Who are the writers working for essay mills and composing new original assignments for students? This presentation, delivered at the URKUND conference on Plagiarism, Ethics, Pedagogy and Practices 2018 explores the people behind contract cheating business, including insights about how much they are paid, the type of qualifications they have, the ways they are advertising and the risks that students using essay mills and contract cheating services face.

1. Who Writes The
Assignments For
Our Students?
Dr. Thomas Lancaster
http://www.thomaslancaster.co.uk
@DrLancaster
#contractcheating
Plagiarism, Ethics, Pedagogy and Practices 2018
Stockholm, Sweden
Friday, 24 August 2018

2. Dr. Thomas
Lancaster
Interests
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism and Contract Cheating
Computer Science (Imperial College London)
Researcher/Lecturer/Trainer/
Media Speaker/Consultant

3. National and
International
Policy
Research Interests
Contract Cheating
(original study with Robert Clarke - 2006)
Exam Integrity
Essay Mill Marketing and Business Models
(ongoing research into essay mill writers)
Academic Integrity in
South East Europe

4. What Are We
Discussing?

5. Who Writes The Assignments
For Our Students?
or…
What can we deduce about the
essay mill industry and the writers
who keep it functioning?

6. Please Get Involved
Twitter
@DrLancaster
#contractcheating
Slide archive available at
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster

7. Contract Cheating and
Essay Mills

8. Traditional
Plagiarism
Is Dead?

9. Contract Cheating
(General Description)
A student pays/uses a third
party to create their
academic work for them
(or attempts to do so)

10. Essay mill adverts found at a university in Toronto, Canada

11. It Is Easy To
Outsource!

12. Services
Are Varied

13. Essay Mills Offer Support?

14. Affordability
Is Key

15. We Are Encouraged To Work
Smarter!

16. And Creativity
Can Be Faked!

17. 12 Linked Observations About
“Academic Writers” In The
Essay Mill Industry

18. Some Qualified Individuals May
Write As Their Second Job

20. Students May Know Their Writer

21. https://cheatingandassessment.edu.au
The Writer May Not
Be Operating
Commercially

22. Student Comment From A South
East Europe Focus Group
“I wrote many works for other students,
also at high school, it’s very often”
Final SEEPPAI Report
http://www.plagiarism.cz/seeppai

23. Much Commercial Essay Writing
Is A Low End Profession

24. Low End Workers In
Essay Factories Paid
£3 GBP For 2000
Words
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog/buy-an-essay-essay-mills-
and-contract-cheating-pricing

25. https://twitter.com/OpenProctor/status/1030494634869497856

26. Pay
from
£63 GBP
per
month
(less for interns)

27. Academic writing jobs can
be the equivalent of
working for a “sweat shop”

28. Advertised Qualifications Are
Impressive…

29. Typical advertised
qualifications
Typical Gigs
(offers from freelancers)

30. Advert on Craigslist – August 2018

31. …but the Writer May Not Be Who
You Think It Is!

32. Essay Mill Writers Work Widely
Across Subjects

33. Writers are
unlikely to be
specialists

34. Popular Essay Mills Subjects
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2012), Dealing with
Contract Cheating: A Question of Attribution, 1st HEA
STEM Conference April 2012, London, United Kingdom
EssayBay
(Data From 2010)
Transtutors
(Data From 2010 to 2013)
From An Essay Mill Writer
(Observations From 2016)
Private Communication
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.
1st Business
2nd Social Studies
3rd History and
Philosophy
=1st Business
=1st Computing
3rd Accounting and
Finance
1st Business
=2nd Health and Nursing
=2nd Computing

35. Essay Writers Are Often
International (Regardless Of
Essay Mill Advertising)

36. Shiva Sivasubramaniam
found evidence of
international students
graduating and returning to
their home country to set up
a contract cheating service
Sivasubramaniam, S., Kostelidou, K. & Ramachandran, S. Int J Educ
Integr (2016) 12: 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-016-0007-9

37. Advertised Location Of Writers
Rank Location
1st Kenya
2nd United States
3rd Pakistan
Based on an analysis of Fiverr.com essay writer profiles (unpublished)

38. Many Writers Are Part Of A
“Desperate Workforce”

40. Essay Writers May Be Acting
Illegally

41. Times Higher Education – 9 August 2018

42. Essay Writing Is “A Thing”

43. Just a few examples that are safe to display!

44. The Essay Mills, Writers and
Bots Are Waiting To Take
Advantage Of Any Student
Weakness

48. Writers Can Be
Dangerous

49. Buyer Beware!

50. https://twitter.com/EssayScam/status/1029427612354076672

52. Writers Amuse Themselves

53. Confessions From Nick Mamatas –
Student Essay Writer
http://thesmartset.com/article10100801
“The secret to the gig is to amuse yourself. I have
to, really, as most paper topics are deadly boring.”
“Whenever papers needed to refer to a client’s
own life experiences, I’d give the student various
sexual hang-ups.”

54. What Should We Do?

55. Opportunities
Continue with
research into the
essay industry
Address the
motivations of essay
writers and if they
can be alternatively
supported
Redevelop
assessment that is
resistant to
plagiarism and
contract cheating
Work with students
to discourage them
from using contract
cheating services

56. My Email: thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk
My Website: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
My Blog: http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
My LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
My Twitter: @DrLancaster
Slide Archive:
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
Connect With Me For
Academic Integrity Support