Though what Arturo says about how sources get on to Turnitin is consistent with what (I think) I know, it is not true that all sources accessible by the web are actually picked up by Turnitin - in some cases (at least) I think because it does not have the right to bring them into its database (sometimes for rather obvious commercial reasons). These can be very important in practice: in one case in which I was involved, recognition of these other web sources raised the suspect proportion of a piece of work from Turnitin's estimate of 56% to 80% and showed that 5 apparently separate sources identified by Turnitin (and a series of references fragments) actually involved parts of a single original source.
In such cases there is still a role for attempting to match specific phrases via (e.g.) Google.
Ian
Ian Gordon
Professor of Human Geogrtaphy
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6180
Email: [log in to unmask]
________________________________
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Arturo E Osorio
Sent: Fri 02/04/2010 4:33 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Turnitin
A couple of thoughts and personal experiences:
1. The system provides a color coded report where "cited" (referenced, copied or plagiarized) is identified in the submitted document. This text is presented side-by-side with the original source so you can make the judgment its validity and relevance.
2. Turnitin works with a several databases for the purpose of its comparisons. IT uses the web at large so if it has been publish on the web it is detected, it sues the main journal sources and more important its own data base that it is built from all the papers that had ever been submitted to them. Thus if someone in California writes a paper and his/her professor submits the paper to Turnitin the paper becomes part of the database thus if this person passes on the paper to somebody else and the second person submit the paper as his/her won for an segment turnitin will flag the paper as plagiarized since it was already submitted by somebody else. In that case it has an internal procedure if you want to pursue the issue and get a copy of the original work.
3. In the pass I have used to check on my students work or to check my own work to be sure that I have not left out any reference before submitting to journals or conferences. In all the software serves to help in the classroom to check on the students work as well as personal academic work. A side note that may not be worth mention is that a times, after submitting my own work more than once for review, I "flag" myself as a plagiarists as my original paper had become part of the database thus the second submission marks the first work as the main source. This last had served me from time to time to realize what kind of ideas I keep repeating thus I may want to further explore.
4. A final note, this tool is NOT to decide if the work is the result of plagiarisms. It is to identify the sources of the work and to show when there is copy and paste involved or some simple verbatim. This tool only serves to signal potential plagiarisms NOT to qualify the work as plagiarisms or not.
Cheers,
Arturo
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon Swords
Sent: Friday, April 02, 2010 8:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Turnitin
It can also be used by students to check if they have paraphrased referenced work well enough before they submit it. Of course, a cynic might argue it can be used by students to check if they've got away with plagiarism. In this situation one's rodent detector still remains as an effective way to find plagiarism.
Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Ian Gordon
Sent: Fri 4/2/2010 12:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Turnitin
And, to endorse David's point about Turnitin as just a tool, it doesn't
actually pick up everything that is available on the internet - there
are some important exceptions which I will not mention - or (where
multiple versions of some text exist on the web) indicate how much of a
piece of work might actually have been derived from a single source.
In my experience, though it can save a lot of effort, the traditional
tools of 'smelling a rat' and following up with a web search engine are
also still invaluable, in identifying the scale of potential plagiarism,
and interpreting what lies behind the symptoms that Turnitin reports.
Best,
Ian
Ian Gordon
Department of Geography and Environment
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
44+(0)20 7955 6180
[log in to unmask]
________________________________
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lambert, D
Sent: 01 April 2010 19:52
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Turnitin
Dear Paul,
The program doesn't. It's just a tool that aids a human being who knows
the field to do the actual investigation into a possible plagiarism
case. (I speak as a chair of exams who has used it a lot.)
Regards,
David
* * *
Dr David Lambert
Reader in Historical Geography
Royal Holloway, University of London
http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/Lambert/ <http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/Lambert/>
________________________________
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Paul H.
Sent: Thu 01/04/2010 19:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Turnitin
Great question. How does the program differentiate between cliche
phrases and often entextualized discourse and actual plagiarism? What
portion of the final score is actual plagiarism?
Paul
________________________________
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 18:50:04 +0100
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Turnitin
To: [log in to unmask]
Can anyone advise me what is the current collective wisdom on Turnitin?
(Shame there's not a programme called Leaveitout, I reckon)
Dr Kelvin Mason
Distance Learning Tutor
Graduate School of the Environment
Unit 7 Dyfi Eco Parc
Machynlleth
SY20 8AX
[log in to unmask]
Tel: 01654 703065 ext. 25
Skype: kelvin.mason1
Centre for Alternative Technology Charity Limited (CAT), Machynlleth,
Powys, SY20 9AZ, Wales, UK.
Centre for Alternative Technology Public Limited Company; a company
limited by shares. Company no. 1459589, registered in Wales.
Registered office: Llwyngwern, Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 9AZ.
Centre for Alternative Technology Charity Limited; a company limited by
guarantee. Charity no. 265239; Company no. 1090006, registered in
Wales. Registered office: Llwyngwern, Machynlleth, Powys, SY20 9AZ
________________________________
Live connected with Messenger on your phone Learn more.
<http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9712957>
Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/planningAndCorporatePolicy/legalandComplianceTeam/legal/disclaimer.htm
Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/planningAndCorporatePolicy/legalandComplianceTeam/legal/disclaimer.htm
|