The Journal

Issue date: 12/5/02 Section: News

Media Credit: Cathy Kelly Chris Parr, a professor of religious studies, checks a paper for plagiarism using Turnitin.com, an online service that allows students and faculty to scan papers for signs of plagiarism.

The Eden-Webster Library has installed an online system called Turnitin.com that gives teachers the opportunity to check students' papers for plagiarism. This system can also be used to teach students what constitutes plagiarism.

"It's going to be pretty hard to get anything past it," said Andrea Braun, the director of the Freshman Seminar program. "It's pretty sophisticated."

The system takes around 24 hours to search approximately 1.5 billion Web sites, term paper depositories, and Turnitin.com depositories. The Turnitin.com depository includes any previously submitted work.

One hundred thirty-five educators at Webster have registered accounts on Turnitin.com, but most have not yet used the system.

"I haven't seen any suspicious papers yet, but I plan to use the system in the future," said Anne Geraghty-Rathert, an assistant professor in the history, politics and law department. "I think sometimes students don't define plagiarism in the same way teachers do."

"I think I'm going to require for next semester for papers to be turned in both as a hard copy and on a disk in order to use the system," said Mary Bevel, an assistant professor in the department of multidisciplinary studies.

Faculty members who are registered can run an electronic file of a paper through the system themselves, or they can give a student a password to allow the student to check his or her own paper.

If the system finds a match on a public web page, it will give the user the URL of that web page. If it finds a match in a term paper depository or a Turnitin.com depository, it will give the author's contact information. The author can then choose whether or not to let his or her paper be seen.

Most students expect the system will be a useful resource.

"It keeps honest kids honest," said freshman Brandy McClure. "I do think it's a good idea because it saves teachers the trouble of wondering if their kids are cheating."

Some professors do not plan to use the system. Brian Kennelly, an assistant professor in the department of foreign languages and literatures, said that he could usually detect by himself whether or not a student has plagiarized.

Continued...

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