Students Graduate With False Theses

Approximately ten students graduated from the College last year after turning in undergraduate theses that were partly or completely prepared by a professional thesis-writing service, the CRIMSON has learned. The service, which calls itself "Editorial Consultants," will research, outline, draft, and type up a 60-page thesis on any subject for as little as $20.

Besides serving seniors at the College, Editorial Consultants has also prepared theses for students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and at Boston University, Northeastern, and other colleges in the Boston area.

Editorial Consultants, which works out of Post Office Box 304 in Weston, Mass., is run by an alumna of Wellesley College named Miss E. E. Taunton. Besides writing students' theses, Miss Taunton also does a considerable amount of legitimate research work for industries and businesses in and around Boston. She and one typist compose the entire staff.

Discovery of the thesis-writing service marks the first time since 1940 that College undergraduates have been known to use commercially-provided research material to fulfill academic requirements.

In the year the University declared that any student using the services of a "commercial tutoring school" would be liable to disciplinary action, and defined such a school as, among other things, a place where "material is compiled for reports or papers."

It is not known, however, just how many thesis-writing services have operated at the College since 1940, or how many students have used them. Editorial Consultants itself would still be safely underground if it had not placed a small, innocent-looking advertisement in the CRIMSON of last March 14.

Text of Ad

The advertisement, headed "Editorial Consultants," read as follows: "Experienced manuscript editing or preparation. Specialists in technical reports, business and professional papers. These and textbooks. Articles. Fiction. Creative work custom edited. Research service. Moderate rates. Excellent references available." The ad then listed the Post Office Box and telephone numbers of Editorial Consultants.

It was the word "theses" and the generally vague tone of the advertisement that stimulated further investigation of Editorial Consultants. An answer to the ad requested help on a thesis to be written in the fall.

Miss Taunton then sent by return mail a letter that left no doubt as to the nature of her "editorial consulting." "Our service in thesis writing includes these points," it began, and then listed: (1) preparation of a bibliography; (2) actually doing the research work; (3) advice on any part of the work that the writer wishes to do himself; (4) preparation of a typewritten bond; and (5) preparation of a final copy to be turned in. "The thesis writer may avail himself of any or all of these possibilities. . .," the letter continued.

Students Research

Concerning point two, the research work, Miss Taunton remarked that "in the case of students' theses, the writer generally considers it more desirable to do this work himself, as he then arrives at a more complete grasp of his material and hence attains more benefit from the course . . ."

Later, however, when Miss Taunton contracted to write the thesis, she came to Widener to discuss the project, and remarked that students sometimes tell her they "don't want to see the thesis in any stage except the final copy." For these complete jobs, the thesis-writer said, the charge is still only $20 for 20,000 words (about 60 Pages) or $23 for 30,000.

Although Miss Taunton talked proudly of the students she has served at the University ("about ten at the College last year, and several at the Graduate School"), she refused to give any of their names as references. "You'll be in the same position and you won't want your name broadcast around so professors can hear it," she told this reporter