As generations of students have learned from a flick through the records of past theses, there is little under the academic sun which has not already been subjected to the analysis of another student in the past. Until recently, access to term papers and theses was limited to those on file with the college or available from peers, which meant that students who cannibalised other students' work and presented it as their own risked exposure by staff with a reasonable memory.
Alternatively, if you were prepared to trust ageing hippies to do your work, Rolling Stone advertised termpaper suppliers in its back pages - though it was a brave student who would take a term paper from someone who advertised alongside Grateful Dead t-shirt sellers and cheerleader dating services.
The Internet has changed this situation beyond all recognition. Simply by feeding the words "term paper" into a Net search, your correspondent came up with a whopping 97,260 sites with some connection to term papers, from "10 Things You Don't Want to See Written on Your Term Paper" (number 10: "Can you ask your mother to write more clearly next time?") to sites offering essays for a fee or free of charge.
(Actually, by inputting the word "cheat" alongside "term essay" I came up with almost two million sites, indicating either a bad search engine or an almost infinite array of choice for people who were prepared to own up to their failings.)
Take, for example, the Term Paper Emporium, which decorates its home page with the image of an enormous New York building, presumably filled to the rafters with other people's work. "Consumers are WARNED to use our products at their own risk", screams the page, rather like the warnings found on dodgy Swedish vacuum pumps bought in adult novelty shops. With 48 areas of research on offer, from African-American Studies to Technology, the Term Paper Emporium is not under-supplied. It is also not cheap: 17 pages on the IMF will set a punter back $116.50 (about £80); a 10-page dissertation at the imported coffee bean business costs $65 (£44); perhaps appropriately given the warning on the home page, a seven-page essay on price-quality relationships will require a payment of $45.50 (£30). Finally, an essay on Lenin entitled "What is to be done?" (answer: as little as possible, obviously) is a bargain at $16.25 (£11) for 25 pages.
Other businesses, such as A1-Derful Term Paper - you really have to love Americans, don't you? - offer customwritten term papers for as little, or as much, as $12.95 (£8.50) per page.
"Our researchers are specialists in their respective fields, whether it is literature, history, finance or the sciences," promises A1-Derful. "Why get stale dated material on current concepts?"
A1-Derful, in common with a number of term-paper suppliers takes a "Who, Me, Your Honour?" attitude to the possibility of plagiarism resulting from the use of its services. "These papers are not meant to be used as term papers or termpapers (sic) under any circumstances," it warns, before cheerily advising punters not to forget "to visit our Pre-Written Paper Section".
Further along, it advises - unintelligibly - that "there is no substitute for your own hard work and research. If in the case that we find out we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law."
Most blatant of all is "$10 Essays International", which offers the "warning" you can read in the illustration on this page. The full meaning of this warning is made clear by a scrolling message at the bottom of the screen: "Save hundreds of hours of research and recreation time. Just rewrite the paper you receive to fit your style and enjoy the rest of your time off." While these businesses charge for their services, others - including EZ Grades, which is sponsored, perhaps worryingly, by Sizzletouch Sports Handicapping - quite happily post term papers which can be accessed for free. With such a body of work potentially open to misuse, and the high level of Internet access currently being offered by Irish colleges, the risk of plagiarism has increased considerably.
Plagiarism of material available on the Internet is really a new twist on an old story. "It's part of the scholarly approach that other people's works are credited and attributed," says Dr John Marshall, head of education in UCG. "It isn't only the words directly quoted, but the facts or opinions you find relevant to your essay. "The problem existed before the Net and the issues are still the same. Obviously you emphasise to the students that this isn't right and it's not ethical. In the world of scholarship, we don't plagiarise."
According to Marshall, knowing your students is the key - combined with a number of methods of measuring performance. Differences in style, deviations from previous performance and unattributed facts allow an experienced reader to spot potential plagiarists. "Readers of essays are cleverer than students think," he says. UCD has recently appointed a web editor who will have responsibility for the university's home pages as well as deciding on policy with regard to the Internet. According to Dr Tony Scott, head of public affairs in UCD, one of the matters which will be raised is the possibility of plagiarising research, including essays and theses, available on the Internet.
"In our introduction pack, plagiarism is a matter which we deal with in terms of examinations," he says. The problem raised by Internetlinked plagiarism is the difficulty in enforcing any regulations made. "If you do restrict it, how do you enforce it? There's no way you can prevent some going on to the web and pulling down a page that no one has seen." Scott says the issue may have to be raised with the registrar and a section on the Internet added to regulations, advising students on their responsibilities in this regard.
While colleges remain circumspect about incidences of plagiarism arising out of Internet access, E&L is aware of at least two cases where an Irish college has been forced to take action against students who have downloaded essays from the Internet and presented them as their own.
But intending plagiarists should beware: just as it is possible to locate an essay using key words, it is also possible to trace an essay back to its source using a selection of key words. Companies know what they are talking about when they advise customers to rewrite the essays. Otherwise, that essay could end up costing a lot more than $10.
