Response to White's 'Shadow Scholars and the Rise of the Dissertation Service Industry'

Abstract

The consideration of the impact of the dissertation services industry on the academy is a welcome piece by Jeffry L. White. White raises interesting questions and calls on educators and researchers to think deeply about the role they play in encouraging or combating the use of this industry by graduate students. In this piece, I respond to White's viewpoint by arguing that stronger language is needed to define this industry and that programs and institutions must be more clear and transparent about their definitions of contract cheating and what kind of assistance they allow their graduate students to use in the writing of their dissertations or theses.