Open Thread – Ghostwriters, academic integrity, and the Shadow Scholar

The academic blogosphere is bursting with discussion over this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education: The Shadow Scholar. A professional academic ghostwriter spills the beans on how his business works, who buys his services, and how the system enables it. Go ahead and give it a read, we’ll be right here.

So what do educators do in this situation? Is the author right that the problem lies in the structure of academia? How do you catch something like this? Even if you suspected this kind of cheating, how would you prove it?

Stan?

Damn them all, indeed.

Weekend Open Thread

Open thread for the weekend. Feel free to post links, ask questions, or talk about anything that interests you. Here’s some classic Stan Rogers to enjoy.

If you had to shut down all large scale commercial fisheries but one, which would you keep and why?

~Southern Fried Scientist