Essay mill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An essay mill (also term paper mill) is a resource that allows customers to purchase an original piece of writing on a particular topic. Customers provide the company with specific information about the essay, including: a page length, a general topic, and a time frame with which to work. The customer is then charged a certain amount for each page. [1]

Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Products and services
3 Legal status
4 Criticism and controversy
5 Strategies for combating academic fraud
6 See also
7 Further reading
8 References
History[edit]
The ideology behind term paper mills can be dated back to the mid-nineteenth century in which "paper reservoirs" were located in the basements of Fraternity Houses. Otherwise known as "Fraternity files". these essay banks were practices in which students shared term papers and submitted work that had been done by other students.[2] These essay banks inspired the commercialization of ghostwritten essay-writing practices. As early as the 1950s, advertisements were circulating college campus that described services that included ghostwritten work for dissertations, theses, and term papers.[2]

In conjunction with this practice, the changing attitudes of students in the 1960s and 1970s started to stray away from diligent and engaged course work because they saw an emphasis on the benefits of community involvement. A new focus on activities outside of the classroom took away from time to focus on class work, thus promoting these writing services throughout college campuses.[2]

Soon, actual businesses were providing custom-written essays for students in exchange for compensation. They were located near college campuses.[3] You could walk into a building and look at pricing pamphlets, and speak to someone directly to place your order, or possibly choose from a vault of