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Academic integrity is demonstrated in our academic behaviour. All assessments and exams, whether on campus or completed remotely, must be your own work.
There has been a rise in the number of essay writing services that are available over the internet that may be tempting. These are never a good idea as this is cheating.
Watch the video clips and learn why you should avoid these essay writing services.
Contract cheating is where companies offer to complete assessments and exams for you and you pay for the service. The term essay mill is also used, describing an online service offering to write your assignments for you for a fee.
These companies look for students who are under pressure and feeling stressed. They offer to help you but in fact, they are just offering trouble.
What does it involve?
Engaging the service of another party to complete your academic assessment tasks is contract cheating. You might see ads online or even on campus offering your assistance, such as
• an online company which specialises in completing your academic work for a fee,
• social media ads or ads on campus for unofficial editing services,
• another student offering to help, often for payment, but not always.
What’s wrong with contract cheating?
Companies that offer to write assignments, essays and even theses are breaking the law. And if you use these services you are cheating.
If you submit a piece of work bought from an essay mill, this is not your own work and so is not a reflection of your learning.
But more than this, you are cheating yourself as you are not proving what you can do yourself. And it might mean that you never really learn all the things you should learn in college to use in your future career.
Is it illegal?
In 2019, a law was introduced in Ireland making it illegal for someone to sell or advertise contract cheating services. Essay mill services and contract cheating companies are breaking the law.
What happens if I use an essay mill?
If you are caught submitting as your own a piece of work that has been written by someone else, you are plagiarising, and you will face the consequences of the AIT plagiarism policy. This could mean losing marks, having to repeat assignments or even losing your college place.
But more importantly, this will impact on your self-respect, your ability to complete further assessments, and possibly your future career.
But isn’t this something that can help me?
No, definitely not. Essay mills target you when you are under pressure and feeling overwhelmed offering a quick solution. But, in effect, they are creating more problems for you because if you are caught there are serious consequences.
What can I do instead of going to an essay mill?
If you feel you need help to cope with your assignments, talk to your lecturer or the students’ union, or visit the academic writing centre.
Don’t take shortcuts
If you are feeling under pressure don’t be tempted to use an essay mill and take shortcuts to complete your assessments. Get in touch with the services in college which are there to help and support you.
We’re here for you
We want you to do your best in AIT, and we are here to help you. You’ll feel a lot better about yourself and your work when you can say you did it yourself.
