Can Professors Tell If You Bought An Essay? 9 Easy Ways

At times, students may be overwhelmed with essay assignments to the extent of seeking help from online academic essay-writing services. 

Students find their preferred essay writing websites and hire professional writers to complete their essays. By doing so, such students are assumed to have bought custom essays. 

While it may not be considered strictly illegal to seek academic assistance from essay writing services, some educators or professors are against the act. 

Because such professors find buying essays an academic offense since it breaches the ethics of honest writing, they may find ways to determine whether you have bought an essay. 

Can Professors Tell if You Bought an Essay?

The answer to this question is yes. Some professors are aware that their students buy essays.

They are even aware of the most popular essay-writing service providers and their typical output.

They determine whether your essay’s format, style, or content matches such services.

Professors who can determine that you have bought an essay have particular ways of finding out. 

How Professors Determine That You Bought An Essay

1. Verbal Presentation

One of the easiest ways the professor can determine that you bought an essay is through a verbal presentation. This is where they ask you to defend your arguments verbally. 

When you have written your essay from scratch, it is expected that you already know all about the content you have written. You have already conceptualized the points and arguments to the extent of easily defending them when asked to. 

However, when you have bought an essay, you will not be able to defend your arguments. This is a red flag, and your professor will quickly know that you have not written the essay. 

2. Plagiarism Scan

In most cases, you are required to submit your essays through online plagiarism-checking tools such as Blackboard or Turnitin. 

Professors insist on this to ensure that any paper submitted by their students is checked for plagiarism. 

Plagiarism-checking tools compare the submitted paper against a huge database of academic works that also includes previously submitted essays.

When such tools determine that your essay contains some significant matches with existing essays, like those that have been purchased, they will know that you bought the essay. 

3. Matching the Answers

When your professor matches the answers or responses within your essay with theirs, they may determine that you have bought the essay. 

There are two sides to this. First, the essay may contain answers that are too far from what the professor has been teaching you. 

The answers may be correct, but are not part of what the professor has taught you as per their syllabus or curriculum. This will demonstrate that the paper has been written by someone outside your class.

Secondly, the answers may be too correct or on point. Because your professor knows your academic capabilities, presenting a “too perfect” essay may raise some red flags. 

Since writers from online essay writing services are experienced and experts in their fields, they may present advanced concepts and arguments or use specialized terminology hence which reason why your purchased essay will appear suspicious. 

4. Poor Quality Paper

There are times when you may have your paper written by inexperienced and unprofessional writers from scam websites. 

Such writers will produce a poor-quality paper even after you have paid for the essay in full.

Your professor will know that you have not written the essay because such hired writers will not have any clue about what they are doing or what they are writing about. 

5. Wrong Answers

As aforementioned, you may be unlucky to have your essay written by writers who do not know what they are doing. 

Because of this, they will just write your essay so that they may receive your payment. 

Such scam essay-writing service providers do not care hence the reason why they will give the wrong answers. This may raise your professor’s suspicion. 

6. Paper Matches Previously Submitted Papers

As noted, your professor may require you to submit your essay through plagiarism-checking tools such as Turnitin to check for plagiarism or similarity.

Since some essay writing service providers are not genuine, they may share the paper you have bought with other online services or sites. 

If your essay is scanned and it matches any paper that has been previously submitted, it will indicate that you have bought the essay. 

7. Investigating Classmates

Another common way the professor will determine that you have bought an essay is by investigating your classmates. 

Some of your friends or classmates may be uncomfortable with you buying custom-written essays online and getting better grades than they do without putting in any academic effort.

Because of this, they may snitch on you if the professor decides to investigate within your class. 

8. The Paper is Beyond the Student’s Ability

Your professor will always be aware of your academic abilities because they are teaching you. 

They are familiar with your writing style and tone, vocabulary, scope of knowledge, and the overall quality of your writing. 

If you have been submitting average essays and all of a sudden you present a paper beyond your ability, they will suspect that you have had your paper done by a professional writer. 

9. Language Proficiency 

Today, students can study anywhere in the world. If you are a non-native English speaker or an international student and your essay unexpectedly shows an unlikely native-like language usage or a high level of English proficiency, it may raise some red flags. 

How to Prevent a Teacher from Catching You

1. Paraphrase

Paraphrasing is the act of rewriting or rephrasing original content using your own words without losing the intended meaning and message. 

To prevent a teacher from catching you after you have bought an essay, it is best to paraphrase it to avoid being flagged for similarity with previously submitted essays. 

2. Rewrite the Paper

You may also decide to rewrite the entire paper. This is when you go beyond paraphrasing and rewrite the whole paper to create something new. 

Rewriting ensures that your paper does not have any similar content to any existing paper or previously submitted essays. 

3. Hire Expert Writers

When you decide that you need to buy an essay, seek essay writing services from expert writers. Such writers will follow your instructions to the letter.

You can even provide special instructions to ensure that they write your paper per your tone and level of knowledge. 

To find expert writers, you may ask your friends who have used their services or conduct thorough research online. Check reviews for the best essay writing service providers. 

4. Study the Paper Well

If you have already bought the paper, you should study it well to ensure that it adheres to the instructions. 

Also, make sure that the paper matches your writing style, tone, and level of knowledge. Ensure that you do this to avoid being caught. 

5. Put in your Details

Personal details or touches are very important if you want to personalize the paper you have bought. 

Do not just submit the paper you have bought immediately to your professor after receiving it. Study it and include your details such as name, student ID, course number/name, and so on. 

This will create an impression that you have written the essay.

In conclusion, professors who are keen can easily catch you if you buy an essay. It is therefore important to be very careful when submitting such essays. 

Being caught can have serious academic consequences, hence the reason you should adhere to all the aforementioned strategies.