Hi all,
Our preferred policy is for students to have a single opportunity to check their work (not just for possible unintentional plagiarism, but also for stylistic purposes) through Turnitin before their final submission. This can be a very positive strategy if it's properly informed, getting students used to the idea of always expecting to edit their work before submission.
It has been the case in the past that some students were able to submit unlimited attempts, and then they really did spend a lot of time tweaking their work to get it within an 'acceptable' percentage (we advise that there is no acceptable or unacceptable percentage - it's more important to check each of the matches). Equally we have had students who didn't have access resorting to the free online checkers with all the attendant risks of essay harvesting and missed errors. So I'm in favour of limited, informed access as a self-development tool.
We have produced a brief screencast on 'Getting the most out of Turnitin' which you are welcome to use with students: http://www.screencast.com/t/3VKn4Mlx
Best wishes,
Kim
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Dr Kim Shahabudin, SFHEA, Study Adviser, Study Advice & Maths SupportĀ
University of Reading Library @ URS Building, Whiteknights, Reading
0118 378 4242/5222 / www.reading.ac.uk/library/study-advice twitter: @unirdg_study
Please note that I now work part-time and am not usually on campus on Mondays.
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Ian Johnson
Sent: 25 February 2019 17:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: student access to Turnitin
Hi Richard and others,
We do give this access at Portsmouth (in the department where I'm based, anyway) and in general, it does help students to reduce their similarity percentages and they do anecdotally value having this access to the tool. So on that angle, I really agree with Sarah's point - it does more good than harm within the broader context that the institution uses Turnitin anyway (the ethical issue of using it full stop is a different matter!).
But I also agree with the thrust of what others say in the thread, that a tool like Turnitin can't and shouldn't replace pedagogy about scholarship, different 'voices' in texts etc which develop students' awareness more holistically. That will only become more important as time goes on and knowledge creation processes continue to evolve - as will moving with the times in terms of how we 'check' it. I always try to first take the view that 'plagiarism' results from not understanding the rules rather than deliberate malice, use it to move to a discussion about writing processes, and then go from there depending how the student responds.
Ian
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