Concept
An essay mill (also term paper mill) is a business that allows customers to commission an original piece of writing on a particular topic so that they may commit academic fraud. Customers provide the company with specific information about the essay, including: a page length, a general topic, and a time frame with which to work. The customer is then charged a certain amount per page. The similar essay bank concept is a company from which students can purchase pre-written but less expensive essays on various topics, at higher risk of being caught. Both forms of business are under varying legal restraints in some jurisdictions. The idea behind term paper mills can be dated back to the mid-nineteenth century in which "paper reservoirs" were located in the basements of fraternity houses. Otherwise known as "fraternity files," these essay banks were practices in which students shared term papers and submitted work that had been done by other students. These essay banks inspired the commercialization of ghostwritten essay-writing practices. As early as the 1950s, advertisements circulating in college campuses described services that included ghostwritten work for dissertations, theses, and term papers. In conjunction with this practice, the changing attitudes of students in the 1960s and 1970s started to stray away from diligent and engaged course work because they saw an emphasis on the benefits of community involvement. A new focus on activities outside of the classroom took away from time to focus on class work, thus promoting these writing services throughout college campuses. Soon, actual businesses were providing custom-written essays for students in exchange for compensation. They were located near college campuses. One could walk into a building and peruse pricing pamphlets, speak to someone directly to place an order, or possibly make a selection from a vault of recycled research papers stored in the basement of these businesses.