Using Turnitin.com to Prevent Plagiarism
Thursday, January 12, 2006 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
(Kent Library Little Theatre)

Turnitin is a Web-based utility that helps faculty and students assess the originality of student work. Upon submission of a paper, Turnitin compares the work with other works present on the Internet and in several large databases. The result is an "originality report" that rates the originality as a percentage, and, where there is a match to earlier work, provides references to the source(s).

In this session, we will explore how Turnitin works, how it can be implemented in a course, and how it can be used interactively with students to emphasize and illustrate concepts of intellectual property and academic honesty.

Tentative Schedule

TIME

ACTIVITY

10:00 - 10:15

Teaching, Learning, and Plagiarism: Do we need to agree on the meaning of plagiarism?

"unoriginal material"

10:15 - 10:30

10:30 - 11:10

a. Help documentation (Instructor User Guide)
b. Creating a user profile
c. Account join

a. Add class
b. Adding assignments
c. Other controls

a. Submission by students
b. Submission by professor
c. Originality reports

(video on how to read an originality report)

Examples of fake ‘paper’ submissions of various originality

d. Quick Submit

4. Optional and Additional features (extra fee; intended to make TII into a Course Management System)

• Peer Review

• Grademark

• Gradebook

• Digital Portfolio

• Calendar

• Discussion Boards

• Libraries

11:10 - 11:15

- Stretch Break -

11:15 - 11:50

• Faculty or student submission?
• Submit before grading or at time of grading?
• In how many classes can a paper be used?
• What can TII teach your students about intellectual property?

It was a very positive experience for me. Far from being a digital policeman, I found that Turnitin.com was actually an excellent teaching tool. When student work was not cited properly, I was able to sit down with them and explain the importance of citations, and demonstrate to them where the problems lay. Having Turnitin.com do the "detective work" took some of the confrontation out of this situation.

Prof. Gillian Mothersill
Ryerson University

Research Resources   Instructor/Student Resources from Turnitin.com

2. Does Turnitin respect Intellectual Property?

Legal Documents How does Turnitin comply with FERPA, COPPA and copyright laws?

PPT     HTML

11:50-12:00