Saturday, July 04, 2009

One in four Polish Master’s thesis plagiarised

The number of students who buy ready-made Master’s, Bachelor’s and Doctoral theses in Poland is growing.

“At least 25 percent of Master’s theses in Poland are plagiarized,” estimates Sebastian Kawczynski from Plagiat.pl, a company that produces anti-plagiarism software.

The growing number of internet shops which sell ready-made degree theses proves that the demand for them is high. A Bachelor’s thesis, 50-60 pages long, can be completed in three weeks, a Master’s thesis, 80-100 pages long, in a month and a Doctoral thesis, 500 pages long, in half a year.

The price varies from 19 to 30 zlotys (4-7 euros) per page, depending on how difficult the subject is. Therefore, an average Bachelor’s thesis costs about 1,000 zlotys (220 euros), Master’s thesis – 1,500 zlotys (330 euros) and Doctoral thesis – 10-15,000 zlotys (2-3,000 euros). However, cheaper degree theses can also be found via internet.

Internet shops which sell degree theses in order to look credible make a reservation that dissertations they offer are not ready products but samples. Some of the shops, apart from selling dissertations, also buy them. The average prize for a Master’s thesis 60-80 pages long is 300 zlotys (66 euros).

Degree theses on demand are usually written by students who studied at two or more faculties, have a lot of interests but no job. Also free-lance professionals, such as journalists, or retired people who want to earn extra money become authors of degree theses.

For some people writing dissertations on demand is the only source of income and they earn up to 3,000 zlotys (660 euros) a month. Internet shops which specialize in writing Master’s, Bachelor’s and Doctoral theses, and employ the whole teams of “experts” are also thriving.
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