When searching for writing technics in internet we found a lot sites offering writing paid services. Is it ethical to use these research paper writing paid services? even for improve our papers? even just to check grammar and vocabulary?
Please don't say "Yes we can" or "No we can't"
I couldn't disagree more! If you have to ask the question at all, you're already morally suspect, and a danger to the academy. You do not pay for services that give you an undue advantage. University is about testing YOUR skills and abilities against an objective standard. YOU have a duty not to subvert that process.
"Just check this spelling for me. Oh and the grammar. Maybe see if thesis makes sense. Oh, change it if it doesn't. Tell you what, just write the damn thing for me, I'm really busy this weekend. $200? No problem. Many thanks...."
It's a scandal that rots the heart of the academic world.
Christopher NOCK
In many cases I take help of one of colleagues, Dr W Arisdason, to improve the writing in the manuscripts of my papers. It is nothing unethical to take help of paid services if you have no friends or colleagues to help you.
I couldn't disagree more! If you have to ask the question at all, you're already morally suspect, and a danger to the academy. You do not pay for services that give you an undue advantage. University is about testing YOUR skills and abilities against an objective standard. YOU have a duty not to subvert that process.
"Just check this spelling for me. Oh and the grammar. Maybe see if thesis makes sense. Oh, change it if it doesn't. Tell you what, just write the damn thing for me, I'm really busy this weekend. $200? No problem. Many thanks...."
It's a scandal that rots the heart of the academic world.
Christopher NOCK
It is unethical to pass off work done by someone else as your own, to take credit for something that's not yours. The question is how to define "work" in the context of academic research. What kind of work is essential to your professional competence and credibility? A second question is what you understand by "writing". I don't find "writing" a very helpful term as it's conflating "doing research" and "communicating research" (see my paper on PhD students' narratives).
As Christopher Nock points out, there is a scale -- or perhaps multiple scales --going from surface to substance, from form to content, e.g. from spellchecks to the actual doing of the research (collecting and analysing data, drawing conclusions, etc.) and its communication in a particular genre (journal article, report, thesis, etc.).
To approach it from the other end, what jobs and activities can a researcher legitimately outsource (whether or not there's payment involved) without turning themself into some kind of entrepreneur, bringing the factors of production together but not having any of the required skills, expertise or qualifications? But still claim credit for the work produced in this way?
From my experience with research grants, there is a level at which expert academics produce the ideas, identify the new areas, formulate the new questions, come up with the research design but pretty much outsource everything to assistants, PhD students, etc. This is not unethical. After all, you have to be an expert to get this kind of research off the ground.
In smaller-scale projects, social science and other researchers will engage, for example, enumerators (repetitive, low-value work) and statisticians (high-value-added expertise). This is not unethical either.
It's what happens in a lot of creative industries like film-making.
Back to the "writing". What exactly do these online services offer? If it's ghost-writing (ghost-authoring), even when acknowledged as co-author (RA or so), it's completely not done. It's a misrepresentation of what you can do and who you are. If it's improving upon the research you've done (or tried to do), it's unethical, too.
It reminds of those online resume/CV-writing services. Someone applying for an entry-level graphic design job has their resume designed by someone else, a professional experienced graphic designer. The resume is meant to be a proxy, however. Again, this is misrepresentation of your skills. Same for languages. If you claim under "language skills" something like "near-native English" but paid a native speaker to write the cover letter/email and do the resume, then it's unethical.
So, what about paying someone to correct surface language errors, resolve formatting or stylesheet issues, tidy up the reference list, redo the visuals, etc.? I would say that in the vast majority of cases, this would be unethical, and when you're found out, it would create the appearance of a serious lack of professional ethics (whether or not deserved). As a professional, you need to realise that the general public and your academic peers depend on you, there is a relationship of trust, vulnerability and reliance.
In my experience as a supervisor, peer reviewer and editor, it's rarely the case that serious flaws in language and presentation can be remedied without having to also address underlying and more fundamental issues in research design, methodology, findings, discussion, etc. More often than not, a lack of surface quality is indicative of more structural and deeper-seated problems with the research.
In the few exceptional cases where this is not the case, then proofreading (among other things) can be outsourced but you would still have to check the work done by the checkers. If you can't check their work, you have no quality control. You'd have to trust blindly.
However, there is one big exception to this. If the language in which you publish is your field of study and/or your medium of instruction (classes, supervision, academic debates), then it's a bit worrying you wouldn't be able to actually produce a flawless piece of work in the first place.
I fully agree with Christopher Nock and Antoon De Rycker. What I said is just for language correction.
If we talk academically its unethical, but as we have to write the article in English, Article publisher request for English checking, we have no options we have to pay money. Similarly if take the support of professional for this work, s/he should be either paid or should be used as co-author or acknowledged.
Writing research papers is never a straightforward task. To write even a simple report one has to possess significant starting knowledge of the subject and, what’s more important, carry out research sufficient to gather enough information about one’s chosen topic to write a project that would add something new to the existing body of knowledge on the discipline. Needless to say, it takes time and requires skills that not many can boast of possessing.
Irrespectively of your academic level, be it high school, college or university, this kind of job may look unapproachable or even impossible – especially if you aren’t all that good at writing in general. Thus, it is quite natural for students to look for help from research paper writing services – there is nothing unusual or shameful about looking for help when you cannot deal with a job on your own.It is ethical.
The custom research papers thus received can be used in a number of ways to make it easier for researcher to deal with their writing task:
(1) A source of inspiration that can give them a good idea about how you can better write the research paper;
(2) A way of improving there writing skills by observing how professional writers do the job;
(3) A source of useful data on the subject matter – all research papers are written by people with considerable understanding of their spheres of knowledge, which means that researcher can acquire a basic grounding in the discipline just by reading their texts.
It's fine to use a proof-reader. And you can do anything you like if you write an acknowledgement and cite your sources. Christopher is too extreme imo
Are essay writing services ethical?
https://www.quora.com/Are-essay-writing-services-ethical
Andrew and Usman, if you need that sort of help, you skills just aren't up to snuff....
NOCK
You can get help to check grammar and vocabulary of your paper. This is ethical and acceptable. But writing the paper for you by someone else and paying is wrong.
INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT:
The UK Minister of Education is right now seeking to stop PayPal from processing payments for essay sites, calling them unscrupulous. Also suggesting the introduction of honesty oaths for students here! They're catching up slowly. Run fast....
NOCK
For many non-native speaking researchers, writing papers in English is a challenging and error-filled task. To ask for help to get those papers into reasonable, intelligible English is not, in my opinion, a problem. If it is, barriers that make it more difficult for them to publish their work are being erected. Not only do they have to be good researchers but, unlike English native speakers, they also have to have a very good command of a foreign language.
Getting others to write a paper and pretend it your work. however, is very clearly a problem.
UPDATE:
PayPal have today removed its services from essay writing websites.
NOCK
UPDATE:
in today's newspaper. One in seven students around the world "outsource" their essay writing. Kenya provides many writers who may be working for non-Kenyan companies.
NOCK
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