On April 19, 2019, Gilbert Nakweya wrote an article titled “Academic Writers’ Set To Lose A Lucrative Global Market” to inform the readers about the illegality of the academic writing jobs. He reported that the United Kingdom government worked hard to discourage students to buy composed or written essays from essay mills or writing companies online. This report, somehow, shook the online community of academic writers.
Effects on Banning Essay Mills
The recent measure of the United Kingdom government to veto the use of essay mills or writing websites has been unjustifiable. If Gilbert Nakweya’s report was right, then the UK government took harsh measures without evaluating the repercussion of its decision. For example, banning essay mills or academic writing websites would create problems among writers in the country. If their source of income would be through writing, then they would lose the job to feed their family.
Ethics in Academic Writing
Academic writers compose essays, reports, term papers, and other business correspondences, such as application letters and curriculum vitae or resumes as required by clients and students. They help both students and business leaders get feasible and useful help from those writers. For students, they can ask help from academic writers to prepare for their research paper and reports. However, these written papers are not the final papers yet since those students choose to submit them to their professors or teachers. It is because these academic writers compose those papers based on the students’ and teachers’ instructions. As the writers follow the instructions, they cannot entirely perceive the tone and voice of the paper. In other words, their perspectives and voices do not match with the students’ ideas and perspectives. So, when writers send the paper to the students, the latter must change some ideas and revise them to suit their needs. They have to match the voice of the paper.
The Writer and the Voice
And yes, writing a paper contains a specific voice. In other words, that specific voice from the writers will not be the same as the students or clients. In this case, students and clients need to edit the paper. It means that the writers only write for drafts, drats, or outlines. So, where’s the problem. The question about cheating and plagiarism does not apply here. Students may cheat and plagiarize if they copy ideas and words from others without citing them. They may, also, mean that students cheat and plagiarize them if they put some sources for fake authors and writers. However, things get confusing now. For example, politicians hire numerous and even the best ghostwriters to write for their speeches, but others do not consider them cheaters. Business leaders and managers hire content writers to write for their content on their websites, brochures, and other means, but they do not consider those content writers cheaters. Two people hire wedding planners to prepare for their programs and reception and wedding plans, but they do not call those wedding planners cheaters. Finally, a group of teachers and a panel of examiners require students to hire editors for their final papers or theses, but they do not call those editors academic cheaters.
Justifications for Academic Writer Position
Academic writers are not cheaters. They do not help students and clients cheat. They write to serve as a guide, a planner, and an editor. They write drafts for students to have outlines for their papers. If students ask for help and support from academic writers, they have to edit and revise those papers to meet their demands and voices of the paper. Such a type of task appears to be similar to the politicians who asked for ghostwriting experts, students who asked for editors, couples who demand wedding planners, and more. Now, just look around, why is it that you have a problem only with academic writers. How about the content writers, the ghostwriters, speechwriters, and so on when they do the same thing!
Google, PayPal, and YouTube
Google and YouTube should not approve of the rules empowered by these academic communities and governments. Academic writing is as legal as content writing. Both company leaders and students demand help and support from others. This help does not promote cheating and plagiarizing; it only guides and provides drafts for students and company leaders. For Google, PayPal, and YouTube, it is like a company manager who edits the work of the graphic designer and content writer because the output does not match the intended voice. And there is not cheating about it. As well, it is like students who edit and revise a few parts of the paragraph to match the intended outcome of the paper. And so, what is the problem with it?
In the end, the report of Gilbert Nakweya in 2019 was alarming. However, students should not worry about it. Google and PayPal should reconsider the topic seriously and review how these academic writers get affected by erroneous judgment among groups of people. Again, academic writing jobs still are ethically legal.