The Online Reflector

For as long as students have been able to put a pen to paper and formulate complete sentences, teachers and professors have reiterated speeches on the severity of plagiarism so much that the dire consequences of plagiarism should haunt us in our dreams. So why do students still plagiarize?

English professor Jennifer Camden and business professor Jodie Ferise both said it is a rare occurrence for a semester to go by where they do not see a case of plagiarism.

“Any case of plagiarism is a tragedy,” Camden said.

That is why they have both implemented use of the Web site http://www.turnitin.com in their classes. This completely web-based site has features such as an online grade book, originality checker and peer reviewing, however Camden and Ferise both admit to only using the originality checker.

When using the originality checker, students are able to submit their papers early and it will highlight instances where they may have plagiarized. This is especially helpful to students that might not know how to cite sources correctly and, in the end, might not be able to tell if they have plagiarized.

“The one caveat is that you have to turn it in before a minute before class, but my hope is that students use it beforehand to check their own work,” Camden said. “If a student doesn’t use the originality check, then it’s such a missed opportunity.”

Camden and Ferise both agree that in certain cases, students might get caught for plagiarizing because they do not know how to properly cite sources and the use of this Web site could eliminate the problem. Camden said the biggest problem her students have regarding plagiarism is knowing how to paraphrase correctly.

“Paraphrasing properly is when you take the idea and put it completely into your own words, but then you still have to cite it,” Camden said.

Ferise said a problem she sees is that the notion of plagiarism is uniquely American. She also said that often her international students won’t understand the concept of plagiarism.

“Different cultures have very different ideas of what constitutes plagiarism and I’ve had international students stunned when I tell them their paper is plagiarized,” Ferise said.

Camden and Ferise both agree that turnitin.com is simple to use. Ferise also boasts about the comprehensive database the originality checker has to check students papers against. Also, she recommends it to any professors that assign writing.

“The more people that use it, the more comprehensive the database gets and the better the site gets at catching plagiarism,” Ferise said.

Students also find benefits within the site.

“It’s nice to just be able to submit your paper from your home computer and not have to worry about printing it out,” said English graduate student, Haley Drummond. “Also professors can just make the paper due by midnight, since most students work on things at night.”

As a former high school English teacher, Drummond said the Web site is something she thinks would be very useful in a classroom. She said that being able to have all of the papers submitted through the site would make it easier for teachers to be organized.

One of the main disadvantages to this Web site is that computers are not always reliable. However Camden, Ferise and Drummond all agree that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

“At its best, the site helps students catch their problems beforehand because once I see it, its plagiarism and then consequences ensue,” Camden said.