Essay crises with cash rewards
AN ESSAY CRISIS could soon be a money-spinner as the spread of internet essay-bank sites spills into Oxford University. The trend involves assignments and lecture notes being bought and sold over the Internet.
Companies such as 'Zarr Internet Services Limited' are quickly establishing themselves in the UK, paying students something in the region of £5 each time their essay is sold to a website visitor. Transactions of this kind are causing increasing concern amongst university staff; some universities - such as the University of Bradford - are intending to ban the Zarr site from their university computers.
Plagiarism is the overriding problem, as students will be able to avoid attendance at lectures and write-off essay writing. Dr. Simon Rogerson, of the Centre of Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montford University, said "the concept of using technology to pass off information as your own is wholly unacceptable, and people have to ask themselves if they are acting in a moral way."
Hannah Reynolds, Founder and Director of Zarr Internet Services, defended her position, stating that she "fully understands people's concerns." Denying that her company would be encouraging plagiarism, she alluded to it as a "reference material that people will just use in addition to their own work."
Oxford University is unenthusiastic about the idea. Phillippa Corson,the Oxford University Assistant Press Officer, stressed the importance of the Internet as "a powerful and indeed useful tool" but she expressed a hope that "students would be interested enough in their degree so as to make full use of the university's facilities and the tutorial system."
She pointed out that, due to the tutorial system, students would be "unlikely to escape" as tutors are "switched on as to whether or not a student has put in effort." OUSU president Anneliese Dodds, was equally skeptical: "tutors aren't stupid, they would realise because everyone has their own style."
The essays that Zarr Internet Services buys from students are checked for spelling and grammar mistakes but inevitably, accuracy of the material cannot be guaranteed. A Complaint's Procedure is in the pipe-line for people who feel the work they have been sold is inaccurate.
Dr Rogerson, of De Montford, raised the issue of ownership, saying that at some universities, students "have to sign an intellectual property agreement regarding work done for university courses." He explained that the student work may use university-owned material and the results of such research could be classed as the intellectual property of the university. He warned that "if it is clear that the intellectual property is that of the university, and the student then sells his or her work regardless, then the transaction is illegal." The issue is something that has not been greatly considered in these relatively early days of Internet essay shopping.
4th May 2000