Online Term Papers

Online Term Papers

With the limitless resources available through the internet, students have plenty of opportunities to get "professional term papers," always with promises of "high quality, guaranteed."

Countless sites offer papers for anywhere from no cost to $40 for a "custom written" three-page paper complete with bibliography.

Some even offer prewritten college entrance essays, with prices reaching as high as $80 for two pages. Students only have to do is fill out an online form indicating their hobbies and activities.

"So you've gone through school, completed all your assignments on time and never missed a class," reads an advertisement on JunglePage, one online paper-writing service. "Now it's time to get into the next level. College? Graduate School? We'll even help you out if you want to be a lawyer."

It may be the internet, but according to USC policies, getting such papers online is plagiarism, even if only a small portion of the paper is used.

"It's plagiarism in the same way it would be if one reproduced a paper from any source," said Joseph Hellige, vice provost for Academic Affairs. "The same rules apply to internet information that apply to any other type of printed information."

"Just because you find a paper online doesn't mean it's going to be a good one."

-- Andrea Wolcott, sophomore

While it is not a substantial problem, the Office for Student Conduct has handled such cases in the past.

"It's not frequent that we get cases where students take term papers from an internet source in their entirety, although it does happen," explained Bob Schnereger, interim director of the Office for Student Conduct. "It seems more frequently, there are blocks of material that someone will cut and paste and incorporate into a paper without documentation."

Some students perceive these online term papers as a potentially valuable resource, if used with the proper intent. Others question the quality of the work available on the internet.

"Just because you find a paper online doesn't mean it's going to be a good one," said Andrea Wolcott, a sophomore majoring in cinema-television critical studies. "For the time you spend trying to find a good paper, you might as well just get the information and write it yourself.