College Essay Websites

Plagiarism websites are everywhere. Should they be illegal, or do the consequences of trying to make them illegal outweigh the benefits?

Concerned about how to avoid or prevent plagiarism? Here are some articles about plagiarism that may help you:

• A definition of plagiarism.
• A discussion of why plagiarism is a bad idea.
• Tips for teachers to help prevent plagiarism.
• Strategies for dealing with last minute papers that are great alternatives to plagiarism.

Thanks to websites all over the Internet that offer free college essays and college essay writing services, sites that buy and sell term papers has become big business on the Internet. The quality of these essays vary, but if a student is willing to pay enough, well-written essays are available. Students can also use these websites to pay people to write college essays. Some of these sites also allow students to hire someone to write a masters thesis or even a dissertation.

Why aren't these sites illegal? Well, in a nutshell, although plagiarism violates intellectual property law, these sites technically do not commit plagiarism (although they do aid and abet plagiarism). Term paper websites purchase people's writing and then sell it for a profit. As long as they post and sell papers only when they have the author's permission, they're engaged in a transaction like any other. Many of these websites claim that the essays are being offered only as "sample essays" to help students write quality original essays. Uh huh. Websites that sell custom paper writing services aren't technically committing plagiarism either. They're selling writer services.

Should these sites be illegal?

I hate plagiarism with every ounce of my body. Plagiarism shows a complete lack of respect for the educational process. In my opinion, these websites are among the sleaziest things on the Internet, even more so than most pornography on the web.

However, as the good web geek that I am, I fear the consequences of censoring just about anything on the Internet. Setting a precedent for legislation on the Internet truly can be a slippery slope. The freedom afforded by the Internet is worth the garbage we have to put up with, and these sites are among the garbage. Besides, regulating just about anything on the Internet is a logistical nightmare. If these sites became illegal, plagiarism sites would simply become a little more difficult to find. Look what's happened with illegal music downloads. Illegal plagiarism sites would simply move offshore, like Internet gambling sites.

I doubt these sites are going anywhere. In fact, take a look at the Google ads for this blog entry and for my above listed articles about plagiarism. I don't control the ads on this site, which are triggered by keywords. I betcha many of these ads are for plagiarism websites! How's that for irony?