I found this site today. Turnitin is a web based software that catches plagiarized papers. The marketing seems to be for higher education but does a application like this find a place in secondary education? I went to both a high school and college that prided itself on its honor code but many institutions are more flexible. Does this lead students to cheat or plagiarize more often? If that is the case, do we need to revert to using software like Turnitin or do the schools need to adopt and instill codes that will promote honor and honesty?
This could also be used outside school with anyone wanting a quick check protection scan of their written work. I guess it picks up where sections of text are identical, does it pick up typos? If not..then as soon as it’s in use those seeking to get round it just add in a few typos to confuse it……better to be marked down a touch for spelling, than expelled for cheating right?
Software won’t be perfect, but it will help….and this will be the first of many I’d guess trying to fill a growing market, like anything else; they will improve the hit rate. I wouldn’t trust a piece of software for this, but I’d accept it as a referral device. Anything it flags, a human reads and decides if it’s cheating or not.
It also depends on how strict the filter is set to catch any potential cheats. How many consecutive words need to be identical before it flags?
It is sad that we need this type of software. Good or bad exam results can set you on the path you follow for the rest of your life…..and nobody wants to flip burgers do they?……unless they have a burger fetish, but thats another issue. Where there’s a gain to be made, people will always seek the easy path to it.