Master's degree thesis checks the price of frequent price increases
"At the beginning of February, 120 yuan, now 550 yuan, doubled." "480 yuan when I bought it, and it rose to 580 yuan as soon as I bought it..." As the graduation is approaching, the price of the master's degree thesis check service price rises "violently." Many graduate students bluntly said that the burden of checking the weight is getting heavier and he will be slaughtered once before graduation.
The paper review is also called "academic misconduct detection", the purpose is to prevent plagiarism, plagiarism, embezzlement, and tampering with others' academic achievements. At present, the well-known domestic duplication check service is provided by Tongfang HowNet Digital Publishing Technology Co., Ltd., commonly known as HowNet Duplicate Check.
Although there are Wanfang and Weipu checkups in the rechecking channel, HowNet has a wealth of full-text comparison resource database support, and the result of the rechecking is more authoritative. Colleges and universities often use it as the first choice for rechecking master's degree thesis.
Why has the HowNet Check Service recently increased its prices so much? Is HowNet checkups sold online formal? What specific rules do universities have for the recheck of master's degree thesis? The reporter launched an investigation on these issues.
Frequent price increases, you have to make up the difference if you buy early
At the end of April, Zhou Feng, a fresh graduate of a college in Chongqing, received a notice from the school requesting that he should upload a degree thesis for initial inspection. In order to ensure a smooth passage, he decided to purchase a self-checking service online and conduct a self-check.
When he was ready to place an order, he found that the weight-checking service, which only sold 300 yuan per article a few days ago, had risen to 450 yuan that day.
In order to save money, he and three other classmates combined their papers into one, and bought a check-up service for 450 yuan. In order not to be discovered by the system, they adjusted the structure of the paper, "the titles that can be removed are removed."
"I heard the business say that as long as the number of words in a single paper does not exceed 280,000, you can check it. Our four papers together, less than 200,000 words." Zhou Feng added.
The reporter learned that although Zhou Feng’s university did not explicitly require self-examination before submitting the paper, he had to ensure that the repetition rate of the paper was less than 20%. For the sake of insurance, most students will check themselves first. If the repetition rate is too high, it will be submitted after weight loss.
Guo Weili, a 2019 graduate of a college in Jiangxi, told reporters that the school does not provide a check-up service before the defense. Nearly 50 students in the class bought the check-up service online. "My thesis has been changed 4 times, and I also checked Four times, a total of more than 1,000 yuan was spent at the time."
Teacher Lu, the postgraduate teaching secretary of the school, said that the school requires students to self-examine and submit a re-examination report. "Students should be responsible for themselves, carefully prepare the thesis, and do a good job of checking and reducing weight." Teacher Lu said.
In addition to frequent price increases, the reporter also found in the investigation that if the purchase is not used in time, the price difference must be made up after the price increase. If you want to get the recheck report quickly, you need to purchase an expedited service.
When a reporter consulted a merchant named "Academic Misconduct Duplication Checking Center" on an e-commerce platform, he encountered such a clause: now the price changes greatly, and it cannot be used after the price increase. It needs to make up the difference and the order amount is not enough. Certainly unable to submit.
Another merchant on the e-commerce platform called "Weizhiwang Education Franchise Store" said, "It is recommended to use it within 10 days after being photographed, and it may not be available beyond that."
On the evening of May 2, Wu Yuting, a fresh graduate of a college in Chongqing, purchased a weight-checking service on an e-commerce platform. The price on that day was 450 yuan per article. The school requested that the thesis be submitted by May 5th. In order to get the re-examination report as soon as possible, she spent an extra RMB 50 to purchase the expedited service.
On June 18, a reporter searched on the above e-commerce platform to search for "Zhenwang Master Degree Thesis Check", and found that the master's degree thesis check price is basically above 750 yuan per article, up to 950 yuan per article, on an e-commerce platform An online store called "Shengshi Litong Education Specialized Store" gave an urgent check price of 1200 yuan per article.
Who is raising prices? Why increase the price?
The reporter found that the parties have different opinions on the reasons for the soaring service price of the paper this year. Who is raising the price? Why increase the price?
A customer service of an e-commerce platform called "Super Star Education Specialized Store" said that the cost of rechecking services at each stage is different, and the prices are also different. The official website adjusted prices uniformly, and we then set the price based on the official website cost, the price was indeed unstable.
The customer service of the "Academic Misconduct Recheck Center" told reporters that the price increase of the recheck service was due to the rectification of HowNet, tight testing quotas, and a significant increase in costs.
According to a Wuwen analysis of a print shop operating in a college in Chongqing, after the “System Announcement” was published on the official website on April 7, HowNet Legal Department sealed up a large number of test accounts, which was one of the reasons for the heavy price increase of the paper.
The reporter found that the notice issued by the HowNet Legal Department has set penalties for leaking and reselling accounts of the HowNet account of the user unit. The most serious will be suspended by HowNet and notify the user unit's superior leaders and relevant functional departments in writing until the user unit proposes a practical solution.
"The academic misconduct detection system is a serious management tool that can only be used for the business management process of the organization, so this system has always only provided services to the organization, and only allowed to test the papers of the unit." HowNet Legal Department has accepted the reporter's email a few days ago According to the interview, HowNet will provide testing services for the graduate school of the university free of charge according to the specific needs of the university.
The reporter's investigation found that the merchants on the e-commerce platform generally claimed that the result of the re-examination "was guaranteed to be consistent with the school's result". The customer service of the "Superstar Education franchise store" told reporters that the check-up service sold by his family is a genuine official website system test, and the report form supports the verification of the official website, and the default "the official website is HowNet."
The relevant person in charge of HowNet Legal Department said that the online check-up service is a product of HowNet, but has not been authorized by HowNet. HowNet does not provide services to individuals. HowNet will give the school a general account, which is managed by the Graduate School Degree Office. After applying and filing with HowNet, the master account administrator can authorize the sub-account down and set the sub-account check limit. The sub-account must be accurate to the person. After binding the administrator's mobile phone number, it can be used normally after verification. HowNet monitors the operation of each sub-account.
"One situation is that there are some people who resell the HowNet account inside the university, and the school has some extra test articles, which may be used by some people." The relevant person in charge of the HowNet Legal Department added that another situation Some online shop owners sharpened their heads and looked for heavy resources everywhere. The universities and journal editorial departments also reported that some people emailed them directly and planned to spend money on checking the account.
"The school gives each college an account, and the college asks the school for 100 to 250 check quotas each year." Teacher Wang, a postgraduate teaching secretary of a college in Jiangsu, said, "When not enough, call the graduate school directly. There is no need to go through specific procedures, it seems that the school will not look at how to use these accounts."
The print shop operated by Wuwen also provides a check-up service. Taking his college as an example, he introduced his "business model": HowNet will provide an account for the school, which will be managed by the graduate school. In order to facilitate the work, the graduate school will distribute sub-accounts to each secondary college. A related account can get a sub-account and then provide it to a merchant like him. Every time a paper is tested, the related households also have to collect a large amount.
A number of online shop customers who operate related businesses told reporters that they submitted papers through the account of university teachers for checking. The customer service of "HowNet Xuecheng Education Franchise Store" said that they have cooperated with universities and expressed that the check-up report supports verification. The customer service of the "Academic Misconduct Checking and Testing Center" admitted frankly, "It was checked at the school."
Different colleges have different regulations on checking weight
Interviewees said that in the past years there has also been a phenomenon of increasing prices for postgraduate thesis check services. The graduation season coincides with the peak period of checking the weight. Checking the price increase is a market behavior. It will be lowered after the peak period. Wu Wen agreed with this view, but at the same time pointed out that "price increases have occurred every year, but this year this is rare."
In 2016, the Ministry of Education promulgated the "Measures for the Prevention and Handling of Academic Misconduct in Colleges and Universities", which requires universities to strengthen the prevention and investigation of academic misconduct. In order to prevent academic misconduct of university graduates' degree thesis and improve the quality of graduates, colleges and universities often require that the degree thesis be checked.
The reporter's investigation found that different universities have different regulations for the review of master's degree thesis.
Teacher Wang, a postgraduate instructor in a university in Jiangsu, said that her university will provide 2 free check-up opportunities before the graduates formally reply, and the faculty will collect papers for centralized check-up. If they fail both times, students will need to purchase the weight-checking service themselves. "Some students will buy the weight-checking service online every year."
Mr. Zhong, the head of the degree department of a graduate school in Jiangxi, told reporters that the school will only check the thesis once after the student’s defense is completed. This time the check is more like a check. For students whose repetition rate exceeds 15%, it needs to be postponed. Only half a year to participate in the defense again. The school has dozens of graduates each year, and postponed graduation due to overweight thesis.
Teacher Zhong admitted that the paper review is an incidental business of the cooperation agreement between the school and HowNet. HowNet will provide the number of reviews according to the number of graduates in the previous year. ".
"The contradiction here is that many schools have requirements for the repetition rate of master's degree thesis, but do not give graduate students the opportunity to check the weight of their own. HowNet does not open the weight check service to individual graduate students. In this case, there is a thesis check Students who are in high demand can only flock to buy online paper review services," said one interviewee.
HowNet's Legal Department said that if universities and students uniformly include their degree thesis in HowNet's thesis database, HowNet will provide free checkup services to graduate schools. HowNet.com's number of rechecks for each university is different and must be linked to the number of graduates.
"If the number of rechecks in the graduate school is not enough, colleges and universities can apply for additional, we will review this. No documents other than the unit, no commercial operation, transfer to any third party through any channel, etc. The repetition rate of master's degree thesis is relatively high, and we will add it depending on the situation." Relevant person in charge of HowNet Legal Department responded.
The person in charge also said that the official website of HowNet has been cracking down with the cooperation of users in response to the HowNet check service for online sales. During many years of investigation and punishment, certain results have been achieved. From product removals, store closures, and website closures, to administrative penalties, criminal penalties, and civil compensation, "mainly there is such a market demand. Those who have resources want to make money, and those who want to open stores want to find such resources. "Reporters Zheng Minghong and Min Zuntao
(The interviewees in this article are all pseudonyms)