I found the info-graphic below, “how students use the Internet for studying” posted on the education information resource site Edudemic. It was produced by a company called Writing-Help.com.
At first glance, the image seems to be a helpful informational communication about student internet studying trends, right?
Look closer…
According to this “info-graphic” about student internet study habits:
- 80% of students report using social networks
- 100% of students report using Wikipedia
- 10% of students report using books from libraries
- and 55% of students report using online services to help them write their papers.
Notice anything about these data (aside from not being sourced)?
The statistic, 55% of students use “online services to help them write their papers,” seems out of place in an educational info-graphic about online study habits. Taken in context with the claims that 80% of students report using social networks and 100% of students report using Wikipedia to help them “study,” this info-graphic could be interpreted as a thinly-veiled suggestion- masquerading as research data- that not only are academically dishonest practices okay (e.g., plagiarism), but that the majority of students engage in them.
Sure enough, upon visiting the Writing-Help.com Website, I found what I suspected: an online service that produces academic writing for a fee. In their own words:
“If you need help with writing an essay on a specific topic, then our company has a team of experienced writers, editors and researchers available to satisfy your requirements. The essay will be produced according to the instructions you give and within the deadline you choose….Writing from scratch being our main service, our writers work on your orders to produce original custom essays, which are checked with our plagiarism detection software.”– Writing-Help.com
Simply stated, Writing-Help.com produces for paying students, from-scratch academic writing that cannot be flagged as unoriginal by an instructor or a University’s originality-detection software.
Are 55% of students REALLY using online academic writing services such as Writing-Help.com? I don’t know (I hope not), and there is no readily transparent way to verify the data used in the Writing-Help.com “how students use the Internet for studying” info-graphic (no sources are cited).
As instructors, it is important to be aware that commercial marketing materials disguised as educational informational materials and/or research data might give some students the impression that technology makes it easy to use online academic writing services, it is the norm to do so, and it’s nearly impossible to get caught.
This “wolf in sheep’s clothing” is an issue that we need to acknowledge and address with students through an open dialogue about academic writing and honesty that goes beyond a simple disclaimer in a syllabus.