The Complete Guide to Contract Cheating in Higher Education

by Dave Tomar, Fred Switzer (Foreword)

DAVE TOMAR is a foremost expert on cheating in higher education. Dave worked for a decade as an academic ghostwriter before bringing widespread attention to the thriving cheating industry with his viral 2010 Chronicle of Higher Education "The Shadow Scholar." Dave has also written for The Huffington Post and The New York Times , and has appeared on ABC World News , Nightline , Fox Business , and The Today Show . This text constitutes the single most comprehensive source on contract cheating in higher education yet compiled. Drawn from the author's decade of experience as an academic ghostwriter, and a subsequent decade spent bringing greater attention to cheating in higher education, The Complete Guide to Contract Cheating in Higher Education provides an invaluable resource to educators who seek to better understand how and why their students cheat and what can be done about it. Advance Praise for The Complete Guide to Contract Cheating in Higher Education : Part confessional, part exposé, this is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn the ins-and-outs of ghostwriting, the reasons why students cheat and how the problem should be understood and best addressed. Grounded in a genuine concern about the pressures students face, a frank recognition of higher education's contribution to the problem, and a thoughtful perspective on college teaching, this eye-opener of a book grabs your attention and never lets go. Mike Nietzel President Emeritus of Missouri State University Senior Contributor at Forbes Magazine Any educator who is concerned about student cheating needs to own this book. The combination of Tomar’s experience, his unflinching look at the real issues impacting higher education, and his unique window into the business of cheating makes for a fascinating read. More importantly, it makes for a singular resource on cheating. If you want to stop cheating in your classroom, you need to understand why students do it and how they get away with it. Tomar’s book is packed with insights on these very topics and is sure to generate productive discussions on campuses around the world. Jed Macosko Professor of Physics Wake Forest University Dave Tomar’s book on the pandemic of academic cheating leaves no stone unturned. As a former, now reformed, ‘professional ghostwriter’, his 13 revealing chapters and four appendices include discussions on his experience as a onceshadow scholar, now reformed. An important chapter helps faculty detect the problem early with a chapter on college “admission essays.” More likely than not, every faculty member has had firsthand experience with papers submitted that are clearly not the work of the “student” author. Tomar’s Complete Guide to Contract Cheating in Higher Education is a superb resource for helping faculty detect cheating, with sections on the design, deterrence, detection and diagnosis of this growing phenomenon. Tomar leaves no stone unturned, no trick unexplained. Mary Poplin Professor of Education and Transdisciplinary Studies Claremont Graduate University David Tomar gave higher education his brave and unblinking candor in revealing his own role years ago in contract cheating. Now he turns the spotlight on “Higher Ed, Inc.” and its many enablers, an industry that is often more concerned about revenue stream and emoluments than the students it should serve. His admonition to address writing deficiencies is sound, but even more important is the message to look at the epidemic of academic dishonesty in the context of systemic dysfunction. We must not ignore Mr. Tomar’s message. Michael Poliakoff President of ACTA (American Council of Trustees and Alumni)

294 pages, Paperback

Published June 17, 2022

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dave Tomar knows more about how to cheat the higher educational system than anyone, having made a living through desperate students in need of his talent for writing papers. He eventually came clean and wrote an exposé for The Chronicle of Higher Education called "The Shadow Scholar," which detailed his exploits and became the site's most-read article. That exposé later became a book: The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat

Now, Tomar returns with The Complete Guide to Contract Cheating in Higher Education , which expands on the contract cheating scandal in higher ed by going in-depth to cover the breadth of the cheating problem, its causes, and what colleges & universities can do, both to help students and halt cheating.

Tomar writes at Academic Influence, which features additional details about The Complete Guide to Contract Cheating in Higher Education.