£1000 a week for your essays
Oxbridge students are being offered up to £1000 per week to write essays for students at other universities and schools. Oxbridge Essays claims their writers could earn up to £800 per essay: a sum most students would earn for three months of parttime work. Hundreds of students have already applied to be writers, and dozens are currently employed to provide hundreds of clients with essays.
The Birmingham-based company advertise themselves as “the world’s first vendor of custom-made essays written exclusively by members of either Oxford or Cambridge.” As a result, their website states, “Customers therefore know that the person who writes their essay will be in the top 0.01% of all university students in Britain and the world. No other company can guarantee that all its writers or researchers are even in the top 50% of this category.
The website for Oxbridge Essays informs customers that the work there is for research purposes only. “You must judge how to use such research, and also decide whether its use is permitted by your university regulations,” it adds. Philip Malamatinas, a cofounder of the company, said, “There is no issue about plagiarism • we make the purpose of the essays very clear.” However, the universities at which the scheme is targeted have described themselves as worried by the company.
Oxford University stated, “This site and its attempts to recruit current students have been brought to our attention. We have concerns about Oxford students being targeted to take part in an enterprise which might distract them from the academic work they are required to do, and which appears to encourage plagiarism.” The Oxford Proctors’ Memorandum warns that students who plagiarise could face harsh penalties.
In extreme cases, it states, “the University has the statutory power (rarely used) to deprive somebody of a degree or other qualification after this has been awarded.” A spokesman for Cambridge University said, “We would strongly disapprove of students writing essays for other people. Not only is it cheating, or complicit with cheating, but it goes against the entire purpose of a university education, which is to develop one’s own ideas and skills, not buy them in from elsewhere.
Despite this, the company are very afraid of being accused of plagiarism themselves. On being accepted by Oxbridge Essays, writers must guarantee that all work they submit “is totally original and is a composition of only my research, my ideas and my writing”. If they breach this contract, they must repay 60% of all previous earnings and accept all legal responsibility.
Susan Jepps, the company’s Head of Human Resources, reassures applicants, “Your privacy is absolute: no person outside of Oxbridge Essays will ever see your details. We never check applicant details with tutors or other members of the university; we will verify these either by seeing an email from your university account or a copy/scan of your Bod card or a C.V.” One essay of 2,500 words written within 24 hours would be sold for £1,800.
The company admits prices are high, but tells customers that their service “may make the difference between you passing or failing your degree, or getting a 1st or 2:1”.
Customers are required to complete an order form for every essay they order. Not only do they give details like word length, delivery time and required sources, but they can specify such things as the preferred style: “if you have particular language requirements • e.g., a more poetic, metaphorical style for literature essays; or if you wish him/ her to argue from a particular angle or viewpoint • you should inform your writer”.
The Oxford Student contacted several of the company’s undergraduate and graduate writers, all of whom declined to comment. Oxbridge Essays was founded by two brothers, Philip and James Malamatinas, who are undergraduates studying Geography at King’s College London and Birmingham University respectively. James’ university has decided to look into his involvement with the company.
“If a student was bringing the university into disrepute they would be subject to disciplinary measures”, said a spokesman. But Philip told this newspaper that he is confident about the future. “We’ve got a great product with a great guarantee of quality, and students can earn a lot more with us than through working in cafes or bars,” he said.
The company provides essays to students in a number of other countries besides the UK, including China, Taiwan, South America, Australia and the USA. They also provide international students with a special service. “We [supply] them with essays for applications to British universities, examples of essays like those to expect in England, and, of course, our usual essay services once you are here in the United Kingdom”. Oxbridge Essays is not the first company of this kind to be established.
One, Degree Essays UK, boasts 3,500 writers worldwide and claims to sell at least 40 essays every day. A spokeswoman for the business said, “These essays are only meant to be used as a tool or a reference.” Despite this, their website is banned by the Oxford internet network because of “questionable or illegal” content.
20th Apr 2006