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Using a Paper Mill Site To Better Understand Quality Standards in Writing
Worksheet #006

“Anyone who is turning is a paper from SchoolSucks is stupid.”
    Kenny Sahr
    Owner of SchoolSucks.com

Overview of Learning Activity

Margaret Fain and Peggy Bates at Coastal Carolina University have identified around 250 Paper Mill Sites on the Internet as well as 71 Subject Specific Paper Mills. But students who purchase papers from these sites need to remember the bit of advice: “Buyer Beware!” As David Plotz (1999) found, “The papers on the paid sites are better than those on the free ones, but that’s not saying much. The first essay I encountered at one site cost $25.95 and still had two errors in the title alone.”

In this lesson, you will have the experience of judging the quality of research papers available on the Internet while learning more about the quality standards expected in this course.

Some might question the wisdom of your instructor providing you with directions on how to find Internet paper mills. After all, in 1999, Donald L. McCabe found that most of the high school students he studied felt “that their teachers were not familiar with computer technology, and they found it easy to plagiarize using the Internet.” Since then, much has changed. Teachers at the high school and college level are becoming more sophisticated in their Internet use.

The Writing Fellows Program has even helped members of the faculty learn how to use the Internet to track down papers they believe were plagiarized. You cannot be sure that your computer illiterate instructor will not get assistance from us or from his/her office mate if they suspect that a paper mill site is the source of the term paper they are reading.

Objectives of Activity

At the end of this lesson, you will

    blue bullet used to denote item in a listKnow that I know about paper mills sites.
    blue bullet used to denote item in a listRealize that paper mill sites produce poor quality papers.
    blue bullet used to denote item in a listBetter understand the concept of “quality” means as it applies to papers written in this class

Directions for Activity

Assessment of Learning Activity

You will turn in a copy of the paper from BigNerds as well as your analysis; an analysis that will be graded as a homework assignment.

After your group discussion, you will write a one-minute paper reflecting on what you learned during this exercise.

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Avoiding Plagiarism

While most students understand that buying a paper and submitting it as their own work is a serious form of plagiarism and could result in their failing the course, many students do not realize that it academically dishonest to give someone else a paper to use as if it is their. Both the student who copied the paper as well as the student who gave the paper to be copied are both guilty of cheating.

Even though Internet paper mills say that they are for research purposes only, if you give a paper to such a site you could find yourself accused of academic dishonesty.


References and Resources

blue bullet used to denote item in a listBates, Peggy and Margaret Fain. Internet Paper Mills. 3 March 2003. Kimbel Library, Coastal Carolina University.

blue bullet used to denote item in a listBigNerds. Home Page. nd.

blue bullet used to denote item in a listFain, Margaret, and Bates, Peggy. Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You—Internet Subject Specific Mill Sites. 3 March 2003. Kimbel Library, Coastal Carolina University.

blue bullet used to denote item in a listMcCabe, Donald L. "Academic Dishonesty Among High School Students." Adolescence 34.136 (1999): 681-87.

blue bullet used to denote item in a listPlotz, David. "New Frontiers in Cheating." Rolling Stone 14 Oct. 1999: 107.

blue bullet used to denote item in a list[Sahr, Kenny]. School Sucks. 12 September 2002.


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This page was last updated on November 28, 2004.