Did you thoroughly read the academic integrity policy upon enrolling at Lipscomb? If not, now might be a good time. Posters have been showing up around campus promoting the website Homework Horrors.
The website’s catchy intro is intriguing.
“Don’t fight homework horrors alone. Don’t lose sleep. Don’t watch your grade point averages slide. We’ve put together top advisers, experts and tutors in every field of study who are standing by to stand by you and help you defeat even the hardest homework assignments and problems.”
The site may appear helpful and legitimate, but it clearly goes against Lipscomb’s academic integrity policy –“offering up answers, help and even essays on demand!”
The website explains the three-step process of uploading your homework, getting a financial quote for answers and then getting an A on your assignment. The website is Paypal verified, further encouraging users to purchase by boasting secure transactions.
The website also boasts high quality services on many different subjects.
“We don’t just take on the little horrors, either. Need an essay written? Just tell us the subject, the grade level, and the required length, and we’ll get it done, on time, to the highest standards.”
Toward the end of the semester, as finals and term papers seem never-ending, websites like this begin to appeal more and more to desperate students. Lipscomb faculty members, like Ruth Henry, chair of the Academic Integrity Committee, fear that students will revert to buying papers instead of just asking for help.
“They [students] should play it safe and use the university’s writing center or tutors supplied by the university; it’s honest and often free of charge,” Henry said. “Most students don’t intend to cheat, but they procrastinate, have a lot going on and then panic at the last minute.”
The Services tab on the website lists all the subjects for which “help” is available. The subjects range from accounting to zoology, and the amount of subjects are growing.
“The tutors on campus have been trained to give ‘allowable’ help; that is, they help the students within the instructor’s guidelines for what is allowed,” Henry said. “This website just provides the answers. It is not tutoring, it’s contracting someone to do your work.
“If the student turns in the [purchased] paper with their own name on it, they are claiming that they did the work. That is a lie.”
Henry said she sympathizes with students who are overloaded with work at the end of the semester, but the fact that they are overloaded is probably the result of poor planning, and that is no reason to be dishonest.
Homework Horrors representatives had the following to say about their website being unethical.
“Homework Horrors provides homework help to students with detailed solutions to help you understand the steps involved in solving such problems and thus develop your ability to solve similar problems and assignments on your own. The solutions provided by Homework Horrors are not intended for any grading submission or an exam, and we believe you will abide by this policy of academic integrity. Homework Horrors will provide full support for clarifications on all solutions till you understand the concept involved, except for assignments submitted to grading or substituting your class work.”
Henry wasn’t buying it.
“If you do a web search, the title of this website is ‘We do your Homework.’ That seems rather clear to me,” Henry said. “They might just legitimately help with problems, but they advertise to ‘do your homework.’”
The person responsible for putting the advertisements around campus for Homework Horrors has not yet been identified, but their pictures have been captured on campus security cameras.
The website isn’t shy about its services. It offers the website’s New York mailing address, contact email address, telephone and fax number.
When it comes to finishing up those last minute assignments and term papers Henry thought students should keep this in mind.
“A person’s integrity should come before anything else in academics,” Henry said.