When listening to On The Media's interview with the Term Paper Artist himself, Nick Mamatas, we certainly get a different point of view on the term paper business. We can actually hear the way Mamatas doesn't think to highly of his clients, just by the way he speaks. It wasn't just the "DUMB" clients either. This was all strictly business and with most businesses it's every man for himself. You will do whatever, as long as you get that money. Mamatas claims to even have sold people out to their professors if the client was rude to them.
I was totally wrong with my opinion of Mamatas from the first story we read. I believed before that he really just wanted to help the people because they were just stuck in a wrong class, or just simply didn't understand it. Now my opinion is that it was strictly business.
Also after reading this, I know that I personally wouldn't want to buy a term paper even if I was that desperate. You really are only cheating yourself. If you really don't understand the paper assignment, maybe you shouldn't be in that class.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Term Paper Artist
In the article The Term Paper Artist by Nick Mamatas we learn about his career as a person who would write term papers for anyone who was willing to pay. Nick was a freelance writer and was looking for a job but was "told from an early age that such a dream was futile". This is when he found a job that was looking for people to write short pieces on various different topics.
Writing term papers is "above-board and perfectly legal" because of the first amendment. When Nick would receive requests for different types of papers, it became clear that there was 3 different types of clients that needed papers written. "DUMB CLIENTS" are the students who really should of never been accepted into any college.The next are "one-timers" who are the people stuck in a class that is just completely opposite of what they are in school for. The final type of customers are "well-educated professionals who simply lack English-language skills". Nick describes these types of people as the ones who are foreign but need to bring their thoughts through in English.
There were different perks to being a term paper author. The money wasn't exactly the best, but it was easy to come by. Also, writing the papers wasn't about actual research. Nick tells us that writing the papers is about knowing how long the paper needs to be and making the words fit the length. He also got many different laughs at the type of personal instructions he would receive from the customer.
I feel that this type of writing it perfectly acceptable. These writers are employed for this specific reason. When they write the paper, they are not saying that the paper belongs to them and that the customer can only look at it. These papers are being paid for and paper belongs to the person buying it. For example, people who are wealthy have someone they have hired to do their hair. The persons hair is still on that persons head, but there is just someone else styling it for them. This is the same type of thing with the papers. The person is still handing it in for the grade, they just maybe didn't write it themselves.
Writing term papers is "above-board and perfectly legal" because of the first amendment. When Nick would receive requests for different types of papers, it became clear that there was 3 different types of clients that needed papers written. "DUMB CLIENTS" are the students who really should of never been accepted into any college.The next are "one-timers" who are the people stuck in a class that is just completely opposite of what they are in school for. The final type of customers are "well-educated professionals who simply lack English-language skills". Nick describes these types of people as the ones who are foreign but need to bring their thoughts through in English.
There were different perks to being a term paper author. The money wasn't exactly the best, but it was easy to come by. Also, writing the papers wasn't about actual research. Nick tells us that writing the papers is about knowing how long the paper needs to be and making the words fit the length. He also got many different laughs at the type of personal instructions he would receive from the customer.
I feel that this type of writing it perfectly acceptable. These writers are employed for this specific reason. When they write the paper, they are not saying that the paper belongs to them and that the customer can only look at it. These papers are being paid for and paper belongs to the person buying it. For example, people who are wealthy have someone they have hired to do their hair. The persons hair is still on that persons head, but there is just someone else styling it for them. This is the same type of thing with the papers. The person is still handing it in for the grade, they just maybe didn't write it themselves.
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