While essay writing services aim to help students who are struggling with their academic workload, there are some legitimate problems and concerns regarding these types of companies. When considering using an essay writing service, students should be aware of the potential risks and ethical issues involved.
Plagiarism is perhaps the biggest problem with using essay writing services. When a paper is written by someone other than the student, there is an inherent risk of plagiarism if proper citation of sources is not followed. Essay writing companies do not have a personal stake in a student’s academic success, so there is less incentive for writers to carefully follow citation guidelines. Even if a paper is written from scratch without directly copying sources, there remains the possibility that certain phrasings, ideas or arguments mirror those from other works without proper attribution. Plagiarism can lead to severe academic punishment for students, including failure of assignments, courses or even expulsion from their academic program in some cases.
Another major issue is that using pre-written papers undermines the learning process. Part of the value of writing assignments is to help students actively engage with course material and demonstrate their understanding. Simply purchasing and submitting a paper does not allow students to learn how to research, analyze, structure arguments or communicate ideas in their own words. This can negatively impact a student’s comprehension of the subject matter and ability to think critically. It also gives students a false sense of mastery over concepts they may not truly grasp. Some teachers design assignments to match learning outcomes for their courses, so merely copying another’s work circumvents the learning objectives they aim to achieve.
There are legal and ethical considerations regarding intellectual property as well. Essay writing services operate in a gray area where they are essentially selling academic work, yet ownership of that content can become ambiguous. If a paper is discovered to be plagiarized or otherwise problematic, the student risks being accused of academic dishonesty or contract breach depending on their school’s honor code. On the service provider side, the original author maintains copyright over any pre-written work they produce, yet multiple copies are sold to different customers. This complicates determining who truly owns the content and intellectual property if issues emerge later on.
Quality is another unpredictable factor with essay writing services. While some companies employ experienced academic writers who can produce high-quality work, others may outsource writing to freelancers of varying backgrounds and competencies. Students have no way of confirming a writer’s credentials ahead of time. Papers can range widely in terms of thoroughness of research, logical flow, grammar, format and adherence to assignment guidelines. This leaves students gambling on whether the final product will meet their needs for a particular class. Poorly written or subpar papers provide no real academic benefit and may even reflect poorly on a student to their teacher if deficits are noticeable.
The turnaround times promised by services also aren’t always realistic. Sites touting papers written within hours or days for an affordable price point tend to raise flags about how thoroughly content can possibly be researched and composed within such compressed deadlines. This incentivizes a bulk “content mill” approach over nuanced scholarship in many cases. Tight deadlines also provide less opportunity for a student to properly review what they are submitting and catch any issues.
From a cost perspective, essay writing services prove relatively expensive for what students receive, posing its own set of problems. A typical university student operates within a limited budget, yet hundreds or even thousands of dollars can be spent on pre-written papers over the course of a degree program if relied upon heavily. That significant cumulative investment could be better spent on educational materials, supplies or everyday living expenses. Financially, it amounts to paying someone else to obtain a qualification without gaining the knowledge, skills and qualifications that should be the end goal.
Finally, dependence on essay writing services can enable poor time management habits that are counterproductive for students. Rather than properly budgeting their schedule to research, draft, get feedback and revise assignments independently, the quick fix temptation of outside help may seem more appealing in a pinch. But long-term it fosters procrastination because students don’t practice self-sufficiency. It also withdraws incentive to improve planning, prioritization and writing capabilities that serve students well beyond their degrees. Relying too heavily on essay services doesn’t prepare individuals for personal responsibility needed in future professional roles requiring self-motivated work.
While the intention of offering help to struggling students is understandable, essay writing services ultimately do students a disservice. The combination of plagiarism risks, compromise to the learning process, questionable quality and ownership issues, unrealistic expectations, high costs and enablement of poor academic habits make these companies problematic on multiple fronts. Students are best served by time management, utilizing educational supports provided directly by their institution, and developing their independent research, thinking and communication abilities to complete authentic academic work themselves to the best of their ability.
Andrew Stroud