Edubirdie is an online writing service that allows students to hire freelance writers to complete school assignments such as essays, research papers, lab reports, and more. Since its founding in 2014, Edubirdie has grown significantly and claims to have helped thousands of students. The company is also quite controversial as many argue that using its services violates academic integrity policies at most schools. This article will take an in-depth look at Edubirdie to analyze how it operates and evaluate its legitimacy.
How Edubirdie Works
Students can visit Edubirdie’s website and submit an order form requesting a paper be written on a given topic. They provide basic instructions about the assignment details, word count or page length, formatting style like APA or MLA, and delivery deadline. These details help writers bid on the order. Student can view writers’ profiles that show their qualifications, experience, customer reviews, and success rates. They can also view sample papers the writer has completed.
Once a writer is selected, they receive further instructions from the client and start drafting the paper. During the writing process, the student can check in to provide feedback, ask clarifying questions, or request revisions. The writer incorporates these changes and submits a draft before the deadline. The student then reviews the completed paper and can request further changes if needed. Once approved, they pay for the order via PayPal, debit/credit card, or other payment methods.
The cost of Edubirdie papers varies depending on academic level (high school to PhD), word count or page length, deadline timeframe, and type of paper. Their writing services typically range from $15-$50 per page. Students can also request subject specialists or native English writers for an additional fee. A completed high school 5-page essay could cost around $75 total. Prices climb significantly for graduate-level research papers, dissertations, or papers with rush deadlines.
Customer Service & Refund Policy
Edubirdie markets itself as providing a high-quality customer experience. The company claims to have teams of writers available 24/7 to take on urgent orders. They emphasize fast turnaround times, with options for same-day or overnight delivery. The site also allows live chat, phone, and email support to help students track orders, get status updates, or resolve issues.
They offer refunds for unoriginal work or failure to follow instructions. Refund requests must be initiated within 14 days and may not exceed 30% of the total order cost. Papers not submitted on time, but delivered late, may only receive partial refunds. Their terms state no refunds will be given for academic failure, poor grades, customer dissatisfaction with results, or plagiarism detected by Turnitin/SafeAssign.
Debate Over Edubirdie’s Legitimacy
While Edubirdie provides a polished selling point, their writing services remain quite controversial. Major criticisms of the website include:
Academic Dishonesty: Most schools prohibit contracted writers or pre-written papers. Using Edubirdie violates codes on plagiarism, integrity, and independent effort. Students risk punishment like failure, suspension, or expulsion if caught.
Quality Consistency Issues: While samples look good, writers have short deadlines and high workloads. Inconsistent quality, errors, or weak arguments may still happen. Students pay for original content but get standard paper mills.
Learning Hindrance: By outsourcing work, students don’t build research/writing skills. They don’t truly understand assignments and can’t apply knowledge to future coursework or careers. They also don’t learn time management.
Unethical Business Practices: Like other essay mills, Edubirdie profits on academic dishonesty. Writers may not have claimed qualifications. Papers could be copied from existing sources or written inadequately. Refund policies aren’t always fairly applied.
Possible Plagiarism: Despite Edubirdie’s own disclaimer, papers may contain plagiarized content that a simple Turnitin search would detect. Writers have incentive to copy and paste existing information.
While Edubirdie portrays itself as a helpful study aid, most experts and educators agree its core services directly undermine academic integrity. Some students feel pressure to use essay mills but shouldn’t jeopardize their education and career prospects. Instead, they are advised to practice time management, use official school resources like writing centers, and learn to complete assignments independently with academic honesty
While Edubirdie presents a polished brand, its core business model of contracted writing inherently violates standards of academic integrity. Students risk punishment if submitted work is discovered to be from the website. While fast completion and guarantees seem appealing under pressure, the legitimate path is to build research/writing skills and submit wholly original work independently to learn and earn grades honestly. Overall, Edubirdie cannot reasonably claim to operate with full legitimacy given the questionable ethics involved in outsourcing academic work.