In Nick Mamatas' article The Term Paper Artist, he tells us about his job as a term paper writer and the kind of clients he would write for. Nick got the job at a term paper mill through an ad. He says, "Then, in the Village Voice, I saw just such an ad. Writers wanted, to write short pieces on business, economics, and literature. It was from a term paper mill, and they ran the ad at the beginning of each semester." Throughout the article, Nick explains the three types of clients: "the DUMB CLIENTS, the one-timer, and the well-educated professionals who simply lack English-language skills." Nick also tells us that, over a period of time, he has written every type of paper you could think of.
Nick says, "Writing model term papers is above-board and perfectly legal. Thanks to the First Amendment, it’s protected speech, right up there with neo-Nazi rallies, tobacco company press releases, and those "9/11 Was An Inside Job" bumper stickers. It's custom-made Cliff Notes." It's legal, but is it really helping anyone? The students ordering these papers aren't gaining anything, and they certainly aren't learning anything except how to be bad students. However, Nick is right about one thing. He says, " I know something they don't know; I know why students don't understand thesis statements, argumentative writing, or proper citations. It's because students have never read term papers." No one can explain to us how to write a thesis sentence, they have to show us. Since no one ever shows us how to write a term paper, we have no idea where to begin.
I agree with your view on the article. I think that writing papers for money is a good idea and that students don't know what term papers are because they have never read them. I think that explication would have been better if you talked about your opinion on the article more.
ReplyDeleteI like how you targeted to topics that can have different incentives and sly ways. The first one would be if Mamatas was helping them or not and the other is if they were never taught it, how would they know? Your explication is short and to the point and answers all questions needed. Very good work!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely when you say how hiring the term paper writer is not helping anyone and how the students arent gaining anything. I like how you pointed out it is the teacher's fault also. You show that students need to be given examples and taught certain things in order to complete their own work.
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