This guy has written over 5,000 pages of scholarly material-all for others. Wow.

[DR13]

The one thing that I do not understand is how they can do the oral defense. Sure, they have done all of the research and will probably know what they are talking about. But if one of the people on the commitee asks about a specific part of the paper I feel like it would be tough to talk about it if you didnt actually write it. Yeah, I get that you will obviously read what this guy wrote but one would be much more familiar with one's own work.

 

[fasterthanjoao]

The one thing that I do not understand is how they can do the oral defense. Sure, they have done all of the research and will probably know what they are talking about. But if one of the people on the commitee asks about a specific part of the paper I feel like it would be tough to talk about it if you didnt actually write it. Yeah, I get that you will obviously read what this guy wrote but one would be much more familiar with one's own work.

Presumably the graduate students that use his services do *something* with their time. They might read things that their supervisor provides, or read things that the writer references. They will know something about the work, and in a meeting with their supervisor or say an oral exam, might just come across as being very nervous and struggle to articulate themselves verbally. But if they've provided a reasonable quality paper or thesis...

It's an interesting topic for sure and whilst I'm not sure about whether he exaggerates the numbers or not, I don't think it really matters. Clearly this guy and lots of other people he knows make a living out of this sort of thing. Though the numbers are still very small, it's a problem that the academic system can do without. Perhaps instead of dishing out threats for cheating, or punishments for not getting good enough grades we need more effort in encouraging students to understand the benefits of the assignments that are being set. It's quite difficult to convince someone of the full value in some seemingly arbitrary essay work, when all they're thinking about is grades to pass the year.