RE: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your students' papers.

["David H Kirshner" <dkirsh@lsu.edu>]

The irony is that he started out wanting to be a writer. Now he's
published something for a legitimate periodical, but he can't sign his
own name. 
David


-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
On Behalf Of Andy Blunden
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 6:16 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your students'
papers.

No, I found the story so compelling that I immediately believed it.
Why fake an article about faking articles?
andy
Wagner Schmit wrote:
> And in some cases these Graduate students become Professors! At least
in
> Brazil through fraudulent Professor selections for Public Universities
our
> by "friendship" in Private Universities.
>
> Some people already asked me if i would like to write their papers and
etc,
> but despite my very low payment as a temporary collaborator professor,
i
> denied!
>
> And i have many students in a private college that can't write
anything with
> coherence or comprehend an average academic text, but they will become
> elementary teachers in Brazil, teaching kids how to "read and write",
i do
> my best to change this, but money and "friends" always wins.
>
> In the public University it is not so bad, but things are getting ugly
every
> year, now that what matter for a  professor in Brazil is the number of
> papers you and your students write in an year to get funding.
>
> I wonder who read all these articles.
>
> You think this is fake Andy?
>
> Wagner
>
> On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 6:17 PM, David H Kirshner <dkirsh@lsu.edu>
wrote:
>
>   
>> Not a propos of anything, this is both amusing and disturbing.
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ****************************
>>
>> >From the Chronicle Review [A Weekly Magazine of Ideas/Chronicle of
>> Higher Education], Friday, November 19, 2010, pp. B6-B9. See
>> http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/
>>
>> ****************************
>>
>> The Shadow Scholar
>>
>>
>>
>> The man who writes your students' papers tells his story
>>
>>
>>
>> By Ed Dante
>>
>>
>> -------------------------------
>>
>> Editor's note: Ed Dante is a pseudonym for a writer who lives on the
>> East Coast. Through a literary agent, he approached The Chronicle
>> wanting to tell the story of how he makes a living writing papers for
a
>> custom-essay company and to describe the extent of student cheating
he
>> has observed. In the course of editing his article, The Chronicle
>> reviewed correspondence Dante had with clients and some of the papers
he
>> had been paid to write. In the article published here, some details
of
>> the assignment he describes have been altered to protect the identity
of
>> the student.
>> ---------------------------------
>> The request came in by e-mail around 2 in the afternoon. It was from
a
>> previous customer, and she had urgent business. I quote her message
here
>> verbatim (if I had to put up with it, so should you): "You did me
>> business ethics propsal for me I need propsal got approved pls can
you
>> will write me paper?"
>>
>>
>> I've gotten pretty good at interpreting this kind of correspondence.
The
>> client had attached a document from her professor with details about
the
>> paper. She needed the first section in a week. Seventy-five pages.
>>
>>
>> I told her no problem.
>>
>>
>>
>> It truly was no problem. In the past year, I've written roughly 5,000
>> pages of scholarly literature, most on very tight deadlines. But you
>> won't find my name on a single paper.
>>
>>
>>
>> I've written toward a master's degree in cognitive psychology, a
Ph.D.
>> in sociology, and a handful of postgraduate credits in international
>> diplomacy. I've worked on bachelor's degrees in hospitality, business
>> administration, and accounting. I've written for courses in history,
>> cinema, labor relations, pharmacology, theology, sports management,
>> maritime security, airline services, sustainability, municipal
>> budgeting, marketing, philosophy, ethics, Eastern religion,
postmodern
>> architecture, anthropology, literature, and public administration.
I've
>> attended three dozen online universities. I've completed 12 graduate
>> theses of 50 pages or more. All for someone else.
>>
>>
>> You've never heard of me, but there's a good chance that you've read
>> some of my work. I'm a hired gun, a doctor of everything, an academic
>> mercenary. My customers are your students. I promise you that.
Somebody
>> in your classroom uses a service that you can't detect, that you
can't
>> defend against, that you may not even know exists.
>>
>>
>> I work at an online company that generates tens of thousands of
dollars
>> a month by creating original essays based on specific instructions
>> provided by cheating students. I've worked there full time since
2004.
>> On any day of the academic year, I am working on upward of 20
>> assignments.
>>
>>
>> In the midst of this great recession, business is booming. At busy
>> times, during midterms and finals, my company's staff of roughly 50
>> writers is not large enough to satisfy the demands of students who
will
>> pay for our work and claim it as their own.
>>
>>
>> You would be amazed by the incompetence of your students' writing. I
>> have seen the word "desperate" misspelled every way you can imagine.
And
>> these students truly are desperate. They couldn't write a convincing
>> grocery list, yet they are in graduate school. They really need help.
>> They need help learning and, separately, they need help passing their
>> courses. But they aren't getting it.
>>
>>
>> For those of you who have ever mentored a student through the writing
of
>> a dissertation, served on a thesis-review committee, or guided a
>> graduate student through a formal research process, I have a
question:
>> Do you ever wonder how a student who struggles to formulate complete
>> sentences in conversation manages to produce marginally competent
>> research? How does that student get by you?
>>
>>
>> I live well on the desperation, misery, and incompetence that your
>> educational system has created. Granted, as a writer, I could earn
more;
>> certainly there are ways to earn less. But I never struggle to find
>> work. And as my peers trudge through thankless office jobs that seem
>> more intolerable with every passing month of our sustained recession,
I
>> am on pace for my best year yet. I will make roughly $66,000 this
year.
>> Not a king's ransom, but higher than what many actual educators are
>> paid.
>>
>>
>> Of course, I know you are aware that cheating occurs. But you have no
>> idea how deeply this kind of cheating penetrates the academic system,
>> much less how to stop it. Last summer The New York Times reported
that
>> 61 percent of undergraduates have admitted to some form of cheating
on
>> assignments and exams. Yet there is little discussion about custom
>> papers and how they differ from more-detectable forms of plagiarism,
or
>> about why students cheat in the first place.
>>
>>
>> It is my hope that this essay will initiate such a conversation. As
for
>> me, I'm planning to retire. I'm tired of helping you make your
students
>> look competent.
>>
>>
>> It is late in the semester when the business student contacts me, a
time
>> when I typically juggle deadlines and push out 20 to 40 pages a day.
I
>> had written a short research proposal for her a few weeks before,
>> suggesting a project that connected a surge of unethical business
>> practices to the patterns of trade liberalization. The proposal was
>> approved, and now I had six days to complete the assignment. This was
>> not quite a rush order, which we get top dollar to write. This
>> assignment would be priced at a standard $2,000, half of which goes
in
>> my pocket.
>>
>>
>> A few hours after I had agreed to write the paper, I received the
>> following e-mail: "sending sorces for ur to use thanx."
>>
>>
>>
>> I did not reply immediately. One hour later, I received another
message:
>> "did u get the sorce I send
>>
>> please where you are now? Desprit to pass spring projict"
>>
>>
>> Not only was this student going to be a constant thorn in my side,
but
>> she also communicated in haiku, each less decipherable than the one
>> before it. I let her know that I was giving her work the utmost
>> attention, that I had received her sources, and that I would be in
touch
>> if I had any questions. Then I put it aside.
>>
>>
>> >From my experience, three demographic groups seek out my services:
the
>> English-as-second-language student; the hopelessly deficient student;
>> and the lazy rich kid.
>>
>>
>> For the last, colleges are a perfect launching ground-they are built
to
>> reward the rich and to forgive them their laziness. Let's be honest:
The
>> successful among us are not always the best and the brightest, and
>> certainly not the most ethical. My favorite customers are those with
an
>> unlimited supply of money and no shortage of instructions on how they
>> would like to see their work executed. While the deficient student
will
>> generally not know how to ask for what he wants until he doesn't get
it,
>> the lazy rich student will know exactly what he wants. He is poised
for
>> a life of paying others and telling them what to do. Indeed, he is
>> acquiring all the skills he needs to stay on top.
>>
>>
>> As for the first two types of students-the ESL and the hopelessly
>> deficient-colleges are utterly failing them. Students who come to
>> American universities from other countries find that their efforts to
>> learn a new language are confounded not only by cultural difficulties
>> but also by the pressures of grading. The focus on evaluation rather
>> than education means that those who haven't mastered English must do
so
>> quickly or suffer the consequences. My service provides a
particularly
>> quick way to "master" English. And those who are hopelessly
deficient-a
>> euphemism, I admit-struggle with communication in general.
>>
>>
>> Two days had passed since I last heard from the business student.
>> Overnight I had received 14 e-mails from her. She had additional
>> instructions for the assignment, such as "but more again please make
>> sure they are a good link betwee the leticture review and all the
>> chapter and the benfet of my paper. finally do you think the level of
>> this work? how match i can get it?"
>>
>>
>> I'll admit, I didn't fully understand that one.
>>
>>
>> It was followed by some clarification: "where u are can you get my
>> messages? Please I pay a lot and dont have ao to faile I strated to
get
>> very worry."
>>
>>
>> Her messages had arrived between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. Again I assured
her I
>> had the matter under control.
>>
>>
>> It was true. At this point, there are few academic challenges that I
>> find intimidating. You name it, I've been paid to write about it.
>>
>>
>> Customers' orders are endlessly different yet strangely all the same.
No
>> matter what the subject, clients want to be assured that their
>> assignment is in capable hands. It would be terrible to think that
your
>> Ivy League graduate thesis was riding on the work ethic and
perspicacity
>> of a public-university slacker. So part of my job is to be whatever
my
>> clients want me to be. I say yes when I am asked if I have a Ph.D. in
>> sociology. I say yes when I am asked if I have professional training
in
>> industrial/organizational psychology. I say yes when asked if I have
>> ever designed a perpetual-motion-powered time machine and documented
my
>> efforts in a peer-reviewed journal.
>>
>>
>> The subject matter, the grade level, the college, the course-these
>> things are irrelevant to me. Prices are determined per page and are
>> based on how long I have to complete the assignment. As long as it
>> doesn't require me to do any math or video-documented animal
husbandry,
>> I will write anything.
>>
>>
>> I have completed countless online courses. Students provide me with
>> passwords and user names so I can access key documents and online
exams.
>> In some instances, I have even contributed to weekly online
discussions
>> with other students in the class.
>>
>>
>> I have become a master of the admissions essay. I have written these
for
>> undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs, some at elite
>> universities. I can explain exactly why you're Brown material, why
the
>> Wharton M.B.A. program would benefit from your presence, how certain
>> life experiences have prepared you for the rigors of your chosen
course
>> of study. I do not mean to be insensitive, but I can't tell you how
many
>> times I've been paid to write about somebody helping a loved one
battle
>> cancer. I've written essays that could be adapted into Meryl Streep
>> movies.
>>
>>
>> I do a lot of work for seminary students. I like seminary students.
They
>> seem so blissfully unaware of the inherent contradiction in paying
>> somebody to help them cheat in courses that are largely about walking
in
>> the light of God and providing an ethical model for others to follow.
I
>> have been commissioned to write many a passionate condemnation of
>> America's moral decay as exemplified by abortion, gay marriage, or
the
>> teaching of evolution. All in all, we may presume that clerical
>> authorities see these as a greater threat than the plagiarism
committed
>> by the future frocked.
>>
>>
>> With respect to America's nurses, fear not. Our lives are in capable
>> hands?-just hands that can't write a lick. Nursing students account
for
>> one of my company's biggest customer bases. I've written
case-management
>> plans, reports on nursing ethics, and essays on why nurse
practitioners
>> are lighting the way to the future of medicine. I've even written
>> pharmaceutical-treatment courses, for patients who I hope were
>> hypothetical.
>>
>>
>> I, who have no name, no opinions, and no style, have written so many
>> papers at this point, including legal briefs, military-strategy
>> assessments, poems, lab reports, and, yes, even papers on academic
>> integrity, that it's hard to determine which course of study is most
>> infested with cheating. But I'd say education is the worst. I've
written
>> papers for students in elementary-education programs,
special-education
>> majors, and ESL-training courses. I've written lesson plans for
aspiring
>> high-school teachers, and I've synthesized reports from notes that
>> customers have taken during classroom observations. I've written
essays
>> for those studying to become school administrators, and I've
completed
>> theses for those on course to become principals. In the enormous
>> conspiracy that is student cheating, the frontline intelligence
>> community is infiltrated by double agents. (Future educators of
America,
>> I know who you are.)
>>
>>
>> As the deadline for the business-ethics paper approaches, I think
about
>> what's ahead of me. Whenever I take on an assignment this large, I
get a
>> certain physical sensation. My body says: Are you sure you want to do
>> this again? You know how much it hurt the last time. You know this
>> student will be with you for a long time. You know you will become
her
>> emergency contact, her guidance counselor and life raft. You know
that
>> for the 48 hours that you dedicate to writing this paper, you will
cease
>> all human functions but typing, you will Google until the term has
lost
>> all meaning, and you will drink enough coffee to fuel a revolution in
a
>> small Central American country.
>>
>>
>> But then there's the money, the sense that I must capitalize on
>> opportunity, and even a bit of a thrill in seeing whether I can do
it.
>>
>>
>> And I can. It's not implausible to write a 75-page paper in two days.
>> It's just miserable. I don't need much sleep, and when I get
cranking, I
>> can churn out four or five pages an hour. First I lay out the
sections
>> of an assignment-introduction, problem statement, methodology,
>> literature review, findings, conclusion-whatever the instructions
call
>> for. Then I start Googling.
>>
>>
>> I haven't been to a library once since I started doing this job.
Amazon
>> is quite generous about free samples. If I can find a single page
from a
>> particular text, I can cobble that into a report, deducing what I
don't
>> know from customer reviews and publisher blurbs. Google Scholar is a
>> great source for material, providing the abstract of nearly any
journal
>> article. And of course, there's Wikipedia, which is often my first
stop
>> when dealing with unfamiliar subjects. Naturally one must verify such
>> material elsewhere, but I've taken hundreds of crash courses this
way.
>>
>>
>> After I've gathered my sources, I pull out usable quotes, cite them,
and
>> distribute them among the sections of the assignment. Over the years,
>> I've refined ways of stretching papers. I can write a four-word
sentence
>> in 40 words. Just give me one phrase of quotable text, and I'll
produce
>> two pages of ponderous explanation. I can say in 10 pages what most
>> normal people could say in a paragraph.
>>
>>
>> I've also got a mental library of stock academic phrases: "A close
>> consideration of the events which occurred in ____ during the ____
>> demonstrate that ____ had entered into a phase of widespread
cultural,
>> social, and economic change that would define ____ for decades to
come."
>> Fill in the blanks using words provided by the professor in the
>> assignment's instructions.
>>
>>
>> How good is the product created by this process? That depends-on the
>> day, my mood, how many other assignments I am working on. It also
>> depends on the customer, his or her expectations, and the degree to
>> which the completed work exceeds his or her abilities. I don't ever
edit
>> my assignments. That way I get fewer customer requests to "dumb it
>> down." So some of my work is great. Some of it is not so great. Most
of
>> my clients do not have the wherewithal to tell the difference, which
>> probably means that in most cases the work is better than what the
>> student would have produced on his or her own. I've actually had
>> customers thank me for being clever enough to insert typos. "Nice
>> touch," they'll say.
>>
>>
>> I've read enough academic material to know that I'm not the only
>> bullshit artist out there. I think about how Dickens got paid per
word
>> and how, as a result, Bleak House is ... well, let's be diplomatic
and
>> say exhaustive. Dickens is a role model for me.
>>
>>
>> So how does someone become a custom-paper writer? The story of how I
got
>> into this job may be instructive. It is mostly about the tremendous
>> disappointment that awaited me in college.
>>
>>
>> My distaste for the early hours and regimented nature of high school
was
>> tempered by the promise of the educational community ahead, with its
>> free exchange of ideas and access to great minds. How dispiriting to
>> find out that college was just another place where grades were
grubbed,
>> competition overshadowed personal growth, and the threat of failure
was
>> used to encourage learning.
>>
>>
>> Although my university experience did not live up to its vaunted
>> reputation, it did lead me to where I am today. I was raised in an
>> upper-middle-class family, but I went to college in a poor
neighborhood.
>> I fit in really well: After paying my tuition, I didn't have a cent
to
>> my name. I had nothing but a meal plan and my roommate's computer.
But I
>> was determined to write for a living, and, moreover, to spend these
>> extremely expensive years learning how to do so. When I completed my
>> first novel, in the summer between sophomore and junior years, I
>> contacted the English department about creating an independent study
>> around editing and publishing it. I was received like a mental
patient.
>> I was told, "There's nothing like that here." I was told that I could
go
>> back to my classes, sit in my lectures, and fill out Scantron tests
>> until I graduated.
>>
>>
>> I didn't much care for my classes, though. I slept late and spent the
>> afternoons working on my own material. Then a funny thing happened.
Here
>> I was, begging anybody in authority to take my work seriously. But my
>> classmates did. They saw my abilities and my abundance of free time.
>> They saw a value that the university did not.
>>
>>
>>
>> It turned out that my lazy, Xanax-snorting, Miller-swilling
classmates
>> were thrilled to pay me to write their papers. And I was thrilled to
>> take their money. Imagine you are crumbling under the weight of
>> university-issued parking tickets and self-doubt when a frat boy
offers
>> you cash to write about Plato. Doing that job was a no-brainer. Word
of
>> my services spread quickly, especially through the fraternities. Soon
I
>> was receiving calls from strangers who wanted to commission my work.
I
>> was a writer!
>>
>>
>> Nearly a decade later, students, not publishers, still come from
>> everywhere to find me.
>>
>>
>> I work hard for a living. I'm nice to people. But I understand that
in
>> simple terms, I'm the bad guy. I see where I'm vulnerable to ethical
>> scrutiny.
>>
>>
>> But pointing the finger at me is too easy. Why does my business
thrive?
>> Why do so many students prefer to cheat rather than do their own
work?
>>
>>
>> Say what you want about me, but I am not the reason your students
cheat.
>>
>>
>> You know what's never happened? I've never had a client complain that
>> he'd been expelled from school, that the originality of his work had
>> been questioned, that some disciplinary action had been taken. As far
as
>> I know, not one of my customers has ever been caught.
>>
>>
>> With just two days to go, I was finally ready to throw myself into
the
>> business assignment. I turned off my phone, caged myself in my
office,
>> and went through the purgatory of cramming the summation of a
student's
>> alleged education into a weekend. Try it sometime. After the 20th
hour
>> on a single subject, you have an almost-out-of-body experience.
>>
>>
>>
>> My client was thrilled with my work. She told me that she would
present
>> the chapter to her mentor and get back to me with our next steps. Two
>> weeks passed, by which time the assignment was but a distant memory,
>> obscured by the several hundred pages I had written since. On a
>> Wednesday evening, I received the following e-mail: "Thanx u so much
for
>> the chapter is going very good the porfesser likes it but wants the
>> folloing suggestions please what do you thing?: "'The hypothesis is
>> interesting but I'd like to see it a bit more focused. Choose a
specific
>> connection and try to prove it.' "What shoudwe say?"
>>
>>
>> This happens a lot. I get paid per assignment. But with longer
papers,
>> the student starts to think of me as a personal educational
counselor.
>> She paid me to write a one-page response to her professor, and then
she
>> paid me to revise her paper. I completed each of these assignments,
>> sustaining the voice that the student had established and maintaining
>> the front of competence from some invisible location far beneath the
>> ivory tower.
>>
>>
>> The 75-page paper on business ethics ultimately expanded into a
160-page
>> graduate thesis, every word of which was written by me. I can't
remember
>> the name of my client, but it's her name on my work. We collaborated
for
>> months. As with so many other topics I tackle, the connection between
>> unethical business practices and trade liberalization became a
subtext
>> to my everyday life.
>>
>>
>>
>> So, of course, you can imagine my excitement when I received the good
>> news: "thanx so much for uhelp ican going to graduate to now".
>>
>> *********************************************
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________
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>   

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
Joint Editor MCA: http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Journal/
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
Book: http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=34857
MIA: http://www.marxists.org

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