This contract cheating workshop was held as part of a teaching and learning confernence at Sheffield Hallam University and includes several discussion style activities. The areas explored include the type of assessments that students are outsourcing, the pricing of the assessments, the wider issues surrounding contract cheating and the move to work together with students to promote a positive view of academic integrity.

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Contract Cheating
A Workshop On The Bespoke Assessment Industry
Presented by Dr. Thomas Lancaster
at Learning and Teaching Conference
Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences
Sheffield Hallam University
on Friday 16 September 2016
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
@DrLancaster

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Background To The Workshop

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Workshop Target Understanding
(Through Presentation and Activities)
What contract cheating is and why this educational
development is of concern
Examples of the ways in which students can outsource
their assignments and the type of work that is being
outsourced
Practical steps that academics can take to reduce the
likelihood and impact of contract cheating in their
modules

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Your Involvement Is Much Encouraged!
Twitter Please tweet observations, comments,
quotes, photos, discussion topics
#LTAConf16
#contractcheating
@DrLancaster
Live Please join in the discussion, ask
questions and contribute stories

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My Background
Active researcher in student cheating and
plagiarism since 2000
Associate Head of School (Marketing and
Recruitment) at Coventry University
Regular media speaker on contract cheating and
related issues
Have wider teaching and learning interests in
student employability, professional online
presences, social media marketing,
entrepreneurship
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
BBC South East Today– BBC1
Dispatches – Channel 4
Fake Britain – BBC1

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References For My Main Contract
Cheating Publications
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015), Contract Cheating – The Outsourcing Of Assessed Student Work, in Handbook of Academic Integrity, Bretag, T. (editor): SpringerReference.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015),The Implications of Plagiarism and Contract Cheating for the Assessment of Database Modules. 13th International Workshop on Teaching, Learning and
Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2015), Birmingham, UK, July 2015.
Hersey, C. and Lancaster, T. (2015), The Online Industry of Paper Mills, Contract Cheating Services, and Auction Sites, Clute Institute International Education Conference, London, June 2015.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), An Observational Analysis Of The Range And Extent Of Contract Cheating From Online Courses Found On Agency Websites; 8th International Conference
on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS 2014), Birmingham City University, UK, July 2014.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), An Initial Analysis Of The Contextual Information Available Within Auction Posts On Contract Cheating Agency Websites, 28th IEEE International
Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications, University of Victoria, May 2014
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014), Using Turnitin As A Tool For Attribution In Cases Of Contract Cheating; 3rd Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, April 2014.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2013). Commercial Aspects Of Contract Cheating; 8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, University of Kent,
Canterbury, UK, July 2013.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2012). Dealing With Contract Cheating: A Question Of Attribution; 1st Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics, Imperial College, London, April 2012.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2010). Staff-Led Individualised Assessment – A Case Study; 11th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and Computer Sciences, Durham
University, August 2010.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2008). How to Succeed at Cheating Without Really Trying: Five Top Tips for Successful Cheating; 9th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information
and Computer Sciences, Liverpool Hope University, August 2008.
Clarke, R, and Lancaster, T (2007). Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating; The Second International Conference on Pervasive Computing and
Applications, Birmingham City University, July 2007.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007). Assessing Contract Cheating Through Auction Sites – A Computing Perspective; 8th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and
Computer Sciences, University of Southampton, August 2007.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007) The Phenomena of Contract Cheating, in Student Plagiarism in an Online World: Problems and solutions, Roberts, T. S. (editor), Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA:
Idea Group Inc.
Clarke, R and Lancaster, T (2006). Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism? Identifying The Usage Of Contract Cheating Sites; 2nd Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference
2006 - Newcastle, UK, June 2006.

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http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
A selection of the talks available on my SlideShare account
(the slides from today’s workshop also available on SlideShare)

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With Thanks To “Detective Bob”
Robert Clarke
My research partner in the contract cheating field
since 2006
Educational Consultant and Researcher at SCL
Former Principal Lecturer at Birmingham City
University with 30 years teaching experience
Enjoys using his free time trying to alert academics
when students try to request other people online to
complete assessed work for that student
Bob has collected over 30,000 attempts made by
students wanting to cheat since we began our
research BBC News at Six – BBC1

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What Exactly is Contract
Cheating?

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About Contract Cheating
Contract cheating describes the process through
which a student has an original piece of work
produced for them:
Usually this requires payment of a fee
Usually this work is submitted for assessment (as if the
student produced the work for themselves)

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Flyer courtesy of Jane Mandalios, Deree, The American College of Greece

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Adverts on a Classified site

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A great
marketing
campaign?

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Found using a Google search for
“write my essay”

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Activity: ‘Good’ And ‘Bad’
Assignments

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Activity
What kind of assignments are most at risk of
contract cheating?
From your own experience, identify:
• Examples of ‘bad’ assignments
• Examples of ‘good’ assignments

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“View from an ‘essay mill’: the best offer
legitimate support for struggling students”
Times Higher Education – September 10 2016
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/view-essay-mill-best-offer-legitimate-support-struggling-students
“It’s incredibly frustrating that we are subject to
the blanket negative perception of our industry,
thanks to an official report that has assessed only
a tiny sample of companies that do not reflect
the operations, ethics or intentions of the
majority.”
“A report like this one only serves to perpetuate
the stigma facing students that seeking external
help is somehow wrong and underhand; how
does that attitude help anyone?”

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Activity: Pricing Assignments

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Activity
The following are examples of assignments
found on outsourcing websites during our
research.
How much do you think that students paid to
have their work completed for them?

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“Critically assess The London Marathon
event in terms of the event’s holistic
impact on its host community”
Place Your Bid… £____
“Assignment (Individual 2000 word essay):
You are required to critically assess a major sporting event in terms of the
event’s holistic impact on its host community.
• London Marathon”

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Winning Bid = £82 GBP

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“Financial Risk Management”
Place Your Bid… £____
“Select a non financial services organisation, then:
1. Outline and rank all the key foreign exchange and interest rate exposures which your
company faces. You should clearly justify your ranking of these risks.
2. . Using a wide range of literature, discuss whether the company should actually manage
the exposures which you have outlined.
3. Recommend and justify how you would manage the top two or three exposures you
have identified.
4. Outline how your recommendations will be integrated as part of an Enterprise Wide Risk
Management Policy
5. . Your chosen company is currently reviewing its treasury structure. Critically evaluate
the different treasury structures which your company could utilize and make a clear and
justified recommendation.”
“Words - 3500-4000”

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Winning Bid = £95 GBP

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“Hydraulics Assignment”
Place Your Bid… £____
“You are the factory engineer working in a highly automated modern factory
that has been in operation for some years.”
“What are the possible causes of the problems; this may include technical and
human issues. Remember, you are being asked to discuss the system fault and
that the rise in temperature is a symptom.
What modifications might you make to protect against this occurrence in
future?, (You are not expected to suggest hydraulic changes as the circuit
generally works well.
What maintenance strategy could be applicable to this piece of equipment?”
“3-4 pages text, or 1250 - 1500 words”

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Winning Bid = £45 GBP ($60 USD)

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The original request was posted by a
known third party subcontractor
(with their location stated as Ukraine)

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“Investigation project (computing) in
Hacking and cybercrime/ cyberwarfare”
Place Your Bid… £____
“I require 50 pages (approximately 15000 words) investigation based project
on Hacking and Cyber warfare (computing).
open to suggestions on any specific route you may want to investigate in this
field. If you have any other relevant computing topics of choice i can consider
them too.
Message me with your ideas i will choose the one that best fits”

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Winning Bid = £400 GBP

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This Represents Only A Very Small
Selection Of Requests!
Not all assignments are traceable
Assignments often get deleted from public view
Students can make private requests for help through their
contacts
Many essay mills keep the requests made to them private,
using their in-house writers or freelance workers

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Activity: Contract Cheating
Scenarios

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Activity
In a small group, discuss the assigned scenario
Report back a short summary of the issues
raised

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What Can We Do About
Contract Cheating?

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Continuing The Discussion
How can we design
assessments that
discourage students
from contract
cheating?
What mechanisms are
available for ensuring
that contract cheating
attempts are not
successful?
What incentives are
there for staff to
ensure that academic
misconduct cases are
pursued?
How can we work
with students as
partners to promote
a positive view of
academic integrity?

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http://www.dusa.org.au/Advocacy-(1)/Contract-Cheating

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International Day of
Action Against
Contract Cheating
October 19, 2016
http://contractcheating.weebly.com

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My Contact And Booking
Information

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Speaker Bookings, Training Opportunities
and Further Information
Dr. Thomas Lancaster Contact Details
Email: thomas.lancaster@coventry.ac.uk
Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
LinkedIn:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
Twitter: @DrLancaster
General Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_cheating
http://contractcheating.com
Contract Cheating Special Interest Group
(originally supported by the Higher
Education Academy):
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-
bin/webadmin?A0=CONTRACTCHEATING