College students have long been able to buy pre-written term papers from anyone resourceful enough to advertise their services on student union bulletin boards or in other undergraduate hangouts. But the proliferation of online term-paper mills, which some allege make it even easier for students to cheat, angered officials at one school so much that they sued eight companies in a bid to halt Web-based term paper sales.

Boston University officials said Tuesday that they filed suit in federal district court against eight separate term paper companies in seven states. The lawsuit, the first of its kind in the United States against a Web-based term paper vendor, comes 25 years after the university won a similar suit against several term-paper providers in Massachusetts.

"These companies provide disclaimers saying the papers are only to be used for research, but they're transparent scams," said B.U. spokesman Kevin Carleton. The papers "are clearly not for research. They are nothing but finished papers, which teaches the students nothing but cheating."

The problem came to the attention of university officials after a search on several Web search engines revealed "hundreds" of companies providing similar services, leading some B.U. staffers to pose as students and order finished term papers online, Carleton said.

"It's unbelievable the kind of advice some of these companies offer," he added. "Some of them provide detailed instructions on changing fonts and typefaces so the students can make the materials appear more like their original work."

The companies named in the lawsuit are Term Paper, School & Business Help Line of Brooklyn, N.Y., Compu-Type of Jersey City, N.J., ASM Communications Inc. of West Chester, Pa., Research Assistance of Los Angeles, Term Paper Warehouse and High Performance Papers of Milwaukee, The Paper Store Enterprises Inc. of Jackson, N.J., Paper Shack of Shreveport, La., and The Gray Master Co. of San Antonio.

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