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Anti-plagiarism software and academic honesty Widespread? Internet-related awareness Increased institutional focus Anti-plagiarism software
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Anti-plagiarism Anti-plagiarism software in an Irish software in an Irish
University: three University: three years lateryears later
Angelica Risquez, Centre for Teaching Angelica Risquez, Centre for Teaching and Learning, University of Limerickand Learning, University of Limerick
[email protected]@ul.ie
Outline• Anti-plagiarism software and
academic honesty• Our experience since 2005• Towards good practices
Anti-plagiarism software and academic honesty
• Widespread?• Internet-related awareness• Increased institutional focus• Anti-plagiarism software
Anti-plagiarism software and academic honesty
• Ethical debate: “deterring plagiarism before it happens” (www.turnitin.com) VS “pedagogic placebo” (Carbone, 2001) and potentially purely punitive (Sutherland-Smith and Carr, 2005).
• Practical debate: effectiveness assumed rather than confirmed
Our experience so far• Turnitin.com: plagiarism prevention; online
marking; peer review and e-portfolio.• Adopted at UL in 2005, training and support
provided by the CTL (aprox 150 faculty).• Voluntary and promoting a positive,
proactive attitude towards plagiarism prevention
Our experience so far
Our experience so far: Statistics
• 214 instructor accounts • 7,966 student accounts (additional
5,561 accounts now deleted)• 11,882 submissions, 9,809 originality
reports• 1,772 peer reviews • 226 papers marked online
Our experience so far: Student accounts
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
Sem205/06
Sem106/07
Sem206/07
Sem107/08
Sem207/08
Sem108/09
Sem208/09
Our experience so far: Representation
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
College ofEducationand HealthSciences
College ofEngineeringand Science
College ofArts and
Humanities
KemmyBusinessSchool
TOTAL
EnrolmentSem2 08/09
Our experience so far: Originality reports
978
320
1445
6297
769
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
75-100% 50-74% 25-49% 0-24% < 20 words
!!! Not representative of actual plagiarism levels
(Data early 2008, 140 instructors)
Our experience so far: Differing practices
73
48
19
01020304050607080
Submitted withoutcreating studentaccountsSubmitted creatingstudent accounts
No submissions
Our experience so far: Differing practices (2)
Frequenc
yMore than 8 student accounts (full
class) 22Less than 8 student accounts 26Total 48… only 18% of 140 organised
submissions with the whole class
Towards good practices• Differing practices emerge: proactive,
encouraging students to submit VS ah-hoc use
• How these relate to approaches to plagiarism prevention, academic performance, student learning, and attitudes towards academic honesty?
• Are submissions of “suspicious” assignments related to ad-hoc approaches which may alienate students and provoke resistance, fear, etc.?
Towards good practices (2)
… It seems that I am the only one that requested that students submit all of their texts to Turnitin. I have found them reluctant to do so, but I’m not sure why. At this point, only a few have been exposed for documentation violation through Turnitin. … I’m finding that these first year students are, understandably, uncertain about what kind of information needs to be cited. … For the few students who did attend tutorials and submit regularly, I think the combination of essay writing tutorials, feedback and originality verification was a boon of a benefit. We’ll see.
Lawrence Cleary, Writing Centre, UL
• Case study with engineering class (Ledwith&Risquez, 2008) showed decreased level of plagiarism because the lecturer integrated it in a coherent prevention policy including:– Workshop with students and training on
appropriate referencing– Feedback to the class on results from system– Tackling individual cases and allowing
resubmission
Towards good practices (3)
• Survey of student perceptions (n=787) showed no link between knowing about/submitting to Turnitin and ethical views about plagiarism and reported engagement in plagiarism
Towards good practices (4)
• Indications that the system may be best used with proactive practices which emphasise writing skills and referencing
• E.g. students are encouraged to submit their work through the semester, allowed to see their own originality reports, available tutor/peer support
Towards good practices (5)
ReferencesCarbone, N. (2001). Turnitin.com, a Pedagogic Placebo for
Plagiarism [Electronic Version]. Technical Notes. Retrieved 10th October 2007 from http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/techtiparchive/ttip060501.htm.
Ledwith, A., y Risquez, A. (2008). Using Anti-Plagiarism Software to Promote Academic Honesty in the Context of Peer Reviewed Assignments. Studies in Higher Education, 33(4).
Sutherland-Smith, W., y Carr, D. (2005). Turnitin.com: Teachers' perspectives of anti-plagiarism software in raising issues of educational integrity. JUTLP, 3(1b).
