The Medium and the Message

                 Mamatas's interview revealed his voice, diction, and tone. Mamatas talked very quickly. He seemed to be very nervous. Whenever he was asked a question, he seemed confident with his answers, once he figured out what to say. Mamatas's diction shows how he feels about his work, and his customers. He uses more "everyday" language when he is speaking which makes him more understandable. Instead of reading all of his descriptive words, we realize that he likes to write, but feels that his customers are just plain stupid in a more informal sense. This interview also revealed Mamatas's tone. He talked about his customers being stupid and how he thought that they were dumb for buying a term paper. He was  very sarcastic, and constantly laughed over the interviewer's questions. Listening to Mamatas proves that he did not care whether his customers got a good grade, or whether they got caught or not, all he cared about was getting paid and writing.
          Hearing Mamatas does not affect my opinion of his work at the term paper mill but it does affect my opinion of him. Either way, I still think that he is just trying to make a living, and wanted to write. He did not want to help people cheat, but in order to be a part of the writing business, he  chose to work at the term paper mill. When i read Mamatas's article I didn't get the idea that he thought of his customers as a joke. When I heard Mamatas laugh and talk about his customers, it made me realize that he  was happy to write the papers, but knew that what his customers were doing was wrong.
           I think that using this medium does change peoples' perspective on buying papers from Mamatas. I think that if they actually hear someone saying that they are dumb, they will not want to  buy papers from him. Hearing someone say something compared to seeing it written down can have a huge impact on people. It can affect them and make them realize that buying a paper from someone is wrong. In this case, the audio compared to print can change a person's thoughts on Mamata's career.  Choosing the right medium when sharing information is very important. If you want to be more personalized, it is better to use an audio medium so that people  feel as though they are talking to you. When you use a print medium, it is more formal. You are able to use bigger, more descriptive words.

http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2008/11/28/segments/116673

The Term Paper Artist

             The Term Paper Artist, written by Nick Mamatas, is an article that describes Mamata's writing experiences.  He  states, "I'll  tell them  my horrible secret- for several years I made much of my  freelance income writing term papers." Mamatas  tells us that becoming a  writer has always been his dream.  At an early age, he was told that " such a dream was futile" which was discouraging to him, until he discovered a job at the term paper mill. At the mill, he would write term papers for money on business, economics, and literature. The term paper mill was managed by brokers, and they had a significant amount of clients. Mamatas explains to us that being in the term paper industry  is easy, once you can get the hang of it which isn't easy. He compares it by saying " It's like an old dance routine buried in one's muscle memory." The business doesn't bring in a huge income, but it satisfied his desires to be a writer.
              Mamatas classifies his customers into three groups: Dumb clients, one-timers, and the well-educated professionals who lack English language skills. The dumb clients, are simply stupid. They have to buy a paper because they do not even know how to write one on their own. They should not be in college. The one-timers are describable from their name. Mamatas says that they are the students who are  "generally lost and really did simply need a decent summary of their class readings." This group of clients also tends to get stuck on their personal statements for college. Last, the well-educated professionals who lack English language skills,  usually use their own papers. They mostly just need editing suggestions.  He tells us that, " most of the customers just aren't very bright."
               Mamata's career may not seem  right, but without him, how would many students make it through school? Although some students are being lazy, others just do not know how to write the term papers.  They do not know what the thesis statement is, what argumentative writing is, or how to do proper citations. He states, " The student's aren't only cheating themselves, they are being cheated by the schools that take tuition and give nothing in  exchange." The term paper mill may be considered as cheating, but many students use it as a last resort. Cheating is the wrong thing to do, but some students need to do anything they can to survive through school.