Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ChuckECheese]

I teach mostly advanced writing and speaking for uni students.

So I do lots of editing of essays and thesis on the side for extra money.

Yesterday, I was approached by a graduate student who asked me if I can write his entire graduate thesis for him based on his rough draft.

Has anyone done this? If so, what would you charge?

[ilovebdt]

Umm, I know we are in Korea, but "editing" his entire thesis? Isn't that cheating?
It's supposed to be his or her own work and if their previous work hasn't been word perfect and then this they hand in this practically perfect thesis isn't someone going to ask why?

ilovebdt

[Missile Command Kid]

Wow. Just... wow. If you're going to accept an assignment that runs contrary to the entire spirit of academicism and is most certainly against the terms of the student's agreement with his/her university, then I'd charge them as much as it costs for their tuition fees for two years. That's how much I'd want for my silence, as if I wrote somebody's thesis, the mere mention of it to the student's university at any time in the future would be enough for the university to revoke the student's degree - and any future degrees that the student earned would then be null and void, too.

Hell, take the money up-front and report him to the university, then you wouldn't have to do *any* writing! So long as we're being unethical here, might as well go all-out, hmm?

[antoniothegreat]

i think the OP knows the moral implications here, and just wants to know how much to charge.

i would do it with simple math. how long do you think it will take you to write it? if you guessed 40 hours (i didnt have to write a thesis, i have no clue) then how much is your time worth? is it worth 40,000/hour? then just do the calculations and you get 1,600,000.

that is a lot of money, but that is also a lot of work, and if you were asked to do this, then either the student is really lazy, really rich, or really desperate, all of those means he can fork out that kind of cash.

[ChuckECheese]

[jaderedux]

Here is a novel idea. Tell the lazy bastid to write it himself. You know research, footnotes and such.

Gawd I can't believe you would even consider it.

Jade

[ChuckECheese]

[rothkowitz]

A 50,000 word thesis?Complete with footnotes,critical bibliography and all the bells and whistles to get it to pass with two external examiners?

More than the student would be prepared to pay.

Oh,I missed that last post.Ok,proper job of it minimum 5 million.

Does she have proper notes or just scrawlings on bar napkins/backs of receipts?

If she's done diddly squat 10-15 million but it'll take a seeming eternity to get it up to scratch(don't actually know what passes for a Korean thesis)

If money is not important to the lazy moo then she can't complain.Why does she even want one anyways?

[English_Ocean]

Why post the question here? When it comes down to it you will decide on your own. I must say it's really ballzy for your student to even approach you with such an offer. Perhaps you should have her draft a contract.

[ChuckECheese]

[rothkowitz]

[Real Reality]

Ghostwriters Enjoy Boom
Some "hagwons," private learning institutes, are selling resumes to students, who are searching for ways to gain an advantage in the fiercely competitive race for college admission, Yonhap reported yesterday. The hagwons make resumes based on students� profiles. They cost from 10,000 won to 4 million won.

Online paper agencies have also been accused of ghostwriting resumes for students. The fees range from 50,000 won to 70,000 won, and 100,000 won for English-written resume. The agencies originally targeted college graduates looking for jobs, however, they now look to high school students who want help getting into university.
article by Kang Shin-who, Korea Times (September 28, 2006)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200609/kt2006092819151011960.htm


Ghostwriters investigated: Firms selling graduate projects face charges.
... Many academic degrees have been conferred upon unqualified students, the prosecution said.

Mr. Kim, a man working toward a master's degree and identified only by his family name, sought the Internet for help on his graduate thesis, and found a business there promising to ghostwrite his thesis for a fee. Mr. Kim paid 3 million won, and obtained his master's degree in August with the fake thesis. The prosecutor's office came up with Mr. Kim's name in their investigation of these businesses, however, and this weekend indicted him and officials of the company.

The Seoul District Prosecutors Office arrested and indicted Sunday the president of another ghostwriting business, as well as two ghostwriters and 11 customers, who were indicted without detention.

The head of the company hired ghostwriters of doctoral degrees, often college undergraduates, and let them write master�s theses for customers, the prosecution said. The customers paid between 1.5 million won and 4 million won per thesis.

According to the prosecution's investigation, most of the fake theses passed examinations. The universities that administered those examinations reportedly included top universities in Seoul. "The customers gave minimal information to the ghostwriters, such as a title and table of contents, and the writers researched and found references," said prosecutor Park Seong-hoon.

A professor who was part of an examination committee that accepted several ghostwritten theses said, "The quality of the theses was poor, but I didn't want to disqualify them. I never knew they were written by others."
article by Kang J. A. (March 17, 2003). JoongAng Daily.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200303/17/200303170205221879900090409041.html

[Pyongshin Sangja]

Oh, the money to be made writing for people you have never seen.

There's a lot of it out there.

What passes for a Korean thesis, though?

It's not as hard as you think.

[SuperHero]

[jmbran11]

According to the article, it seems that the going rate is 1.5 - 4 million. I would do it for 5 million if she's got the research cites done.