In this article, Nick Mamatas, the author explains his path to becoming a writer. "I always wanted to be writer, but was told from an early age that such a dream was futile." Nick felt that his dream would never come true, but eventually things began to slow work out for him. He states how one day he was looking through a newspaper add and happened to come across an advertisement, this opened his opportunities to fulfilling his passion to become a writer. He soon began working at this term paper mill, which he describes in his article.
Nick has written many model papers while working there, he said they were "Virtually any subject, almost any length, all levels of education." These models he wrote were "perfectly legal," "Thanks to the first amendment, it's freedom of speech" The business has been run by brokers who will take financial risks by accepting credit card payments by the clients who are in need of their work. When the brokers write for the clients they have to know the type of person their client is. As the author said, "One of my brokers would even mark assignments with the code words DUMB CLIENT." In other words, if they were writing for a non-educated writer then they would have to use simpler words in their writing. If they didn't, then they always had the problem where a client would call them back asking what specific words meant. This was to much of a nuisance, so they tried to eliminate the issue before it happened.
The author categorizes the clients into three groups; DUMB CLIENTS, one timers, and lastly as he says the "most tragic," those who are educated highly but came from a different country, therefore their English is not strong. The first group simply should just not even be enrolled in college, they don't know how to even construct an essay so they must buy the models to even hand in anything decent. The second group is described as people who are just thrown in a class simply cause it's required they take it, even though they don't need it. These people for example could be trying to become a chemist and are required to take a poetry class, therefore their stuck with subjects they don't excel in. Lastly, the third group, where they aren't native to the U.S aren't very fluent in the English language. As the author states about these people "in their home countries they were engineers, medical professionals, and scientists. In the United States, they drive cabs and have to pretend to care about "Gothicism" in "A Rose For Emily" for the sake of another degree. "
Terms papers aren't the way to make lots of money all the time, however they are easy and fast cash for some people. He would charge college students $100 per page on an essay. Although this seems outrageous to some, it seems like a better route to some. The reason for that is if you end up failing the class you wasted your money paying for the class, and you'll have to pay more to retake it, so in the end it can be an easy escape to some.
Nick Mamatas even gave some us hints on how to overcome writing term papers when telling us how he completes them. He compares writing them to remembering dance routines that are built in your muscle memory. Once you get the idea of how to do it, you will find them less aggravating to complete. He said "You have to make your own fun."
What he does should not looked at negatively. Everyone has their own strengths and weakness'. The fact that everyone isn't a writer is clear, but everyone who wants an education is still required to complete various writing assignments. Some people just aren't cut out for it, and they should still be considered educated people because of there own special talent. Since that's not how it goes though, people are lucky to be able to find these skilled writers that will use their talents to not only benefit others but also support themselves, while doing something that they're passionate about. Everyone has to support themselves some way and this is a perfect way for writers to get that fast cash they might need. Some believe that this is a "shady" job, however every job has it's shady parts to them. Not all of the jobs out there are as visibly shady, but in some way everyone has their skeletons that they hide in the closet, just so they can support themselves. So why should you point out a writer for supporting themselves the best way that they can?
You did a good job describing the different types of clients. The sentence "When the brokers write for the clients they have to know..." could have even started the third paragraph perfectly. I like how you took his strategies as hints that everyone could use. You did a good job of supporting your argument in the last paragraph too.
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out that the DUMB CLIENT group should not even be enrolled in college since they "must buy the models to even hand in anything decent". I don't know why that did not occur to me. It's exactly right. I also agree with the fact that just because someone can't write an essay doesn't mean they should be considered uneducated. Each individual person has their own special talent. Your explication showed me many things that I didn't originally think about.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you addresswed that not everyone is a writer and that writing comes more difficult for some people. This shows that you are not condoning people for ordering these essays, but you aren't necessarily criticizing them either. This shows you are open minded and can understand how Nick Mamatas is only doing this for money. You show that you are proud of Nick for supporting himself in life, regardless of how.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that everyone is just trying to make it in life. Everything you do in life will not always have to do with what you are trying to be. Mamatas used his gift to help others and himself at the same time. You pointed out that everyone isn't good at everything. Sometimes you have to just take the good with the bad.
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