Nick Carbone posted about this on the Tech-Rhet mailing list (I think), the paper mill service Custom Research Papers. It’s a typical sort of service, one that strikes me as being far too expensive ($15 per page for “regular” delivery, $25 per page for 24 hour delivery), and I suspect you don’t really get what you pay for and such. But what’s interesting to me is the way that this site is trying to work the “ethical” angle here. To quote:
There are strong reasons WHY your cooperation with Custom Research Papers cannot be labeled as cheating:
- you DON’T STEAL anything from us
- you pay a FAIR PRICE for our services
- our writers get both financial and spiritual REWARD for their work
- you simply DELEGATE your tasks and focus only on those things that REALLY MATTER IN YOUR LIFE
At Custom Research Papers we believe IT’S ETHICAL to get an outside help and delegate your writing assignments to professional writers same as if you would get your watches fixed or car repaired by third party experts.
Of course, this is all horseshit, but I have to hand it to these people for trying this line of argument. I’d be kind of curious to know though what sorts of things “REALLY MATTER” in the lives of the students who partake in this service and who are kidding themselves into thinking that this is remotely ethical.