I have just done an empirical test. I submitted a document to Turnitin,
and another identical one except that for most of it I arbitrarily
changed one letter in every eight-word string. Where I had made the
changes it came out squeaky clean, and where I hadn't, it picked up the
remaining text. A student could do the same to check whether they had
made enough changes to a plagiarised text to escape detection. This is
just one reason why I am against encouraging students to use the system
themselves, and why I believe that plagiarism detection software, while
it has its uses, is far less important than designing plagiarism out at
source.
George.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Mottley [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 08 July 2004 15:34
To: Plagiarism; George MacDonald Ross
Subject: RE: Promoting best practice and plagiarism prevention.
Ugghh?
The Turnitin software would still detect by matching whole sections
irrespective of whether single letters, words or even whole sentences or
sections are different or deleted.
John Mottley
-----Original Message-----
From: Plagiarism [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of George
MacDonald Ross
Sent: 08 July 2004 11:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Promoting best practice and plagiarism prevention.
On the other hand, students might discover that they have to change only
one character in every 8 words for their plagiarism to go undetected
(they could claim to be dyslexic).
George.
-----Original Message-----
From: Plagiarism [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
E.V.Brack
Sent: 08 July 2004 10:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Promoting best practice and plagiarism prevention.
> Turnitin acts as a powerful tool for students to assess
> their own work.
Feedback from my students also supports this - they use it to check
their work before final submission and are very grateful for anything
that highlights text they might have forgotten to reference. It also
helps remind the lazier ones that they do need to include references...!
It also means that assignments are of a better
> quality and almost all are in on time.
This has been an unexpected bonus for me - the fact that I can set a
deadline for submission that they can't talk their way round has
concentrated their minds wonderfully!
Verity
*************************
Dr E V Brack
Access & Flexible Learning Development Officer
Institute for Lifelong Learning
University of Sheffield
196-8 West Street
SHEFFIELD S1 4ET
tel: +44 (0)114 222 7085
fax: +44 (0)114 222 7001
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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