College students need all the financial help they can get. I remember working three part-time jobs while juggling five or six classes each semester. Even with financial aid, it can be a hand to mouth existence. Every little bit can help. So today, I thought I would pass on a little tidbit; you can sell those graded college essays online.
The social media group Associated Content, will purchase your old college essays for an upfront payment of four dollars plus a performance bonus based on the number of hits your work receives. I know, four dollars is not much in the world of professional writing, but it’s better than the zero dollars you make when you purge your files at the end of each semester. As an English major, taking five to six classes a semester, writing a total of ten to eighteen essays, I could have made $40 - $72 dollars in upfront payments. And with new freshman enrolling every year, your college essays will never go out of style. That allows your performance bonus to steadily accumulate every semester.
Ethics of Selling College Papers Online
I admit, when I first began posting my college essays, I was deeply concerned about my responsibility to the academic community. Plagiarism is a serious issue on college campuses. Was I enabling this behaving by posting complete essays on-line? Not really. Professors have gotten pretty hip to technology, and technology has gotten pretty hip to the needs of professors. There are a number of programs designed to help track plagiarism, and quite frankly, if a student Googles a paper topic, their professor can, too.
The second issue is student research. Anyone can publish anything online. Although Associated Content has an editorial process that does not necessarily mean their research papers undergo any fact checking. Students should be very cautious about citing online sources. Check the credentials of the individual posting the content. If it’s an online journal, find out all you can about the review process. Articles printed in traditional academic journals undergo an extensive review processes to ensure the quality of the research and writing.
Benefits of Posting College Papers Online
That does not mean college essays have no place online. They can be a great starting point. Reading essays by other students can help you see a work from a different perspective. It may lead you down new roads of research. It may help stimulate classroom discussion as students bring more to the conversation. And for the students selling essays, it may buy another can of instant coffee for those all-nighters.
For, this reason, I will be removing the submission page from my website. It was originally designed to allow students to proudly post their work on feminist literature. I highly recommend selling them to Associated Content instead. You will still see the link page to essays I have published online, but many of them will now take you to my Associated Content page (hey graduate students need instant coffee, too). May you have another successful semester.
September 27, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Thanks for the associated content tip. I’ve always wondered if there was a way to make money from my essays and end of semester papers!
Here is the guide I use to write my college essays:
http://www.collegebasics.com/applying-to-college/admissions-essays/seven-ways-to-make-your-college-essay-stand-out.html