A not-so-hypothetical question:

[aruan]

Say a friend asked you to write a relatively easy paper for him, with plenty of advance, on a book you're already more than halfway through anyway, for a class of over 200 people for which the chances of the professor being the one to read all the four-page papers himself being, just an a generous ballpark figure, slim to none.

The only caveat being that you wrote said professor a brief paper last semester (for a different class of about as many people).

Oh, and you stand to make a pretty sweet profit.

Thoughts?

Comments

[giddyupnow.livejournal.com]

*blinks* If it's a real friend, then I'd suggest he should, rather than use a friend (because no matter if it's paid or not, it's just awkward and icky and not kosher, ethically, academically or socially) and put her in academic jeopardy, instead spring for dinner and spend a night going over the material with her while getting writing tips and putting together an outline. He'd benefit more (and learn a bit about work ethic), but would still get some help. And, well, free food is cool.

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Well, the idea is that he's already got a huge paper to write this week, a weekend-long conference to attend and cover, and can't get away with not reading the book for the paper, which is due Monday. That's in addition to working at the paper all the rest of this week plus the working weekend. But after I actually sat down and thought about it, I know I'm not really asking this question for a thousand reasons.

[giddyupnow.livejournal.com]

Couple of things. And I write this knowing that you know that I know you wouldn't do it, because I've seen firsthand how much you suck at looking people in the eye in questionable situations. :-)

(1) Monday's a long ways away. Weekend aside, that's still days and days left. And if he has time enough to grab dinner or use a computer, he has time enough to sit down and read an outline of the book or get it told to him by a friend who's read it. Four pages isn't nearly long enough to get deeply analytical, so chances are he could BS his way easily enough into a general topic that he could write more comfortably in, then somehow tie it back into the book with a friend's help. That's guidance, but not cheating.

(2) Being one of several people I know who work and go to school full time taking upper division seminars (where research and analyzation and papers over the 15-page minimum are the norm) while still managing to find time to attend all sorts of functions, I understand time is always short. However, I'm sure that he, you, and everybody else in this world are not unfamiliar with last-minute papers written the night before or day of deadline. You just have to take it like a... erm, man. Sometimes that can suck real hard, but a C can balance out over a semester and it'll still be his own work. And really? Four pages is what, one and a half hours of writing? Ten pages is not what I'd call huge. It's a night's writing and research, maybe.

(3) I just can't believe that any book for a liberal arts class is completely un-paperable without reading, if you have a good summary. Because stories and ideas are never new, and there's bound to be something that he's read that's similar and he's bound to have had some thoughts about some themes in the past.

Just thinking outloud now. But really, I mostly worry that he could see you as somebody that would possibly accept such a proposition, because that doesn't sound like something a friend would ask a friend. *shrug*

[gjstruthseeker.livejournal.com]

Well, writing papers takes a bit longer than all that on my end, but I see all your points, and like I said, I've rejected the proposition after, you know, more than two seconds of thought.

The offer was extended to everyone in the office. I'm on good terms with him because we're usually the two there the latest, me because of whatever, he because he heads the online department.

My father rendered me completely incapable of lying early on in life. I don't even know why I bother.