Term Paper Generator

Here is a secret: most academic conferences and many so called academic journals and publications are just a way for people to pad their resumes by showing that they have been published in peer reviewed publications. The fact is, however, that many academic articles are not even reviewed before they are published. This is just one incarnation of the notorious diploma mill industry where one can get a degree just by paying a fee. The degree is always granted on the basis of "life experience" and there are no courses that need to be taken.

A group of MIT students created a that generates Term Papers about Computer Science, complete with diagrams, charts and even footnote references. The article looks authentic but it is complete gibberish. Incredibly, the students submitted one of the term papers to an academic conference (which apparently existed only to generate fees through applications) and the article was accepted.

The students then attended the conference and gave read the term paper with a straight face. They have posted a video on their site but it would not load properly the last time I visited. I wish that I could have seen the reaction of the audience. I bet they pretended they understood what was being discussed so as not to let on that they had no idea what the presenters were talking about. A sort of Academic the Emperor Has No Clothes situation. You can make your own articles, or download the program for yourself.

Here are several samples of Academic Papers created using the random article generator that they created. See also the Random Philosophy Generator.

Fake Articles Created Using the Academic Article Generator

Created with the Term Papers Generator at http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/