Freelance Writing Center: Unethical and Suspect

This week, in the search to dig up better work, I came across a firm called Freelance Writing Center. I applied, took a grammar test, and then received a request to write a research paper as an audition. Something about this reeked of odd, unethical. I did some research and found another writer who had the same experience. I discussed this with my husband who was charmed that I could be so naïve as to not know this was an academic paper farm—the kind of firm that sells papers to students who will turn in work to their professors and therefore falsely claim original creation of the paper.  He said I could surely do this and make a comfortable living, but putting the firm on my resume would be the death of me should I later apply to a university or respectable publisher.

Here is the first letter to me from an anonymous administrator at FWC. I received it after pointing out typographical errors on the test I was required to take. Note the disorganization of thought in the paragraph below. There are also spacing errors and punctuation omitted.  The biggest flaw, however, is in the main question I was to answer. What kind of professional writer states this so poorly? Immigration is not a society, but a process. But read, on…

Thank you for your feedback.
Prior to uploading your own samples we ask that you please take our test essay. To avoid upload problems please save it as Immigration. The next step in the application process is to provide a test essay due no later than June 27th 2011. Instructions are: Explain why you think immigration is one aspect of society that you think will experience the greatest amount of social change over the next ten years and explain why you think this is the case. You may NOT use Wikipedia, any encyclopedia or any dictionary as a source for this paper. You must research this topic and express your view on how this social institution/ phenomenon will change over the next ten years. Make sure you answer the following questions and include the following information What is changing? How much, how fast, and in what direction? What are the engines driving change? What data is there to demonstrate that this change is likely to continue and is occurring? Why do you believe this topic will experience more social change than other areas/topics in the next ten years? Which theory of social change (functionalist, conflict or symbolic interaction) best explains this change and why? Please make sure it is 2 pages, double spaced in Times New Roman Font, with 3 sources in APA format. Thankyou"

I initially responded to this seeking clarification of the main question. Does the administrator really desire a discussion about the effects of immigration on society or how the process of immigration would change? Then, after writing my lovely husband, who smacked me over the head with what this firm really is, I did some research and wrote the following letter to the administrator:

Dear Administrator,

I did a little research on your question. I found that the subset of main questions was plagiarized from an article here:  http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people2/Wilensky/wilensky-con5.html.

AND I found that another writer at this website found fault with your request as well. You can see his comments here: http://www.magi-creations.com/ on his post for April 11.

Perhaps I was so naive as to not realize that this job meant getting paid to anonymously write other people's schoolwork. Do you mean to imply that plagiarism does not include the willful relinquishment of one's work so someone else can make an A on it?

I cannot ethically write someone else's work for a university, but I can edit student work. I can write informational articles where my name is attached to the project publicly.

Like the writer at Magi, I agree that the sudden request for an essay mid-application is suspect. I also think that a more professional organization would not have typos in the test for the job and that the request for the essay would have been more properly organized and written. My even having to write you for clarification on the question itself should have been a red flag for me.

Unless you can make assurances of ethical intentions, I am not interested. And by the way, I don't need to write on this topic in your suggested format for you to know I am a skilled writer. Any research you had done on the links posted in my resume would have answered that question.

Of course, you can imagine that like the writer at Magi, I will be told I am not a good fit for this position. That’s fine, because it’s just prostitution of words, and who wants to be the quintessential representative of those who write so others can have a beer instead of doing their homework. I’ll let you know what FWC tells me, but I think you already know as well.

And to Mark over at http://www.magi-creations.com/, I again thank you for the notice on your site. Perhaps you and I will have better luck at finding good work for good people.