Introduction

It is common knowledge that cheating exists in every type of academic program, ranging from elementary school projects to doctoral degree programs, but the fact that people can literally order their homework assignment work is not common knowledge. Analysts such as Anderman & Murdock have attempted to determine the psychological factors that can allow people to rationalize cheating, although environmental influences can range from temptation for fun to overwhelming life responsibilities or circumstances. This assignment examines the issue of students ordering professional writing for academic credit, treating it as a contemporary social concern while providing a literature review and validity analysis of the authors' writings, explaining how academic knowledge affects the social aspects and institutions of local and global communities (regarding the topic), assessing how the principles of active citizenship can affect the issue in the near future, and considering how a currently active interactive website for such a service is indicative of the ongoing trend discussed by analysts. Overall it is evident that even this form of cheating is nothing new, originating as early as the 1970s with mail-order Xeroxed papers, and will likely change but continue in a manner similar to evolving computer security attacks versus protection methods.

Literature Review and Author Validity Analysis

Mano (1987) provided a review of an academic writing service that openly supported cheating that revealed such services have existed since the early 1970s, with the company Crib Corporation (CC) having admitted being in operation for at least 16 years. Mano (1987) argued that the organized is "about as repulsive as an engorged tick, and somewhat less honest," but also stated that he "can't prove that it suborns to plagiarism and fraud" (p. 50). His argument was therefore generally against the existence of such companies (as seems to be the universal standard for writers capable of being published in scholarly sources), but potentially had some slight biases towards the potentially legitimate aspects of business for such writing services. Mano (1987) reported that society during the time of his publication did not seem to mind the existence of such writing services to an extent that it was willing to take action against them. Mano (1987) had discovered the existence of the service from an ad in a sports magazine, leading him to look into the company and the various aspects of the service that it provided. He reported that he received a catalog from it that was impressive in nature, informing customers that they could order writing within a price range per page, at a six page minimum and with bibliographic and footnotes included with the price. Prices ranged from $6.50 per page for basic writing to $12 per page and beyond for more creative and sophisticated writing. The organization further reported to have a staff of over 50 experienced writers, reported to be both skilled and writing and 'through the mill' or experienced in the expectations and operations of academia (Mano, 1987, p. 51). The company ships all of its papers in unmarked envelopes to be discreet, and while the company representatives state that the writings can be used as guidelines for their own writings, they also advertise the difficulties involved with second language acquisition, balancing work and school, and other issues which suggest that cheating can be morally rationalized in some cases.

Mano (1987) argues that this is not true, providing several ethical arguments which attest to the difficulties of society, but also the nature of obviousness in fundamentals such as language differences and economic demands which do not justify cheating (as their natures should be of no surprise to anyone enrolling in academia). CC was reported to advertise that students commonly receive lower grades than they are 'entitled' to. They were also reported to have stated to keep records of the college that each paper is sent to, for the purposes of avoiding duplications. Mano (1987) called the company so that he could receive this and other information relevant to their operations, reporting that at the time of his writing, they were the largest such organization ('number one') in the US. Mano (1987) concluded his writing by stating that without companies such as Crib Corporation, educational institutions might have to teach writing to all students, which some students would argue would be unpleasantly like education. Overall, this author had some bias against the potential for the business to provide legitimate business to students that do not cheat, but the business also admitted that it continues to provide service to students who fully admit that they are cheating. The business is not illegal, but the author seemed to have a moral issue with them in ways that were comparable to how he felt about criminals that are as immoral as the cheaters. In reality, even the cheaters themselves are not criminals, while the students choosing to submit the papers are operating in a less ethical way than the service providing business to them. Mano's (1987) biases seemed to affect the validity of his argument in that he seemed to equate the unethical behavior of the students to the business members; while the business members conduct business in a way that can be unethical, especially when the students have made it clear that they are not cheating as the writers continue to provide service to them, the students are the ones that are more unethical. This is due to the fact that the cheating students have the dishonesty element in their operations, whereas the writers are only providing unbiased services to a generally dishonest market. Beyond this, the facts that the author reported provided an informative work amid his generally valid argument.

Reviewing a second source in this review, 11 years following the writings of Mano (1987) on the nature of this type of academic dishonesty and business, Hickman (1998) discussed the nature of digital cheating that was occurring during the late 1990s. In the 11 years, a great amount of technological improvement occurred, both in terms of the capacities of technology and the average level of access to it. People during this time were increasingly gaining access to information and businesses through digital connections, making businesses willing to provide people with completed homework assignments more accessible to students. Hickman (1998) described the A1 Termpaper business, a web service that provided students with homework assignments 'for research purposes only' which could easily be exploited in academic dishonesty. Such a business would have had to use classified or magazine ads similar to the sports magazine ad Mano (1987) described by CC, but had operated online while having sold between 1,000 and 2,000 papers in its first year of business. Other digital businesses at the time had been comparably successful, including 'The Evil House of Cheat' that had advertised receiving over one million visits since opening for business. The accessibility of the internet also led to an increase in the number of businesses offering such writing services, with the number of businesses increasing from 28 in the beginning of 1997 to 72 at the time of Hickman's (1998) writing. The analyst reported that academic experts feel that the problem is not going to simply going to go away until it is taken seriously, apparently being true in the ongoing business from 1987 through 1998 and the number of websites now commonly known to be available through a Google search in the present year of 2015. In 1998, Boston University had become especially concerned with online plagiarism, launching a 'sting operation' that led to filing suits against eight term paper companies; the university had been known for being more aggressive towards such writing services in comparison to other universities in the 25 years leading up to Hickman's (1998) writing. Meanwhile, Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale are reported to believe that such forms of academic dishonesty are less common in their facilities, due to students being more dedicated to their responsibilities while having more respect for the faculty within them.

However, Hickman (1998) conducted his own research, which suggested that students were cheating more than administration was aware of. He reported that a Yale student stated that many students he was aware of were tempted by the ability to purchase papers online, although the prestigious nature of the school prevented many people from wanting to admit that they purchased papers that they submitted for credit in the institution's courses. Meanwhile, a Princeton student that he interviewed admitted to having received course credit for submitting a 'stolen' English paper, arguing that it was simply so easy while feeling that the class was ultimately a waste of time (Hickman, 1998). Hickman (1998, p. 14) wrote "just how easy is it? Punching in 'term papers' to an Internet search engine like AltaVista yields more than five million matches. The vast majority of these sites are, ironically, administrative warnings about online plagiarism, but among the first 100 listings are links to a handful of term-paper sites. If you click on the link to the Evil House of Cheat, a dark, fiery-fonted homepage will appear on the screen, featuring links to about 40 other term-paper sites. Many of these linked sites are staggering, librarylike catalogs of thousands of prewritten papers." A1 Termpaper's website claims to offer 20,000 prewritten papers, while The Paper Store is a site that offers custom writing at an average rate of $15 per page. Hickman (1998) reported that the people providing such services argue that what they are doing is both legal and socially acceptable, claiming that they are providing help to people, and are not to blame if people decide to use their work to cheat within their institution (arguing that they are simply tutors or professional academic assistants). Some states have passed laws in attempt to minimize the amounts of academic dishonesty occurring within their institutions, attempting to end students submitting work that they had simply purchased. In 1973, Massachusetts passed a law that forbid people from selling papers if they were aware that it would submitted as another individual's work, followed by Texas passing a similar law in 1997 (Hickman, 1998).

Hickman's (1998) arguments were fewer than Mano's (1987), having dedicated more of his writing to reporting, but provided original argument along with his findings and reporting in his conclusion. Hickman (1998) wrote "programs have their limits, and in the end, it's a losing battle. The whole point of the Internet is to share information. To get the benefits of online technology, universities have to cope with the costs. The only real solution to cyberplagiarism, then, is old-fashioned vigilance. Having spent millions of dollars wiring their students to the Internet, universities may have to invest in smaller classes and a better teacher-to-student ratio. A return to some good old analog, face-to-face teaching may be the only way to keep online plagiarism at the fringes, where it belongs" (p. 15). Overall, throughout the writing, the author appeared to be free of biases, objective in both the reporting of his own findings and in the information presented by others. The validity of his argument that attempting to stomp out cheating through the elimination of writing services catering to student demands is a losing battle appears to be valid, considering that the services had been available since the early 1970s while still existing 17 years after his article was published. Even if students are not able to order their homework online, they would likely be able to find students who would be able to write for them through personal business connections. Considering that forms of the service have persevered since the mail-order days of the early 1970s, forms of it will likely continue to exist so long as cheating is something that students participate in. Since cheating is as age-old as lying and stealing, it is unlikely that any method will be able to stop cheating any more than some strategy will be able to eliminate stealing and lying. These actions can potentially be made more difficult through various measures, but cannot be eliminated. Meanwhile, Hickman's (1998) argument that face-to-face teaching in reduced classroom sizes can potentially reduce cheating may be valid, as students that have more contact with their professors may be more apprehensive of attempting a deviation in work patterns that they believe has a higher potential of being suspected or detected. This scholarly source was more informative than Mano (1987) while providing less personal opinion, but is ultimately more valuable as an academic source.

Reviewing the third scholarly source for the purposes of this writing, McMurtry (2001) discussed the concept of 'e-cheating' in line with Hickman's (1987) writing, describing it as a 21st century challenge that continued to exist three years following the situation Hickman (1987) described. McMurtry (2001) reported not having anticipated the challenge of digital cheating during his earlier years as an educator, acknowledging that computers have continued to make this form of academic dishonesty easier. McMurtry (2001, p. 36) wrote "it's impossible to determine the actual frequency of cheating. Out of the 61 students in my English composition classes in spring 1999, I caught five plagiarists, all of whom had downloaded papers from the Web. That's 8 percent and there may have been more plagiarized papers I did not catch, copied from books or journals, sold by another student, etc. But we do have the self-reports of students, which offer a glimpse of the problem." Reporting on a survey examining cheating trends, McMurtry (2001) reported that 50% of the 3,123 sample in a 1998 Who's Who survey found that 80 percent of students had admitted to cheating on an exam at some point in their academic career, 50 percent of them did not believe that cheating was necessarily wrong, and 95 percent of the students that had cheated had never been caught. This was stated to concur with the results of surveys regarding cheating, with the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University reporting that 75 percent of students admitted to cheating at least once, and another independent scholarly study reporting that between 70 and 85 percent of American college students have admitted to having cheated in some manner at some point in their coursework (McMurtry, 2001). McMurtry (2001) stated that there are multiple ways that a student can use the Internet to cheat on writing assignments, with the easiest (but most risky way) being to simply cut and paste text relevant to the assignment while plagiarizing the source. Assignment sharing is another less risky and comparable effective way, and multiple websites facilitating such sharing are available. Another form, argued to be the most blatant form of cheating, is to use online paper mills (McMurtry, 2001). McMurtry (2001) reported that most such sites provide disclaimers against using the sites for anything beyond research and reference, minimizing liability while referring to cheating as a 'misuse' of the products and services offered. McMurtry (2001) confirmed that custom writing for essay assignments was offered at a price range between $19 and $35 per page at the time of his article. Making recommendations for professors attempting to minimize cheating McMurtry (2001) advised they provide a thorough explanation of the institution's academic honesty policy and regulations, strategically design all writing assignments with specified instructions and goals, remain familiar with what is available online prior to assigning the assignments, provide students with ample time to complete the assignments, require that assignments are submitted online, and use a plagiarism scanning service. Overall, McMurtry's (2001) article provided a range of information comparable to the others presented in this review, and provided an argument for effective defenses against cheating that may be beneficial to some professors. In this sense, the arguments presented were entirely valid, and there was no indication of any bias affecting the objectivity of the arguments presented.

Impact of Academic Knowledge on Local and Global Communities

The impact of academic knowledge regarding the topic can affect the social elements and institutions of global and local communities by making people aware of the nature of this form of academic dishonesty while informing people of the methods used by students as they engage in it. Within universities, professors can use the academic knowledge presented by scholars such as those reviewed in the previous section to become more aware of the frequency of students whom have cheated in some way and at some point in their academic efforts, thereby guiding their strategic efforts to minimize academic dishonesty. Professors and other members of the institution (i.e. chairs or deans) can work to subscribe to effective plagiarism scanning services while being mindful of the potential for students to submit writing that is not their own. Meanwhile, within student groups, students that are opposed to this form of academic dishonesty can work to discourage other students considering participation amid their awareness, and can inform staff of participation should they chose.

Considering this, generally, the impact of the academic knowledge is awareness and increased potential to discourage and minimize this type of academic dishonesty.

Potential Impact of Principles of Active Citizenship in Near Future

Schachter defined active citizenship as "people engaged in deliberation to influence public-sector decision-making, animated, at least in part, by concern for the public interest, a concept that each individual may define in a different way. Active citizens shape the political agenda; they deliberate on the ends that governments should pursue as well as evaluating how well particular public-sector programs work now" (p. 1). People could work together to spread awareness through their institution or community in attempt to mitigate the issue, or could rally for people to develop laws similar to those in place in Massachusetts and Texas that deter writing services from providing work to students that is believed to be used for the act of cheating. Similarly, people could rally to make cheating itself a punishable crime, with the students ordering from the writing services chargeable as criminals, similar to how forms of lying and stealing are illegal.

Ruth (2015) wrote a book detailing his efforts as a writer that provided service to the academically dishonest. He sold numerous writings to such students, while his book implied that the type of active citizenship that would be the most effective for this social issue is in line with the recommendations presented by Hickman (1998), involving more active roles in academia in general as students work more closely with university staff. Meanwhile, Swift, Denton, & Nonis (1998) recommended that university staff discuss ethics with the class, define and discuss plagiarism thoroughly with all classmates, ensure that students are aware of effective methods for researching papers, require progress reports of the development of papers (including appointments discussing the direction of papers), remain familiar with the changing nature of the paper mill industry, and use plagiarism scanning services regularly. Roach (1998) recommended that actions be taken to ensure that students understand the difference between citing a source and plagiarizing a source. Malesic (2006) stated that people willing to cheat in such a fashion are not looking to be educated, and therefore, they are not students; he recommended that more awareness of the issue be spread as well, which can occur at campus and community levels through active citizenship. Embleto & Helfer (2007) stated that the internet and websites are not entirely to blame, shifting some blame to students, implying that action be taken to reduce this overwhelming temptation to the growing scholars. Mechenbier (2011) presented an argument against the students as the perpetrators, recommending that actions be taken so that they are more accountable for their acts of academic dishonesty, and that this social issue be addressed as an issue of workplace ethics relevant to the students. Meanwhile, Taylor (2014, p. 57) argued "to deter students' temptations to cheat, teachers need to stress the actual process of learning and doing, not simply its outcome in terms of grades and degrees, and get students excited about education through their passion and competence." All of these are examples of how the aforementioned processes of active citizenship can be potentially applied in attempt to address the issue.

Multimedia Component Reference

Referencing an interactive website for the purposes of this assignment, ninja essays is an example of a multimedia component that is relevant to the academic knowledge and issue. It provides custom writing that is specifically oriented to students, and is directly relevant as it is an example of such writing service. Students can simply order their homework assignments to be completed through such a service, with the academic aspect of their writing service serving to minimize the potential for students to be deterred from asking a general writing service to complete their assignments for them. The website is interactive in that it provides many pages and descriptions amid its ordering forms, being more interactive than a blog or video but not having as many multimedia components as an online resource with interactive visuals. The website is one of seemingly thousands of websites that provide such essays, and this multimedia component further implies an almost supernatural level of discretion (i.e. 'ninjas') as students have their college work completed for them.

Discussion and Conclusion

Clearly, the rate that students are ordering their written assignments to be completed by professional writers is a social concern. While naturally beneficial to the writers, students may become regretful of the nature of their participation in academia, while professors clearly wish for them to increase their participations. Considering that cheating is age-old, and will likely never become illegal, this seems to be an example of a social concern that will simply remain.

REFERENCES

Anderman, E. & Murdock, T. (2007). Psychology of academic cheating. Boston, MA: Elsevier Academic Press.

Embleton, K. & Helfer, D. (2007). The Plague of Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty. Searcher, 15(6), 23-26.

Hickman, J. (1998). Cybercheats. New Republic, 218(12), 14-15.

Malesic, J. (2006). How Dumb Do They Think We Are? Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(17), C2-C3.

Mano, K. (1987). The Cheating Industry. National Review, 39(10), 50-53.

McMurtry, K. (2001). E-cheating: Combating a 21st Century Challenge. The Journal, 29(4), 36-40.

Mechenbier, M. (2011). Cheating the Business Template: Filling in the Blanks. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(2), 192-195.

Roach, R. (1998). High-Tech Cheating. Black Issues in Higher Education, 15(22), 26-27.

Ruth, J. (2015). Papers for Pay: Confessions of an Academic Forger. New York, NY: McFarland.

Schachter, H. (1997). Reinventing Government or Reinventing Ourselves: The Role of Citizen Owners in Making a Better Government. New York, NY: SUNY Press.

Swift, C., Denton, L., & Nonis, S. (1998). Cheating, Internet Style: Guarding Against Online Term Paper Mills. Marketing Education Review, 8(2), 19-27.

Taylor, S. (2014). Term Papers for Hire: How to Deter Academic Dishonesty. Education Digest, 80(2), 52-57.

Freelance writers often find themselves shoehorned in an industry that does not offer a good healthcare plan, insurance plan, or retirement plan. Most writers live from paycheck to paycheck without really considering what their future may be like once their eyesight weakens and their fingers finally submit to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They forget that their financial future is tied directly with their ability to write. Which is why some of them end up in dire financial straits when the time comes. The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way for all the writers. It is never too late to find other freelance writing venues that can help to augment the income of a freelance writer, for retirement purposes that is.

What's that? What's a passive income? Why is it important to my future as a writer? Basically, the passive income is an amount of cash that a writer can receive on a regular basis at a preset amount. It isn't as difficult to earn because the methods of earning the money is a lot simpler than the bidding or marketing that comes with acquiring freelance writing jobs.

There are four, so called, Passive Income Streams that a writer can rely on for additional income.

Affiliations / Ad Revenue

A freelance writer normally advertises his services through a personal website or blog. These two sites are considered prime internet space, depending upon the popularity of the writer. The top, middle, bottom, and sides of the spaces where the writer doesn't have any text can house advertising for related products. The income generated by these ads are based on a click for pay basis. That means, for every ad click that a guest to the site does, the site owner / writer gets paid in the form of promotional consideration. If the visitor decides to make a purchase, the writer then gets a percentage of the sale. In these instances, full disclosure is required so the writer will need to let the visitor know that certain links are monetized in the site.

Digital Product Sales

One of my hobbies is photography. I take photos of various landscapes, sceneries, and still life that I digitally enhance. I then sell these images online as part of stock photo sites. I also offer these graphics as part of the services a writing client may avail of from me to enhance the paper presentation. While this type of passive income requires a little work on my part, I find that it creates an interesting revenue generating stream for something that started out only as a hobby for myself. The best part? I can resell the same photos or image numerous times to the clients.

Self-Publication

During the slow months, I find myself dabbling in another hobby that generates income for myself. I immerse myself in story publications that I sell via self-publication on Amazon. While I don't earn anywhere near JK Rowling or E.L James, the fact that my books are just sitting in an Amazon server and getting sold repeatedly, over a period makes fiction writing a good passive income revenue for myself.

Blogging / Commercial Writing

As an independent writer, this revenue stream should be a no-brainer. Blogs are popularly known as educational sites where the writers impart knowledge based on their own experiences. Freelance writers can easily blog about any topic under the sun. However, a passive income blog needs to focus on a specific type of advice such as parenting, lifestyle, fashion, guns and ammo, fitness, or any topic that the writer knows very well and can write about covering various avenues related to the main thrust of the blog. The main reason the blog is important to a freelance writer is simple, it helps to build the profile and authority of the writer online. It also helps in networking since the blog can be directly linked to the commercial website of the writer where his services can be hired. Most of all, based on the success of the writer's affiliate marketing, the blog can also be used to sell advertising space to the readers.

Freelance writers need to admit that there are dry seasons during the year that limit income generation. In fact, dry seasons may now extend beyond reason because of the AI technology. It also means that the writer needs to dip into a money stash whenever required. Having a passive income stream helps during these instances. Then, during the good months, the writer can use the passive income to build his retirement and savings funds, and he won't have to work very hard at doing so. If a freelance writer is serious about building his retirement future, then this is the best way to do it.

College education is one of the most important accelerators of economic development. It is the basis through which individuals get skills that are good for running the already set commercial enterprises, as well as the creation of business ideas that can lead to the establishment of more commercial empires. College education is not a phenomenon that can be argued to be new, but just an improvement of the traditional forms education that were put in place to equip the population with fundamental knowledge for building the economy. However, there exists a difference in quality of education-the traditional forms of education were more practical oriented, while the current ones are less practical oriented. This renders the college graduates less skilled for today's economy..

College graduates do not have the skills for the development of today's economy due to a number of factors. The most important of the factors is the pressure put on the students, by their lecturers, to pass the exams. In most of the institutions worldwide, students are tasked to achieve a certain pass mark for them to proceed to another level or class. This converts the academic environment into a marks oriented learning style rather than a skills oriented learning platform. Therefore, most of the college graduates may have good scores at the end of their courses, but with skills that are too insufficient for running any economic enterprise.

Internet access has also made it difficult for the students to apply adequate efforts on skills development. Most of the assignments are searched online-even information that is meant to test for the creativity of a student. College students consider the internet as a source of all the vital information that they may need, hence relax their minds with the hope that whatever assignment they may be given by the lecturers, can be found online. This creates a pool of graduates who have a replicated information. The students may have ideas that may not augur well with the economic trends that are experienced almost on a daily basis.

Corruption and poor management are vices that are quite rampant in most colleges. Cases have been reported where college heads admit students for some financial considerations, even when the students are not technically pre-qualified. Hence the right skills are implanted into the wrong person. Moreover, in most colleges, certificates are awarded through dubious means-some students do no literally go for their studies. Instead, they purchase degree certificates and present them for job application and this creates a pool of workers who only have the papers, but not the skills to handle the tasks for which they are employed.

Wrong education systems are observed in most of the colleges, and this may also be another crucial cause of inadequately skilled college graduates. Some colleges have adopted an 80 percent theory oriented education system, which does not put adequate emphasis on the practical aspect of learning. This is important for medical and engineering courses, since they need a combination of both practical and theoretical skills. For example, the current technological trends need college engineering graduates who have the ability to design and fabricate a functional system. From some colleges, only 1 out of 10 engineering graduates is capable of designing an engineering system.

Economic development has different aspects, one being the improvement of quality of college education. However, it has been noted that most college graduates do not have the adequate skills to run the current economy. This is due to score oriented study mode, internet access, corruption, and wrong education systems. Therefore, it is important that these factors are improved, for the achievement of high quality of college education which is needed for the current economy.

Can you start by telling me about yourself?

A lot of my life has revolved around my work as a teacher, first in the UK where I trained, and then in several different African countries. I started off mainly teaching biology and science but my experience seems to have gradually branched out into different subject disciplines. I've taught geography, maths, general studies, chemistry and English, to name but a few. I actually enjoy teaching English more than any other subject and find the experience has helped me enormously in learning more about the subtleties of the language.

Could you tell me something about your academic background?

My university degree was in Zoology but as with most subject disciplines, after the first year of study I was required to focus on some specialist areas. I opted for Parasitology, Evolution and Freshwater Ecology. I was particularly interested in the latter, to the extent that after graduating I spent three years doing research on aquatic insect larvae.

Why did you move into teaching?

Doing research on insects was certainly very interesting but I needed to earn a living. Besides that, I saw teaching as a means of continuing to indulge my passion for biology, but in a more dynamic and interactive environment. Looking back, this was a good decision; besides being rewarding in itself, teaching opened up opportunities to live and work in some countries I had always wanted to visit.

Was teacher-training the end of your university education?

No, I had long intended to complete a higher degree and in 2012 I enrolled for a Master's programme at Leicester University, graduating in July 2016. The written assignments were very demanding and required a lot of time and effort, but I learned many new skills through doing this course.

So what do you do away from work?

Doing all sorts of things with my children, some of which are fun and others onerous but necessary, is undoubtedly the number one priority. I have lots of interests of my own but I try to involve the children in those too, so when I go running, which I do several times a week, I encourage them to join me. I play guitar, keep tropical fish and also write a great deal about many things, such as travel, science and running.

What makes you an excellent research writer?

From feedback I have had in numerous different contexts, I know I write well. I can also write quickly, which can be very useful, whilst still maintaining a high degree of accuracy. I am adept at finding information from different types of source and then building this together in a manner which is structured, coherent and expressed in my own words, rather than those of the authors of the sources used. However, in order to create a really good academic piece of work, it is often necessary to go a step further and, having conducted research using appropriate sources, construct a logical and balanced argument around a key idea. I think the work that I have submitted will demonstrate that I possess this skill.

The other key qualities I bring to research writing are practical ones. First, I have good communication skills and the ability to listen and respond to instructions, essential if a client's needs are to be properly understood. Secondly, the quality of writing is irrelevant if you are unable to do the work on time; my work background has made the meeting of deadlines second nature. Above all, I set high personal standards in my writing and will invariably go the extra mile to ensure that the final product meets the required standard.