The Term Paper Artist Explication

The "Term Paper Artist" by Nick Mamatas is a short summarization of his involvement with the paper mill business. The article is broken up into three major parts, but this is only at first. Mamatas quickly explains the way a paper mill works and the types of clients that he receives. He starts by covering his act saying, "Writing model term papers is above-board and completely legal." This is only morally relevant if you care that what Mamatas does is legal. The importance is that the service is easily accessible, making it available to his three types of clients. First are the dumb clients. These clients in the words of Mamatas, "- should not be in college." Their paper models are outlined and simplified to the utmost point. The second group is the one timers. They are usually students that are stuck with a class that is out of their element but are otherwise intelligent. Lastly, the third group is the well-educated person that lacks English skills, the group Mamatas has the most sympathy for. Mamatas states, "In their home countries, they were engineers, medical professionals, and scientists. In general, they are usually intelligent foreigners that require someone who has mastered the English language to get by on long, complex papers.

Along with the workings of the business itself, the article explains the main components of a successful term paper writer. "My friends - generally made the same fundamental error. They tried to write a term paper." Mamatas further explains, when trying to summarize the reason that most people fail at term paper writing. A term paper is about length and citations, for the most part, and Mamatas goes as far as to say that the content can be filled with meaningless nonsense as long as you are on topic. But at the end of the rhetoric, Mamatas tries to make the reader understand the failings of the upper education system. Universities prey on our inability to understand what professors want out of us. They expect us to know how to write without examples of how by simply understanding the content. Mamatas parallels this by stating, "Imagine trying to write a novel, for a grade, under a tight deadline, without having ever read a novel." The point that becomes obvious by the end of the article, Mamatas is disgusted with the fact that there is a need for his service, but he is not willing to call himself guilty because it is not a moral flaw, on his part. It is more a flaw in the educational system. 

I have to agree with Mamatas because he is for the most part right. Universities will gladly fail certain demographics because there will be more money out of it for them, making their service a fraud. Also, he does hit on the fact that by asking for this service, students are simply cheating themselves, so they are frauds. Contrarily though, Mamatas refuses to take responsibility for his part in it because he's just trying to make a living and others involved should be more responsible. The reason is obscure and unfair, but term papers exist to test students on their ability to come up with a great amount of regurgitated words from very little information in a small amount of time. Obviously, this is a useful skill for Mamatas, so he is also being a hypocrite and a fraud. His intent is good willed and clearly expressed, but perhaps, Mamatas should reevaluate his choices in life to make money before criticizing the choices of universities to make money. At the end of the day, everyone is trying to make money, and everyone is willing to bend the rules to get by in life. Everyone is guilty of hypocrisy and fraud, and this seems to be the true, underlying point of the cynical "term paper artist".