As the end of this semester draws near, many students are staying up late to finish their thesis paper before the deadline. But those who have slacked off might resort to ghostwriters.
随着期末临近，许多学生开始熬夜赶工，希望能准时交论文。而那些想偷懒的学生可能会向枪手们求助。
It has become common for some college students to buy theses or scientific papers from online shops, such as Taobao. If you search for “ghostwriting academic papers”, a list of shops providing this service comes up.
对一些大学生而言，在淘宝等网站上购买学术论文已经是件很平常的事情了。如果你搜索“代写学术论文”，会弹出一长串论文代写网店的名字。
Usually they display a price tag of 10 yuan for their services, but that’s certainly not the real fee. Shop owners ask potential customers about their specific needs and base their price on the word count and other requirements. An academic paper may cost between a few hundred yuan (for a short term paper) and tens of thousands of yuan (for long dissertations).
通常情况下提供该服务的店家标价10元，当然这并非真正的价格。店主会询问潜在客户的具体要求，然后按照字数和其他要求来计费。一份学术论文的收费从几百元（学期论文）到数万元（长篇论文）不等。
Senior student Chen Yihua (not his real name) from a university in Nanjing and his three roommates bought their theses from an online shop last month. In their opinion, ghostwriting is just one of the useful tools available to students who want better grades.
上个月，南京某高校大三学生陈怡桦（化名）和三位室友从一家网店购买了论文。在他们看来，“代写”只不过是那些想拿高分的学生们可以选择的实用手段之一。
“I understand that students should be perfectly capable of producing quality work on our own,” said Chen, who is majoring in mathematics. “But students in scientific, mathematical and technological fields often lack solid writing skills. So sometimes we need ‘assistance’ in converting our ideas into academic texts.”
就读于数学系的陈怡桦说：“我明白学生应该可以自主完成高质量的功课，但是理科、数学以及工科的学生通常缺乏扎实的写作能力，所以我们有时候需要请“外援”，来把自己的想法转化成学术论文。”
A PhD holder in Shanghai (who wished to remain anonymous) said he opened an online shop selling thesis papers at the end of 2010. He is a full-time employee, but he can earn 10,000 to 20,000 yuan for writing one essay. The high profit is the driving force behind his business idea.
一位来自上海，不愿透露自己姓名的博士称自己于2010年末开设了一家出售论文的网店。尽管他是一名全职员工，但是一篇论文可以为他带来一万到两万元的收入。他经营理念背后的驱动力便来自于高额回报。
“I am just using my academic gift to help others in my spare time,” he said. “Thanks to real-estate developers, I’m a house mortgage slave and I need money.”
他说：“我只是在业余时间里，利用自己的学术专长来帮助他人罢了。由于房地产开发商的缘故，我现在是名房奴，而我需要钱。”
However, Taobao’s customer service department claimed that providing such services is forbidden. The online platform punishes shops that violate the rules by reducing seller’s credit rating, preventing them from being searched or even shutting them down.
而淘宝客服部门却声称该项服务是被禁止的。对于那些违规店家，淘宝的惩治措施包括：降低其信用等级，在搜索里屏蔽店名，甚至关闭相关网店。
But some lawyers consider these services to operate in a gray area. “In terms of legality, online sites offering ghostwriting services could not be considered unlawful in China as long as the real author agrees to give the copyright to the client,” said Liu Chunquan at Shanghai Yongle Law Firm.
而一些律师则认为这种服务游走于灰色地带。来自上海永乐律师事务所的刘春泉律师认为：“从合法性角度来讲，只要原作者同意将版权出让给客户，那些国内那些提供代写服务的网店就不应被视为违法的。”
Education experts point out that this practice is unethical. Universities require students to write dissertations or papers independently, so employing someone else to write them is considered cheating.
教育专家指出这是一种不道德的行为。鉴于各高校要求学生独立完成论文的前提，雇佣枪手是一种作弊行为。
“It is academic fraud. Graduates should be capable writers, no matter what they are majoring in. Remember that your dissertation should demonstrate not only how well you know your subject matter, but how effectively you can communicate your ideas through writing,” said Shen Yang, a deputy professor at Wuhan University.
武汉大学副教授沈杨（音译）说：“这是学术欺诈。不管来自哪个专业，毕业生们都应该具备写作能力。要知道，学术论文不仅展现了你对论题的了解程度，同时也展示出你通过文字来有效表达观点的能力。”
“Academic writing is a skill that a university student must develop. Employing someone else’s service is an admission of failure.”
“论文写作是大学生必备的技能，雇佣枪手就等于承认了自己的失败。”
At present, however, it’s hard to discern if papers are self-produced or not. As a result, many teachers ask students to discuss their papers or prepare presentations based on them. If it transpires that ghostwriting is involved, students face serious punishment and can even be dismissed by their universities.
现阶段，想要区分论文原创与否十分不易，因此，许多老师要求学生就自己的论文展开讨论或演讲。如果一旦发现论文代写行为，学生将会受到严惩，甚至会被校方开除学籍。