Plagiarism today is easier than it ever has been. Combine the simplicity of cutting and pasting with access to the Internet, and ripping off someone else's work can be an attractive shortcut for many students. Some Web sites even offer pre-written essays ripe for academic theft.
For professors, however, the ability to catch cheaters is quickly catching up.
New plagiarism prevention software called Turnitin may become a campus-wide standard next year to aid professors in the detection and prevention of plagiarized work.
The Web-based program compares a submitted paper with an exhaustive list of sources including billions of Web pages, millions of previously submitted student work, and current journal and periodical databases.
Any matches discovered between submitted papers and source material are detailed in an itemized "originality report," highlighting every matching portion for the professor and providing links to each copied source.
Although the decision for UB implementation isn't final, a growing number of staff members already use Turnitin for term papers. Last fall, the test pilot of Turnitin involved about 1,000 students, and the trial this spring is increasing in popularity.
"As opposed to last semester, this spring the software is open to any faculty member," said Carol Ann Fabian, director of the Educational Technology Center. "It's important that we extend the pilot for faculty."
Before Turnitin, professors were limited to Google searches and intuition to uncover plagiarism, and many professors said they think Turnitin is an effective solution.
"Turnitin is a very useful tool that should be made available to the entire faculty as soon as possible," said William Baumer, a philosophy professor involved in the fall test program. "It sure beats a Google search, and I continue to use it this semester."
In addition to being satisfied with the program's accessibility, Baumer said he successfully exposed several students committing plagiarism by using Turnitin.
While professors are identifying and penalizing plagiarism with the new software, some faculty members said Turnitin should be used for more than just catching guilty parties.
"The program should be used to educate, rather than just to punish students," said H. William Coles III, a SUNY senator and assistant vice provost for Educational Opportunity Program.
Members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee suggested on Wednesday that teachers for basic writing courses could assign a practice paper that will be checked by Turnitin, in order to more clearly define what plagiarism is.
Some students said they agree that teachers in classes like English 101 should spend more time on citation and documentation.
"We don't get taught enough about the subtle differences between what is and is not plagiarism," said Caitlin Lee, a freshman American studies major. "If they're not teaching us, then it's not fair that we are punished for unintentional mistakes."
While the program will certainly have its advantages for teachers and students, some faculty said they have privacy concerns for student work. Along with many commercial resources, Turnitin uses all previously submitted student work as material to compare to future papers. Some faculty members said they felt students' work shouldn't be turned over for such use.
Andrew Przybylak, a junior history and political science major, said he is not concerned with the program using his papers for comparison.
"The professors and program would be protecting intellectual property," he said. "So using the students' work in this way is not really stealing since no one would be able to use that work again except for the original student."
According to officials, Turnitin maker iParadigms assures that all student work is respected with privacy issues in mind.
"In using Turnitin, I don't see many concerns with student privacy," Fabian said.
Multiple committees are discussing the use of the new plagiarism software, and decisions will be made in the near future.
"At its next meeting, the Faculty Senate Teaching and Learning Committee will discuss campus-wide implementation for next year," Fabian said. "If all goes well, we might just see it next fall."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
