendered by the pedagogue. This is why metacognition based monitoring is very important because it provides "determinants of performance and efforts to affect performance. Thus, if a learner monitors that he or she has not yet mastered a task and reacts to that perception by working on the task some more, monitoring has played an important role in cognitive control." (Pressley & McCormick, 1995, p. 621)

There are often unique challenges when it comes to ESL and special needs classrooms, since there is a dearth of knowledge about effective practice. From one perspective, there is the argument that inclusion classrooms will increase the tendency for teachers to be overwhelmed by having to change pacing in mid-class to accommodate one or two learners who are behind the group; this creates an unbalanced learning environment where the student with special needs is seen by the other students to dominate the teacher's attention.

However, others make the argument that inclusion classrooms improve social cohesion and the acceptance of diversity among students, as the ELL or disabled student is optimally accepted and becomes part of a more mainstream type of environment. Schools are often not as open to change as they could be regarding the accommodation of special-needs students. And teachers face problems of having to single them out in class and slow down the rest of the group. To put it another way, overall, the majority of the students in the classroom should not have their education compromised just because one or two students need specialized attention to reach the same curricular milestones.

REFERENCES

Hasbrouck, J. and G. Tindal (2006). Oral reading fluency norms: A valuable assessment tool for reading teachers. International Reading Association.

Pressley, M., & McCormick, C. B. (1995). Advanced educational psychology for educators, researchers, and policymakers. New York: HarperCollins. The Concept of Formative Assessment (2014). ERIC Digest.