A student here submitted a Master's dissertation. This was checked against
Turnitin, which noted that the dissertation was virtually identical to one
on the Turnitin database and the item in question was a disertation
submitted to a different University. The student was told of this; she
asked what the other University was. When the student was told, she said
she had a simple explanation. Whilst our University does NOT allow
students to put their own work on Turnitin (only staff can do that) in the
other University, students CAN test their own work using Turnitin. Our
student had a friend in the other University and had asked her friend to
submit a late draft to Turnitin to see what it might show up. As a
result, the draft duissertation was added to the Turnitin database, and so
came up as a match when we, a few weeks later, tested her final
dissertation against Turnitin.
This demonstrates a risk, I feel, if many HEIs allow their students to put
their own work against Turnitin. I, the Registrar at the other University
and several of my colleagues wasted a lot of time tracking down the whole
story.
Has anyone else encountered this sort of thing?
Charles
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