Woman buys term paper, then complains

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 28 (UPI) -- A woman who ordered a custom-written term paper from a Minnesota company says she complained to the Better Business Bureau when it didn't arrive on time.

Despite that fact that submitting a purchased paper as her own work would constitute academic cheating, the Colorado woman complained to the Minnesota BBB about Essaywritingcompany.com, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported Sunday.

"I ordered it, and they were supposed to have it back to me within four days," the woman told the Pioneer Press. "I constantly e-mailed. Nobody replied to me."

Numerous complaints have been made against the company, which has resolved most of those registered with the Minnesota BBB, the newspaper said.

However, BBB President and Chief Executive Officer Dana Badgerow calls Essaywritingcompany.com owner Jordan Kavoosi an "entrepreneur who is skating on the thin edge of legality, and for sure he's plunged into what we think is unethical behavior."

Kavoosi said he's not worried about making a living helping students to commit academic cheating that can result in failing grades or worse if they're caught.

"It doesn't bother me at all. I just see it as a business. It's as if I was selling shoes," Kavoosi said. "I just chose something that would make money ... and was kind of catchy and would help people out."

Educators say the risk of being caught is not the only downside of buying a term paper.

"When students skip the steps of actually doing the work, which is when the learning occurs, they're cheating themselves," Dan Wackman, a professor in the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said. "That woman is cheating herself. It's her own loss."

Every class syllabus at his school is required to have a section on academic misconduct, including plagiarism and cheating, Wackman said.