Student Conduct, professors evaluate plagiarism web site

Integrity: Internet program can cross-reference papers for dishonesty; Annenberg studying feasibility of application

By SARAH JIMENEZ
Contributing Writer

Turnitin.com, a web site that electronically detects plagiarized papers, did not prove to be of significant use for the Office of Student Conduct and its fight against academic dishonesty cases, said Associate Director Robert A. Schnereger.
Schnereger and a colleague tested out the web site, and other similar sites, by submitting a few samples of work they had intentionally plagiarized. They found that the web site, formerly known as plagiarism.org, was successful in detecting portions that were blatant cut-and-paste violations, but did not find sections that were of a general plagiarizing nature, Schnereger said.
Despite Schnereger's findings, the web site's increase in client base and popularity tells a different story. In January 2000, the company had contracts with a mere 300 schools, but now holds licenses with over 800 high schools and universities.
"The increase in our client base is a testament to the fact that people are happy," said Melissa de la Rosa, the web site's vice president of business affairs. "Professors and universities often expect that our system will catch all plagiarism cases. But a lot of analogue material hasn't been digitized yet. As the service grows, our database does too."
USC as an institution has not entered into a site license with Turnitin.com, Schnereger said, but individual professors might be using the system.
The Annenberg School of Communication is currently running a pilot study with Turnitin.com using the Communication 200 course as the testing panel. Patricia Riley, assistant professor and director of the School of Communication, said she had heard both positive and negative feedback about the web site and decided to experiment with the system. The school will try the system again if it proves to be useful and valid, Riley said.
Once a document is loaded into the Turnitin system, the program cross-references it with more than 100,000 other manuscripts collected from papers submitted to the web site over the last three years, as well as online information that students are likely to plagiarize, found by an extensive Internet search.
When the paper has been searched, the system compiles the information found into a "originality report" that underlines text passages that are similar to online sources from the database. according to the web site, a color-code indicates how much of the text is plagiarized and gives professors a breakdown of the violation.
Some students said the system is pointless
"Why would you go through all that work?" said Brett Bell, a junior majoring in accounting. "If there's a valid reason to think that a paper is plagiarized, then (professors) should submit it. But submitting all papers is ridiculous."
Despite student concern, universities and high schools across the nation are taking advantage of the web site and finding it to be very beneficial.
"Universities really like the concept," de la Rosa said. "We hope to reach outside of education and begin to use the system for intellectual property protection."
Identifying plagiarized work can often be difficult unless a professor checks a large number of sources. Most cases of plagiarism are caught when a professor instantly senses an unevenness of words, the paper shares a voice of two authors or it does not fit the assignment, Schnereger said.
While the Office of Student Conduct deals was a variety of academic dishonestly cases, including exam violations, unauthorized collaborations and providing false information on the admissions application, about half of dishonesty referrals are due to plagiarism from electronic resources, Schnereger said.
Despite the increased use of electronic resources, the Office of Student Conduct has not seen a drastic increase in dishonesty cases, Schnereger said. During the 1999-2000 academic year there were 133 referrals, fitting into the average range of 130-150 cases they have seen over the last few years.
Five of the cases ended in suspensions, one in an expulsion and two students had their admissions revoked. In all other incidents the instructor dealt with the consequences, varying from a grade of F on the assignment to a final class grade of F, Schnereger said.
"We view our process as an educational process," Schnereger said. "We're not interested in branding the scarlet letter on students. We do not believe that just because students messed up in one class, they will do it again."
Some students said they would feel more "branded" if the Turnitin.com web site was being used.
"To me it just seems like there is a complete lack of trust in students if professors use the web site," said Ann Domyancic, a sophomore majoring in international relations and psychology. "I'd be offended if a professor ran my paper through the web site."
The service was created by a group of computer scientists and researchers from UC Berkeley in 1997, who were concerned with the growing problem of plagiarism cases, according to the web site. Large classes at UC Berkeley were the initial testing group of Plagiarism.org. In one class, 45 out of 320 students, roughly 15 percent, turned in papers either completely or partially taken from one or more online sites. Testing at other universities found similar results.

Copyright 2000 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 141, No. 42 (Friday, October 27, 2000), beginning on page 1 and ending on page 3.