The student who is using a search engine to find "term papers" will turn up numerous sites with papers available for purchase.  Many types of papers are available, although the quality varies widely.  More than two dozen sites offer pre-written papers for sale; others offer papers written to the customer's specifications (A. Krier, e-mail, 26 October 1997).  Purchase prices for pre-written papers usually begin around $20 per paper, but "sales" are widely advertised during peak demand times. Some enterprising sites require the purchaser to submit a paper of his or her own to the collection as a condition for purchase, thereby assuring a fresh supply of papers at all times.

The options are astounding.  term papersonline offers 154 "catagories" in seven pages of topics, catalogued alphabetically. It advises, " if you have any specific needs, please download our entire catalog of over 20,000 papers."  For the person submitting the most papers to its site, it offers a free trip to Hawaii.  As the student described in the opening of this article likely discovered, student papers on Shakespeare (or "Shakespere" on several sites) are widely available.  termpapers-on-file offers Shakespeare as a linked category, and conveniently organizes its collection by plays, featuring the tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello.

The names of many of these sites boast an attitude:  Schoolsucks, Cheat Factory, Evil House of Cheat.  Evil House of Cheat offers "over 9500 essays in over forty catagories" [sic] as well as "Tips and Tricks on how to cheat an exam."  The site (to which we were "lucky bugger" visitor #1,244,151) advertises that it is the "largest and most visited essay database on the internet" and presents a testimonial from Tom Snider, Super User:
    Last semester I went up from a C average to almost straight A's!!  Thanks guys.
    You kick ass!!!!

Should a student have an assignment so specific that no previously published paper can be found, it is possible to contract for a custom paper, written to specifications, from about a dozen sites.  Custom papers are of course more costly.  At A1 termpaper, the Custom Work button will take you to the Custom Research Form to be completed; a cost estimate will be provided in a day or two.

termpapers on file, like similar sites, makes custom purchase painless:  separate buttons for VISA, MasterCard, AMEX and Discover allow the site to advertise "TOP-QUALITY 1990's research from a 24 hour service."   As further inducement, "All Papers are Digitized . . . and Transferable to you in ANY Word Processor Format. . . . ALL INFORMATION IS CURRENT AND ALL REFERENCES ARE FULLY-CITED!"

termpapers-on-file offers a disclaimer:  "No Document May Be Reprinted Without Proper
Attribution to our Company As The Original Source." The site further states:

    The intended purpose of our term papers is that they be used as models to assist you in
    the preparation of your own.  In accordance with NJ Statutes 2A:  170-77.16-18 and
    similar statutes that exist in other states, neither T.O.F. nor any subdivision of The
    Paper Store Enterprises Inc., or its affiliates will EVER sell a model paper to ANY
    STUDENT giving us ANY reason to believe that [s]he will submit our work, either
    in whole or part, for academic credit at any institution in their own name.!!!  Plagiarism
    is a CRIME! IF YOU QUOTE FROM OUR WORK, YOU MUST CITE OUR PAPER
    AS ONE OF YOUR SOURCES.  The Paper Store does not engage nor participate in
    any transactions for the purpose of assisting students in committing academic fraud.  This
    service is NOT available to anyone who does not have a valid, ethical reason for seeking
    our tutorial assistance.  The organization's rights to research, write, and globally-publish
    example papers on the Internet are protected, Free Speech shall continue unabated
    and uncensored.

How a student's "valid and ethical reason for seeking our tutorial assistance" would be authenticated is not clear.  Nor is it clear why a student purchasing a paper to be used only as a model would need to know that:
    All Font Sizes are 12pt. !
    All Margins are 1 inch !
    All Line spacing is 2.0.
And are we really expected to believe that Super User Tom Snider achieved those unfamiliar A's of which he boasts without "participat[ing] in any transactions for the purpose of . . . committing academic fraud"?
 
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