Once again, I have been alerted to the presence near the campus of people handing out flyers offering ‘custom-written essays’ – for a price.
Just in case anyone is tempted by this offer – a good mark for zero effort – I need to remind all students of the likely consequences. If I get someone else to write my essay for me, and give it in for marking under my own name, then I have committed plagiarism, which is an academic offence. The usual penalty for this kind of plagiarism would be for a student to fail the assignment or indeed the whole module concerned, at zero and with no re-assessment allowed. The effect of a mark of zero at Level 3 is almost certain to be that the student will not be able to achieve an honours degree ie no (Hons) classification, no 2:1 or 2:2 etc – at best, a ‘Pass’ degree.
Please don’t throw your hard work away! I don’t know what this ‘service’ means by “100% Plagiarism Free” – perhaps they mean that their ghost writers put in all the references – except of course for revealing that they are the actual producers of the overall work.
The University regulations are clear on this – “It is also an academic offence to solicit via an illicit source – including the internet – material which could provide an unfair advantage in respect of work to be submitted for assessment; an example of this would be offering to pay another person to provide material or otherwise to assist in producing work for assessment”.
I urge you not to risk it.
If in any doubt, consult your tutors.
Paul Walsh – University Secretary and Chair of the Academic Offences Committee