Online Plagiarism Tools
I teach at a two-year career college, and we are required to have students submit their research papers via a website called Turnitin. This is supposed to check for plagiarism in each student's paper. However, I've had a lot of bad luck with it, and students' and other teachers' feedback mirrors my own. Do any of you have experience with Turnitin? Do you have any tips on making it more user-friendly and useful in general?
Walt,
I agree. We use SafeAssign (basically the same as TurnItIn) and I use it to teach what plagiarism is. They write their first paper, turn it in under SafeAssign and we discuss why things came back as plagiarized. Many times it is just because they didn't reference it correctly. Then, we discuss proper referencing, etc. I use this first paper only for this teaching purpose and then they get to rewrite and from them on we use SafeAssign to assess the plagiarism and assess the paper. No more rewrites. It works for us. Thanks!
I have used TurnItIn for a couple of years and find it works well not only catching plagiarism, but to deter it. I announce at the beginning of the course that all papers will be submitted to TurnItIn and I then find that very few score a high percentage of plagiarism. If they do I will then further investigate. I also keep an electronic copy of the file (student assignment) that was submitted to TurnItIn from every course so I can compare them to prior student's work. On the few occasions that a current student has used a former student's work, I have the evidence on hand. This has come in handy a couple times when the students still insist they turned in original work. An even more important deterrent to plagiarism is an institution that will enforce their policy against it. Few students will take the chance if they know in the beginning they will most likely be caught and face real consequences.
Albert,
Nice that you are thinking about the academic honesty code. Plagiarism is probably one of the most common violations. Thanks for your input.
Albert,
Nice that you are thinking about the academic honesty code. Plagiarism is probably one of the most common violations. Thanks for your input.
I reemphasize that each student should have access to the software used to monitor their assignments.
A student who is partly responsible for monitoring similarity scores will be an important tool is controlling accidental and unintentional violations of the institution's academic honesty code.
Albert,
Academic honesty policies are essential. The students should understand their expectations and you should hold them to high standards. Thanks for your input.
I believe that it is best practice to inform students about your criteria, methods, and software used to verify academic honesty. Students should have access to the same software.
Students are able to check their similarity score before submitting a document for my evaluation.
Albert,
Good idea. We use SafeAssign (competitor to TurnItIn), but I have not used it in this way. Thanks for sharing.
Dr. Tena B. Crews
I use Turnitin in my online courses and in the traditional class rooms
I teach economics. To avoid issues of students repeating answers, I provide a short written component and a short application based on numerical information. I can change or assign different numbers to every student... I usually find the student who does not understand the concept.
For papers I use Turnitin as a screening device. I request that students use it also... I expect them to address high similarity scores BEFORE submitting an assignment. A high similarity is not proof; high similarity score is a justification for an investigation.
Dawn ,
Dawn ,
Can you share the flowchart? It would be helpful to see what is provided to your students. Thanks.
Popped in here because I feel this is a huge problem with online courses. My students are provided with a plagarism flowchart but having a system that will show them the parts considered to be plagarized is even better.
My classes do not require a whole lot of writing or papers to be turned in and most of the time you can tell by the language used who has and has not put the information into their own words. Great to know the two resources for future reference and for my kids to have as well.
kevin,
I have used Safe Assign (Turn-it-in's competitor) and you're right they all have limitations. And, we do have to be proactive in talking with students about cheating. Thanks for your input.
Most of the time I have enjoyed Turn-it-in. As with any tool, it has limitations. If the student wants to cheat enough, they will probably find a way. Thus, all we can do is use what tools we have to best of their ability and make the student believe that the tools are perfect.
Gloria,
Right on. Setting those standards and sticking with them are essential. Nice job.
I have used both Turnitin and Safe Assign at different universities and am thankful for the support provided by these softwares to help students understand the importance of proper citation and referencing. However, the effectiveness of a university's plagiarism detection program can only be achieved if all levels of the university understand and actively use these tools, from the top-down. A university that sets standards regarding academic honesty and then upholds those standards through careful monitoring of the use of the tools and proper support for student follow-up is sending a clear message to students about the importance of academic integrity.
Brian,
We use SafeAssign (similar to TurnItIn) and I also find it useful. I use it to show students how to NOT plagiarize and how to reference information appropriately. We can use many tools for a learning experience instead of a final assessment tool. Thanks!
I have used TurnItIn as well and I find it to be a useful tool. But it is just that, a tool a starting point that requires further analysis. I always work with students that have high similarity scores to see if it was a one time issue, they need guidance to use sources apropriately and use their own words, or if it is truly a problem. TurnItIn does not pick up on certain formats such as Excel, so reviewing these types of submissions is more difficult.
I think those students that use the precheck feature are more aware of their submissions and the content that they use if taken directly from another source and make appropriate modifications so that their final submission is cleaner.
Alaina,
Thank you for the information. It is good to check on the students and their work.
Faryl,
I will use old faithful "Google" when the course first begins. The way that Turnitin is set up at our school, access isn't very user-friendly even though the program is great. If I suspect anything, I start with Google and make a list of assignments to go back to before final grading. That way, I can log in to Turnitin once and go over the suspect assignments all at one time.
Like others, I do a walk-through of Turnitin at the beginning of each term. Otherwise, students "swear" they didn't visit a particular site when, in fact, whatever they did use, plagiarized from the noted site. It gives a good first look look at how important it is to always check your sources and work with sources that are considered scholarly and/or are instructor-approved.
