Spring Break
Web site effective against plagiarism
Ed Board
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: OPINION
NT professors' favorite method of plagiarism verification came under fire in court earlier this month.
Turnitin.com is a widely used Web site that allows users to submit their work and subsequently checks if the writer plagiarized anywhere in the piece. Each submission is checked against others saved on the database, and if a piece is suspected of plagiarism, the professor has the ability to look at similar reports to determine whether the work was original or not.
Four high school students sued the company controlling Turnitin, saying that the site used their papers without permission and profited from them. They demanded $900,000 compensation for their six essays - a thin argument driven by the site's validity rather than the proposed copyright issue.
The judge ruled accordingly, saying the site did not violate the students' copyright. This is the first time Turnitin has been tried in court, and probably won't be the last. We're sure many disenfranchised students are waiting for their moment to strike against the site for picking out their cheating.
Turnitin is a good resource to keep check on students' cheating habits, a behavior all too common on college campuses. It serves as a tool to increase the quality of a paper and encourages students to actually do their work.
The site does walk a fine line, though. However thin the students' argument is, Turnitin does keep record of all the papers it receives and allows for teachers and professors across the nation to access them, if need be. That means an essay a student in Albuquerque submitted in 2003 could be pulled up by a professor in Houston seven years later. Where should the copyright line be drawn?
The judge reportedly did not touch on the issue of the site reusing a copyrighted piece for a new use. Once people write something, they immediately own a copyright of it. Turnitin reuses these pieces for a use that the students did not originally intend. Is this within the boundaries of copyright law?
We think so. Turnitin is currently the best method of reducing student plagiarism. It is one of the first of its kind to provide teachers with an effective tool to ensure that their students aren't hopping online and getting an essay off Google.
The students plan to appeal their case, and their lawyer is positive the judge's ruling will be overturned. If it is, it could mean that teachers will have to start digging on their own to double check their student's work.
Until then, it's a solid system that serves an essential role in many types of learning environments.
Turnitin.com is a widely used Web site that allows users to submit their work and subsequently checks if the writer plagiarized anywhere in the piece. Each submission is checked against others saved on the database, and if a piece is suspected of plagiarism, the professor has the ability to look at similar reports to determine whether the work was original or not.
Four high school students sued the company controlling Turnitin, saying that the site used their papers without permission and profited from them. They demanded $900,000 compensation for their six essays - a thin argument driven by the site's validity rather than the proposed copyright issue.
The judge ruled accordingly, saying the site did not violate the students' copyright. This is the first time Turnitin has been tried in court, and probably won't be the last. We're sure many disenfranchised students are waiting for their moment to strike against the site for picking out their cheating.
Turnitin is a good resource to keep check on students' cheating habits, a behavior all too common on college campuses. It serves as a tool to increase the quality of a paper and encourages students to actually do their work.
The site does walk a fine line, though. However thin the students' argument is, Turnitin does keep record of all the papers it receives and allows for teachers and professors across the nation to access them, if need be. That means an essay a student in Albuquerque submitted in 2003 could be pulled up by a professor in Houston seven years later. Where should the copyright line be drawn?
The judge reportedly did not touch on the issue of the site reusing a copyrighted piece for a new use. Once people write something, they immediately own a copyright of it. Turnitin reuses these pieces for a use that the students did not originally intend. Is this within the boundaries of copyright law?
We think so. Turnitin is currently the best method of reducing student plagiarism. It is one of the first of its kind to provide teachers with an effective tool to ensure that their students aren't hopping online and getting an essay off Google.
The students plan to appeal their case, and their lawyer is positive the judge's ruling will be overturned. If it is, it could mean that teachers will have to start digging on their own to double check their student's work.
Until then, it's a solid system that serves an essential role in many types of learning environments.
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