SHOULD PC STUDENTS TURN
IT IN?
Software designed by Turnitin.com
checks 100,000 student papers for plagiarism every day, according
to the February 29th issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Over 8.000 schools, including Harvard and Oxford University, subscribe
to the service. A pilot of the system this year may determine
whether or not Presbyterian College will join the crowd.
Turnitin scans student papers and returns
an Originality Report color-coding the paper to Internet sources
and student papers in its database and giving the percentage of
online sources used. Students and professors must then check to
see if the colored passages are correctly cited and whether the
percentage indicates too much reliance on outside works and not
enough of the student's own synthesis and analysis. Mike Burton, Senior Account Manager for Turnitin,
wrote on the writing center listserv that their service is "an
electronic tool that can provide a level of data access that cannot
be performed without the use of technology. A single human being
could not perform an exhaustive search that spans over 8 billion
pages of Internet content and over 60 million articles."
MIXED REACTIONS TO PC
PILOT
Karen Buckland, who tried Turnitin
with three papers in History and Literature of Music, found it
difficult to use: "The latest problem was accessing the database."
Her students were confused about the system and "more afraid
of unintentionally plagiarizing." Although a "big fan"
of Turnitin, Jay Todd at Xavier University too admits its use
has a "sharp learning curve." Lyndall Nairn of Lynchburg
College also mentions the learning curve, not only in using the
system but also in interpreting the reports, and Lynchburg's writing
center staff keep busy discussing such issues with students. Indiana
University offers extensive technological support to prepare instructors
and students for the first papers.
On the other hand, Latha Gearheart had a positive experience
using Turnitin in chemistry's Introduction to Research course,
in which students develop and present a research proposal. According
to Gearheart, "they did an extensive search of the literature
and thus were using other researcher's ideas." He took class
time to prepare students for Turnitin, "setting up accounts
and going through the options with Rob
Howiler. Mostly just ironing
out the bumps." He had some glitches in figuring out the
post-date when students can see what he calls the "turnitin-analyzed"
work before the final paper is due. Gearheart arranged for his
students to submit all their rough drafts on their own so that
they could "view whether or not their writing is plagiarized"
and then revise to reduce the percentage of the match. He found
the reports especially helpful when students defined or described
scientific terms, "often difficult to put into your own words."
Knowing that "someone was watching their use of the sources
made them more aware and careful in writing," he said. All
the final papers scored under 10% on the Originality Report.
Liz Jacques, a student in the class, found Turnitin " a little
confusing at first, but after playing around with it for a while,
I figured it out. It was definitely useful in this Intro to Research
class. The idea is good to ensure that you have no plagiarism
before turning in the paper for credit." Drew Tobias says
that "it caught what would have been some minor plagiarism
errors. It is a little awkward to use at first, but overall I
think it is very helpful." Gearheart gave Turnitin a B+,
losing points only for small logistical problems. He recommends
it as a detection tool or a learning tool if it is economically
feasible.
PEDAGOGICAL BENEFITS
Those who see Turnitin as a learning
tool require students to submit rough drafts on their own, as
Gearheart did. Nairn asked her students to check their own Originality
Reports and then to revise their drafts. She notes that Lynchburg
College has had fewer cases of unintentional plagiarism since
students could see where they needed to paraphrase and summarize.
Professors using Turnitin still need to take
the time to show students how to avoid plagiarism by explaining
how their particular discipline uses sources: when and how to
quote or paraphrase and why a particular type of citation is used.
Designing assignments and commenting on drafts
in progress play a part. Others find the same instructional benefit
from other software. Michael Mattison, Writing Center Director
at Boise State, says his school has opted for Blackboard's SafeAssign
(formerly MyDropBox), maintaining that its learning potential
is more evident than Turnitin's. With an upgrade of Blackboard,
which requires funds for more server space, PC would be able to
use SafeAssign.
CONTROVERSY
Controversy has surrounded Turnitin.
The Chronicle article points out the main ethical problem:
Turnitin appropriates students' papers for its database and therefore
its own profit. A recent article in
the Writing Center Journal even questioned whether Turnitin
could detect varied forms of plagiarism (Brown et al.). When one
of the authors submitted an essay from a "paper mill,"
the 10% match of text to the Web suggested that Turnitin was not
a guaranteed detector of the most basic type of plagiarism (23).
Its use may lead to complacency on the part of both student and
professor. Valerie Balester from Texas A & M adds that it
is only a matter of time before students "beat the system."
Balester calls Turnitin "a waste of time" for detecting
plagiarism since Google works better to search for Internet matches.
In an article on Turnitin and colleges with honor codes, Paula Wasley asks whether such software is "compatible with a system based on trust" (A12). She declares Turnitin "unthinkable at a place like Davidson College or Haverford College . . . where, students and administrators say, the honor system helps define campus culture." Davidson's dean of students says that adopting Turnitin would be a "tough sell to students" there. In addition to evaluating its effectiveness as a detector of and deterrent to plagiarism or its use as a tool to help teach students the skills necessary to avoid unintentional plagiarism, a college contemplating Turnitin.com should consider its philosophy. Many professors object to the idea that all students are suspected cheaters and that it is our job to catch them.
Works Cited
Brown, Renee, Brian Fallon, Jessica Lott, Elizabeth Matthews,
and Elizabeth Mintie. "Taking on Turnitin: Tutors Advocating
Change." The Writing Center Journal 27.1 (2007): 7-28.
Read, Brock. "Anti-Cheating Crusader Vexes Some Professors."
Chronicle of Higher Education. 29 Feb. 2008. A 1+.
Wasley, Paula. "Is Software Compatible
with System Based on Trust?" Chronicle of Higher Education.
29 Feb. 2008: A12.
by Jill Frey and Charlie Johnson
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