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Buy knowledge, get shafted

Arizona Daily Wildcat

If you're a student who is tired of actually working hard for your own grades, lend me your ears. Writing research papers is now a thing of the past. If you are a wealthy college student, as so many are, you can buy your own research papers at Knexa.com, an Internet auction site similar to the popular Ebay. Don't worry, as illicit as the techniques may be, they're perfectly legal.

According to the website, Knexa.com "provides a dedicated marketplace for knowledge where the market drives the price."

Translation: "We are a cyber paper mill."

Since Sept. 1, Knexa.com has been auctioning off students' "knowledge." Such knowledge can include video and audio, photographs, and text in the form of research papers, advice and theses.

Students who would buy papers from such a site and pass them off as their own not only have no integrity, but they are also getting gypped. The notes and research provided by Knexa.com that can cost students much needed money are available at any university library - for free. It is, as the website says in a highly cheesy infomercial-ish way that makes Amway seem legitimate, an auction of knowledge. The website is designed like an AT&T commercial, quoting virtual nobodies in order to appear legitimate. It is a sophisticated version of conventional plagiarism websites such as cheating.com and schoolsucks.com.

Knexa.com boasts the quote from one Rutherford D. Rogers: "We're drowning in information and starving for knowledge."

Translation: "It sounds better when we call it a hunger for knowledge instead of plagiarism."

The site has caused university professors nationwide, including some from the UA, to raise questions about the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of students taking advantage of such a service.

"It violates academic integrity," said UA history professor Karen Anderson. "You're [in college] to develop certain skills. A lot of assignments are about students producing their own knowledge. It's not about having certain facts at your disposal."

The concern is legitimate, but one that cannot truly be satisfied. The most that can be done is to convince students that such a site does not benefit them in the long run.

The site's main selling point is pathetic, in and of itself. As is featured in highlighted font on the website, "It takes work to create knowledge. Knexa.com provides a new forum for individuals to benefit from their work and the work of others."

Translation: "You're a loser if you're in college to actually work for your own grades."

The website should at least stop trying to appear so legitimate and post in large letters: "We can help you cheat."

True, students benefit from each others "knowledge" all the time. They share notes with peers or read each others papers for insight. Usually such sharing of knowledge is beneficial and helps students synthesize their own ideas.

True, Knexa.com could serve a similar purpose. But instead of being an effective tool for research, many students will use the site as a crutch. It could be an expedient way to pass another's work off as original thoughts. While the intent of Knexa.com may not be to facilitate cheating, it inevitably becomes useful for this very reason.

Students buy into such deals because it is expedient. It is easy to buy information instead of taking the time to research it. It is easy to buy a research paper instead of writing an original one. It is very easy, very wrong and entirely lawful.

Lawfulness does not translate into legitimacy.