Free Essay - Are They Wrong To Use Or A Life Preserver?

By Author: Wade Knoxville
Total Articles: 18
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Look in for a little assistance with a writing assignment? Look no further, as a free essay may be the answer. With the advent of the Internet and the availability of information at our fingertips and at broadband speeds the lines between assistance and the borrowing of others' ideas anonymously has become quite blurred. doing a simple Google search for this subject results in a vast number of hits and numerous sites that promise a wealth of features and the possibility of not getting caught cheating. Are these sites providing a service or are they providing an easy way out for a student who is behind on an assignment due to poor time management?

Many can argue that a service that provides a free essay to students on the subject that they should be researching on their own is wrong, as the student should be creating their own papers. The students themselves ask this question and some see colleges as simply a place to buy a diploma. They don't understand the repetitive nature of colleges and see nothing wrong with providing an assignment that has been assigned to previous students countless times before. Is it wrong to ...
... provide a paper on the subject that has been rehashed and very little new information can be provided? This view makes the assignment little more than busy work. Viewed in this light the argument can be made that it is not wrong it is simply providing the instructor with a way to check an assignment and check a block and send the student on his way.

Other students who used the service swear by the fact that the paper is being used as a reference for their own body of work. It allows the student to create a document and look at a piece of reference material created by a professional as a guide for the correct structure and content for the topic requested. When the free essay is looked at in this context, it does provide a service for the student and allows him to see the way that a proper report is structured. Using a professionally written paper as a guide is one way to ensure that the essay turned in is in the correct format and acceptable to the instructor. The fine line in this argument is the difference between lifting portions of the supplied paper and calling it your own and simply using the supplied paper as a piece of uncredited reference material.

So, is the availability of a free essay a good thing or a bad thing? The answer to this comes down to the individual student and how they use the tools within their grasp. The enormous pressure placed on students to excel, coupled with the high cost of schooling creates an environment where it is very easy to find any excuse to get ahead. Unfortunately this environment also reduces the opportunities for students that are simply looking for a way to increase their skills, reduce their stress or fatigue and compete on an even playing field with other students who began school with a stronger grammatical background.
Wade Knoxville
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