> Check out this URL:
>
> http://www.schoolsucks.com/
>
> If this site is successful, vast numbers of term papers on any subject
> will be available for free use. Of course, it will be easier for profs to
> check the site than it is to check the countless term paper black markets.
Actually - the profs don't have to check them. They can have a computer
check them.
> It may well be that the term paper is a product of the pre-digital
> world, and destined to fade out anyway. There is something about the term
> paper that strikes me an an archaic hangover from the olde days when
> gentlemen cultivated the art of the essay as a leisure activity. The
> term paper also served admirably as a kind of apprentice program for
> students who chose to go into academic careers in which research was the
> main game.
> Almost every student I know hates writing term papers, and almost every
> prof I know hates grading them. The profs often weasel out by having
> poorly-paid assistants mark the papers. Small wonder, then, if students
> choose to buy their papers when they can. Fraternities and sororities
> often keep files of papers and old exams of profs who are known to repeat
> themselves -- thus giving the Greek set a decided advantage (and more
> time to party). At least the schoolsucks site is free.
And there are a couple of urban legends on how the student picks a term
paper at random and gets it back from the prof with A and a remark that
he had always thought his paper deserved more than the C he had got :-)
> Anyone else have thoughts on the future of the term paper?
>
I hope they will stay as they are :-)
Anyways, with the advancement of computer technology, it should be able
to store the term papers in machine-readble format and have the computer
check every term paper handed in for textual similarities with previous
ones...
Sander
PS. I'm not a prof but a student.