Re: Ethical Dilemma
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OOT I need your help.
A friend asked me yesterday if I would write a 7-10 page paper for him. (It is due in 2 weeks) He offered me $125 to do this, and I still wanted to negotiate the price but I agreed in principle. I wrote him a short proposal about my idea which was due today. After thinking it over, I realized that I don't think thats enough money for my time, and I don't even want to write it anyways.
My friend is now upset because he already turned in the idea and he obviously doesn't want to do it. I told him to email the professor or go to his office hours and try to change the idea. I also offered to do some research and help him shape the paper for free.
Am I completely in the wrong here? Also, is anyone on OOT interested in doing this? Could anyone reccommend a place in which he could purchase a paper? Thank you.
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You are in the right--not because the fee isn't high enough, but because knowingly writing a paper which your friend will turn in under his name is grossly unethical. It is academic dishonesty to turn in work that is not one's own, and the penalties can be pretty stiff if one is caught. Speaking from experience, I can say that if his professor has had any interaction with your friend at all, the professor will be able to tell that it's not your friend's voice. Besides which, the whole point is that your friend (not you) is supposed to be getting an education from his coursework.
It would be perfectly OK for you to sit down with him and toss some ideas around until he has a sense of what he wants to say. Likewise it is OK for you to read a draft and give feedback. But you as author of a paper he submits, not OK. And you as pimp for a paperwriting mill or ghostwriter, also not OK
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