[dropcap]Staff[/dropcap] and academics at Dublin City University have recently become aware of companies advertising the sale of assignments to students on their campuses.
The issue was brought to the attention of DCU officials following the findings of a number of posters advertising to ‘have your assignment done for you’ on the campus grounds.
The services advertised by outside companies offer to write full assignments for students at a rate which was not stated on the posters, however, “it isn’t cheap to get an assignment done,” said James Donoghue, Vice President for Academic Affairs, DCU.
The posters have since been removed from DCU campuses but there have been cases where students were caught availing of these services.
These alternative routes put students at risk of plagiarism and “takes away from the whole aspect of learning in college,” said Donoghue.
For students “to pay all that money when you can get caught in the long run and there’s no way back, would be a really rash move as opposed to seeking help down other avenues,” he said.
The DCU Students’ Union are currently working to discourage the use of these resources within the university and “encourage students to come talk to (them) if they’re struggling as opposed to going down this line of online help from outside parties,” said Donoghue.
The college offers a range of support services for students who may be struggling during assignments times.
Donoghue encourages these students to make use of the writing centre, Student’s Union and academic support staff available within the college if they need extra help.
“I can completely understand that students are stressed during assignment times and stuff like that but there are other ways of going about it, we are always here to help,” he said.
Lauren Ennis
Image Credit: Laura Horan
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