Why You Shouldn’t Use a Writing Service

Sometimes, you might find yourself with an essay assignment so difficult that you don’t even know where to start. If you’re not a big fan of writing to begin with, you might see a writing service as a good option, since such a service would allow someone else do the hard work for you.

But you should think twice about using a writing service—and here’s why.

You Might Get in Trouble for Cheating

At some schools, using a writing service counts as cheating. Everyone has their own, individual writing style, and most instructors are pretty good at sussing out whether students’ words sound like their own. On top of that, some writing services reuse work from student to student. Many instructors run work through plagiarism checkers—and an essay used for another student will be flagged.

You won’t learn the subject material

When you write an essay on a specific topic, you have to put some time into researching that subject, becoming an expert of sorts in that area. If you let someone else take care of that work for you, you’re not going to ever learn the material as you would have had you done research on your own. Additionally, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage for future class essays and exams, as coursework generally builds upon itself over the course of a semester or academic year.

You won’t improve your writing skills

Practice makes perfect, and if you aren’t practicing essay writing, your writing simply cannot improve. Strong writing skills are essential for most careers, across numerous fields. A writing service might help you save time on a given assignment, but it also will deprive you of the opportunity to strengthen your research and writing skills.

You might get scammed

With online writing services come many flaws. Some companies are merely trying to make as much money as possible, and you could wind up paying for a service without ever receiving a paper at all—or receiving the paper long past your due date. And even if an essay does come on time, there’s no guarantee that the essay you get back will receive a high grade from your instructor.

Rather than using a writing service, consider talking to your instructor about how to best go about your paper. If you’d like someone else to assist with the essay process, meet with a tutor to talk out your ideas and develop a strong outline, or hire someone to read your essay in full and provide suggestions for improvement before the deadline. For most essay assignments, there’s no rule against asking for advice on how to improve or having outside help with some stylistic edits. But the process of writing an essay yourself is a valuable one—and completing an especially difficult assignment provides a level of satisfaction that cannot be obtained through having some else write your paper.

Citation Machine is a great resource to use when conducting research for your paper. It can help you keep track of any sources you’ve used in your paper. Create a Works Cited page in MLA formatting, an APA citation, or a simple citation in any of our other style offerings. The choice is yours!