The Economics of Authorship: Online Paper Mills, Student Writers, and First-Year Composition

Kelly Ritter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Using sample student analyses of online paper mill Web sites, student survey responses, and existing scholarship on plagiarism, authorship, and intellectual property, this article examines how the consumerist rhetoric of the online paper mills construes academic writing as a commodity for sale, and why such rhetoric appeals to students in first-year composition, whose cultural disconnect from the academic system of authorship increasingly leads them to patronize these sites.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)601-631
Number of pages31
JournalCollege Composition and Communication
Volume56
Issue number4
StatePublished - Jun 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • authorship attribution
  • paper mills
  • plagiarism
  • basic writing
  • college students
  • written composition
  • scholarly publishing
  • cheating
  • student research papers
  • internet

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Language and Linguistics
  • Education
  • Literature and Literary Theory

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