The ＂business philosophy＂ behind college papers： ghostwriting and ghostwriting give birth to interest chains.

　　BEIJING, July 22 (Yang Yuqi) Recently, the Ministry of Education issued a document to crack down on writing and buying dissertations, which made the topic of "adulteration" of college students’ dissertations once again focused. Who gave birth to the paper writing market? What are the hidden rules behind the numerous online "paper sellers"? Can you really get a diploma for the students if you buy the paper?

　　Seller: undergraduate master’s thesis clearly priced undergraduate thesis thousand words 200 yuan.

　　When it comes to writing papers, it is almost an open secret among college students. On the Internet, "professional writers, double certificates by agreement" has become a quality commitment given by many writing shops.

　　The reporter entered "writing papers" on an e-commerce platform and found that related words have been blocked by technology. However, ghostwriting agencies did not leave it at that. Many shops "exchange civet cats for princes", as long as they search for "ghostwriting", they will automatically associate "ghostwriting professional ethics". There are as many as 92 pages of shops. Although it is expensive, the number of payers in each shop is basically over 100 or even thousands.

　　In fact, because of the demand, in recent years, the paper trading market has become more and more huge in the gloomy area. According to media reports, as early as 2009, a survey conducted by Wuhan University showed that the market of paper ghostwriting in China reached more than 1 billion.

　　After consulting several thesis writing agencies, the reporter learned that the average asking price of a master’s thesis is 300 yuan /1000 characters, and the price of writing a thesis varies from 8,000 to 10,000 yuan, starting from 30,000 words for an ordinary master’s thesis. And the average asking price of undergraduate graduation thesis is around 200 yuan /1000 characters.

　　The whole transaction process is not complicated — — The buyer pays the down payment, communicates the writing requirements with the intermediary, makes up the final payment after delivering the first draft, and then refines the paper according to the teacher’s suggestion. But in the whole process, the buyer can’t have any direct communication with the writers.

　　When the reporter raised concerns about the quality of writing papers, many institutions indicated that they could "guarantee to get degree certificates and diplomas." Many sellers said that the professional writing team behind the company, rather than students, can ensure the duplicate checking rate and audit results of the papers. There are also sellers who indicate: "If you are not at ease, you can sign an agreement and get a full refund without a double certificate."

　　For such a so-called agreement, Zhang Huixia, deputy director of the Social Welfare and Legal Aid Research Committee of the Shanghai Lawyers Association, explained that according to Article 52 of the Contract Law, a contract that violates the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations is an invalid contract. The act of writing graduation thesis on behalf of others violates the relevant laws and regulations, so it is an invalid contract and is not protected by law.

　　Of course, there are also many institutions that directly indicate that the paper will not be refunded in the end, and that it may be because the customer’s understanding and explanation of the paper are not in place.

　　Writer: interdisciplinary majors can also write for themselves, and one article can be completed in a few hours.

　　Li Anyu is currently a junior. In order to enrich her living expenses, she recently started a business of writing papers for her.

　　After the introduction of her classmates, she entered a WeChat group. Every day, there is an intermediary in the group to send out the single message, and whoever wants to pick it up will pick it up.

　　Originally majoring in journalism, the first thing she took was a course paper in the direction of "financial market". 2500 words, 6 hours, to 180 yuan. "Although I don’t know financial knowledge, I can read a few more papers and change the words together. I can get it by checking the weight, and I won’t be as careful as writing my own paper." Li Anyu said.

　　According to Li Anyu, the writer and the buyer don’t communicate directly, and the whole communication depends on the intermediary. I don’t know that the intermediary of a paper has "drawn a few percent".

　　For the threshold of entering the writers’ team, Ang Lee Yu said that there was not much review. The intermediary will not look at the writer’s student ID card or qualification certificate. At present, there are more than 100 writers behind the intermediary, and everyone will take orders if they are free.

　　Another intermediary agency also confirmed that there is no qualification requirement for the choice of writers, and at most, it is to try to write two articles.

　　It can be seen that the so-called "professional writers’ team" in the ghostwriting market is actually not professional, and for students who buy ghostwriting services, the result of taking risks may be that they cannot graduate. Earlier, it was reported by the media that a female college student in Shenzhen spent 3,000 yuan to buy a graduation thesis to write for her, and eventually she could not graduate because of poor quality.

　　Intermediary: "networking" with many journals and magazines.

　　In addition to the business of writing papers, many institutions also indicate that they have the business of issuing provincial and national periodicals.

　　Qin Jia, who successfully attended a well-known university last year, told the reporter that the number of places for undergraduate schools and the admission of exempted schools depends on the publication of the papers. For an undergraduate, it is too difficult to submit papers by himself, so I choose to find an intermediary to send them. Last year, Qin Jia published 8 periodical papers, which cost 4,200 yuan.

　　How to operate the paper distribution? The staff of an agency explained to the reporter that the agency has established a "network of relationships" with many journals and magazines, and can directly recommend the manuscript to the magazine after receiving it. And when helping customers contribute, they will also be recommended to choose journals that have long-term cooperation with intermediaries, so that magazines will give priority to reviewing and hiring the papers they have submitted.

　　As for the quality requirements of the paper, the staff member said that there will be no special expert review, mainly relying on several editors to review the manuscript. If the periodical requirements are low, it is enough to ensure smooth word order and no typos. If there are some requirements, the overall structure of the article is reasonable and the author’s own views are needed.

　　In fact, it’s lucky to be able to distribute papers smoothly after paying the intermediary. Similar publishing traps are not a new topic on campus, and the tragedies of students being cheated are endless. Recently, China Youth Daily reported that a female doctor from a university in Hubei sought an "intermediary" to publish a paper in "C Journal" (a major core journal), but the seller finally cheated her out of her savings of 52,000 yuan. And news reports about being cheated on behalf of others can be seen everywhere on the Internet.

　　Reflection: Improving the teaching quality of university courses is fundamental.

　　It is nothing new to write papers on behalf of others. As early as 2015, China University Media Alliance randomly selected 318 college students to conduct an investigation on "writing papers". The results show that 31.13% of college students have considered finding someone to write for them, and 73.9% of college students have written papers for them.

　　In order to get to the root of the problem, put an end to this kind of academic fraud and strengthen the construction of academic integrity, the Ministry of Education recently issued the Notice on Strictly Investigating the Sale and Writing of Dissertations in Colleges and Universities, demanding that the sale and writing of dissertations be severely cracked down.

　　The "Notice" points out that students who participate in purchasing and writing dissertations will be expelled from school. In addition, the tutors of students who participate in writing papers will also be jointly and severally held accountable.

　　Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of 21st Century Institute of Education, told reporters that the focus of governance should also be on improving the quality of university courses and the evaluation system of theses.

　　In Xiong Bingqi’s view, grasping only one graduation thesis may result in a temporary solution rather than a permanent cure. Whether graduate or undergraduate, to improve students’ academic level, what is needed is to improve the quality of daily teaching, relying on teachers to attach importance to curriculum design and fully participate in students’ research during school, which is far better than just reading a paper.

　　As for the act of handing out papers, Xiong Bingqi said that colleges and universities should pay attention to the quality of the papers themselves, not the number of papers published. (At the request of the interviewee, some names in the text are pseudonyms) (End)