A brief look at the world of contract cheating in academics.

1. Contract Cheating:
The Dark Side
of Buying
Assignments
Online
Getty
Images

2. Definition
Contract Cheating
“The process through which students can
have original work produced for them,
which they can then submit as if this were
their own work. Often this involved the
payment of a fee and this can be facilitated
using online auction sites.”
-Thomas Lancaster, Academic Integrity Expert, UK
Contract cheating comes in a variety of forms
where there is a monetary or non-monetary
exchange for work.
Examples include having someone else
• provide original work (Essay Mills, ghost writers)
• provide other academic work (labs, homework,
reflective discussion posts, presentations)
• complete on-line or in-person tests, or attend
mandatory classes (Stand-ins, Bots)
• provide professionally edited versions of the
student’s work for submission

3. Contract Cheating
Industry
Who are they?
While primarily used in referring to Essay Mill
companies, the contract cheating industry can be
expanded to include (Ellis et al., 2018):
• Family and friends
• Academic custom writing sites
• Learning sites (file sharing, discussion, tutoring)
• Non-learning sites (freelances, online auctions)
• Paid exam takers
• Pre-written essay banks

4. Contract Cheating
Industry
What do they do?
The International Centre for Academic Integrity (2020) notes
the following as some of the questionable behaviour of these
companies:
• User to register with a non-institutional identifying email –
making it more difficult for institutions to know who has
viewed or posted information.
• Creating hurdles for educational administrators and
instructors who are trying to get information about the
posts and/or remove posts of copyrighted materials.
• Requiring educational administrators and instructors to buy
an account to monitor the illegal posting of copyrighted or
otherwise prohibited materials, to check if academic
assignments and tests have been shared, and to determine
who shared these materials and who has accessed them,
both of which are academic offences.
• Blackmailing students by threatening to notify their
educational institutions that the student has been
accessing unauthorized materials or assistance.

5. Why do students cheat?

6. How do they reach students?
Marketing
University of Calgary Dr. Sarah Eaton (Isai, 2020)
was recently noted “marketing for these
companies is highly predatory, highly seductive,
and students don't always know what they’re
getting into when they sign up for the services.”
Marketing comes to students via social media
and direct email, with assurances that it is
“acceptable” and “common practice”

7. Example 1:

8. Example 1:

9. Example 1:

10. Example 2:

11. Example 2:

12. Example 3:

13. Example 3:

14. Impacts
Policy Development
Some feel that contract cheating is already encompassed in traditional definitions of plagiarism and cheating
within existing policies, while others believe that it warrants its own category.
Those calling for its inclusion as its own type of violation note that in doing so recognizes the intentionality of
dishonesty in engaging in contract cheating, which surpasses the intent of a student’s possible passive plagiarism
of a piece of someone else’s work.
Recent research reviewing policies of both Ontario College and Universities shows that institutions have lacked
defining contract cheating clearly. If policies are to be used to educate students, there is a definitive need to
change this in the future.

15. Impacts
Short-Term
There are a number of short-term impacts to students, if no action (preventative or educational) takes place
around contract cheating:
• Students are not aware of the risks of sharing their information with predatory businesses
• Students not meeting the core learning outcomes of a course
• Relations between groups and teams within classes may be affected

16. Impacts
Long-Term
Like any drastic increase in academic integrity violations, an increase in contract cheating without definitive action
to deter such behaviour, can pose a number of long-term impacts:
• Students will not benefit from the courses they have taken
• Difficulty finding meaningful work – leading to self-confidence issues and possible depression
• Unethical behaviour may continue into the workplace
• Creation of a skills deficit in the communities in which we live and work

17. Contract Cheating in the
Covid-19 Context
Dr. Thomas Lancaster (June 2020) presented a few
key ideas in June of 2020 about the impact and
potential growth of contract cheating in the Covid-
19 context.
How do we position college resources to reinforce
academic integrity and increase students self
confidence in remote learning environment to
protect students from these companies?
1. Marketing streams for existing contract cheating
companies are tech savvy and have embedded
themselves across several social media networks.
2. Contract cheating companies capitalized in the spring
through messaging to students - “We are here to
help.”
3. Vast majority of these companies are positioning
themselves as a safe reliable tutoring alternative,
unrestricted by time and space.
4. Thought needs to be given to possible consequences
if institutions do not act.
5. The ability to act exists, through educating students
on academic integrity and the risks involved in
different forms of violations, including contract
cheating.

18. Next steps
How do we Stop Contract Cheating
Research (QAA, 2020) calls for the following steps to combat the rise of contract cheating across post secondary
institutions:
• Education
• Information and support for students
• Training and information for faculty and staff
• Reduction of opportunities to cheat
• Detection
• Regulations and policies

19. Next Steps
Academic Integrity at Fleming
• Information and support for students
• Resource development for student preventative education
• In-Class activities and information
• Workshops (D2L modules and remote group delivery)
• Participation in International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating
• Training and information for faculty and staff
• Dedicated staff to support faculty
• Supports through the VP Academic Office

20. Next Steps
Academic Integrity at Fleming
• Reduction of opportunities to cheat
• LDS support for faculty in assessment review and development
• Working towards implementation of pop-up on D2L dropbox submissions
• Detection
• TurnItIn implementation and access outside of class for student use
• RespondUs usage for e-proctoring
• Regulations and policies
• Updated policies in 2017, procedures 2018
• Moving towards data analytics of violations to assist in identifying needed resources and problem
areas

21. Where To From Here
Start of the Conversation
Conversations need to take place.
• What is working?
• How best do we engage students in the conversation?
• What assessment formats work best in your classes that would prevent contract cheating?
• What supports and resources are needed to support faculty dealing with violations?
• How do we support students drawn into contract cheating?

22. Isai, V. (2020). The Covid-19 pandemic is changing how students cheat – and get caught. National Observer. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/09/28/news/covid-19-
pandemic-changing-how-students-cheat-and-get-caught
Lancaster, T. (2020, June 18). Contract cheating in the context of Covid-19: five key ideas to consider. [PowerPoint Slides]. Slide Share. https://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
Quality Assurance Agency. (2020). Contracting to cheat in higher education: Hoe to address essay mills and contract cheating. 2nd Edition.
https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/guidance/contracting-to-cheat-in-higher-education-2nd-edition.pdf?sfvrsn=6197cf81_24
Newton, P. (2018). How common is commercial contract cheating in higher education and is it increasing? A systematic review. Frontiers in Education, 3(67).
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feduc.2018.00067
Ellis, C., Zucker, I.M. & Randall, D. (2018). The infernal business of contract cheating: understanding the business processes and models of academic custom writing sites.
International Journal for Educational Integrity 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-017-0024-3
References