Plagiarism Resource Site

A student at McGill University, who refused to submit an essay for screening by Turnitin, has raised serious pedagogical, ethical, and legal challenges to using the Calilfornia-based service. The head of McGill's English Department, John Cook, has suggested that Turnitin is simply part of a larger problem facing universities -- the tendency to emphasize evaluation at the expense of instruction.

Turnitin further insinuates itself into educational practice as high schools begin to use it to discourage plagiarism.

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Rebecca Moore Howard, Syracuse University, provides a provocative perspective in "The Search for a Cure: Understanding the Plagiarism Epidemic."

George Mason has witnessed a dramatic increase in cheating and plagiarism over the past five years. In response to this development, the administration and faculty have begun to stress the school's honor code and instructional methods to discourage academic dishonesty.

Cheating on exams and essays seems to be a way of life for many undergraduates at UCLA. One anonymous student likens the experience of cheating to that of gambling.

In a recent letter to the editor in the Washington Post, Gary Jacobsen suggests that carefully designed assignments render plagiarism detection software unnecessary.

As part of their web-based workshop series, "Intellectual Property in Academia 2003," the University of Maryland University College is offering a 3 week workshop, Preventing Plagiarism Toolbox, from 2/10 - 2/28/2004. (Thanks to Chris Schiff)

The Oregon Daily Emerald is running a five-part article on academic honesty and student plagiarism. The series includes a feedback form to solicit and publish commentary on the articles.

Like many universities,Indiana University is currently testing Turnitin. One unusual proposal, however, has surfaced during faculty discussion of the intellectual property rights issue that attends the deployment of Turnitin on campus: faculty at IU are considering the option of allowing students to submit their own essays directly to the plagiarism detection tool. One advocate of the idea suggests that such a practice will educate them about the issue of plagiarism