Admit it: you've probably used a source incorrectly or forgot to cite a quotation. But have you ever paid someone to write your essay, or completely ripped it off someone else? Apparently over 1000 students have, and there are now plans to crack down on Irish student plagiarism.
According to the Irish Times, the Department of Education is planning to introduce laws to prosecute “essay mill” companies who get paid to write students’ assignments.
Until now, students who use this pretty dishonest practice (because they're either too lazy or didn't pay enough attention in class) have gone relatively undetected by college plagiarism detection systems. But Minister for Education Richard Bruton said he plans to prosecute “essay mills”, and is considering a ban on companies who advertise their services.
Just a quick Google search finds several businesses in Ireland offering to write your assignment for any subject for a fee. There's one based in Dublin that lists every college in Ireland and every course they can write assignments for.
So how exactly will they stop businesses like this from profiting off student laziness and desperation? A spokesman for Mr Bruton said Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) will prosecute ‘essay mills’ and other forms of cheating” in consultation with providers, students and other relevant parties.
In figures compiled by The Irish Times in 2016, there's been an estimated 1,000 cases of Irish students being disciplined for plagiarism since 2010 but the real figure is likely to be higher 'cause UCD, UCC, Maynooth and IT Blanch don't provide figures.
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But for the colleges that do, IT Tallaght had the most plagiarism cases, followed by UL and DIT.
The website, which we won't name for obvious reasons, told The Irish Times last year that demands for its services were growing and there were around 350 projects a year. That means the true figure of plagiarism over the last 6 years is likely to be in the thousands. And considering there's 200,000 students in Ireland, that is pretty high.
Hmm.
What are your thoughts?
