Plagiarism and Safe Assign
We have access to Safe Assign and I've been told by colleagues that a remarkable number of students will simply cut and paste massive pieces of text from the internet and claim it as their own work. If you don't have access to Safe Assign, I would recommend it.
Edward,
We also use turnitin. I had my first exposure to it during the last term. It really is, as you say, invaluable. However, the computer system in our facility sometimes does not run properly and as a result some students said they were not able to enter their papers onto the system. Initially I found this to be a little hard to believe, but later learned from our computer people that this was infact happening. So I did have to settle for a few hard copies. Those students using turnitin, however, did do a very fine job.
Edward -
We also use TurnItIn and it has proven invaluable to me in my classes. Unfortunately, it only works on Word documents. With Excel and especially PowerPoint, I need to be more creative if I suspect originality issues. For example, I have copied sections from PowerPoint Notes discussions that seemed out of character for a student and pasted them into a Google search using quotation marks. Sometimes I get a match. Since I am teaching first semester students returning to school, I use this as a "teaching opportunity" and to remind them of the University's policy on originality. In more severe situations, my institution has a specific procedure that must be followed that takes it out of my hands and allows it to be properly investigated by a trained team.
Hi Kim,
Turnit is a safing grace for instructors. Use it, and you will love it.
Patricia
The turnit in component has taken the burden of proof of the instructor. The software is set up to check sources quickly and effectively by mining the internet.
We use Turn It In. This website has proven invaluable as a means of assessing plagerism as opposed to a lack of originality. I have found that many students aren't cheating on purpose, unfortunately, they are some of the students that graduate from our public school system without the knowledge needed to write a creative paper.
I have found SafeAssign to be an extraordinarily helpful tool in detecting plagiarism. The difficulty could be in moving forward once the instructor has determined a student has plagiarised. Professionalism is key, and it is important to find out why the student felt compelled to engage in such an activity.
