[Air-l] turnitin issue

Thu Mar 8 23:41:13 PST 2007

DLB

The way that my University uses it, investigations are not initiated on the basis of Turnitin reports. If an assessor suspects plagiarism - on the basis of all of those methods that we have been using for decades -  and finds some evidence to support that suspicion, then they can access the Turnitin report and use it to locate additional evidence. 

Turnitin is primarily used by students to check their citation and referencing before submission. It is not used by staff to detect plagiarism, though once there is evidence of plagiarism, it can be used to locate source documents.

Marj

Dr Marjorie Kibby, 
Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture
Faculty of Education and Arts
The University of Newcastle,  Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia
Marj.Kibby at newcastle.edu.au
+61 2 49216604
>>> <burkx006 at umn.edu> 03/09/07 4:01 PM >>>
The ethical problem is not quite that simple.

Introna points out that the process by which Turnitin determines textual 
matches is unknown (the Turnitin matching algorithm is a trade secret). He 
suggests that the real problem is initiating, or not initiation, 
investigations of students based upon a methodology that is not transparent 
and unavailable for inspection.

DLB

On Mar 8 2007, Marj Kibby wrote:

>There is no assumption of guilt 
>
> Students are required to submit to Turnitin to check that their 
> referencing is accurate. In the same way that they are expected to use 
> spelling and grammar checks.
>
> Turnitin reports are not accessed by staff unless there is reasonable 
> cause to suspect that the work is plagiarised, and Turnitin reports 
> cannot be used as the sole evidence of plagiarism
>
>Marj
>
>
>
>
>Dr Marjorie Kibby, 
>Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture
>Faculty of Education and Arts
>The University of Newcastle,  Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia
>Marj.Kibby at newcastle.edu.au
>+61 2 49216604
>>>> Rosanna Tarsiero <rosanna at gionnethics.com> 03/09/07 10:57 AM >>>
>As a student myself (and online instructor), I never plagiarized a paper,
>and I do know that there are persons that do.
>
>However, the assumption that students need to prove innocent (rather than
>innocence unless otherwise proven) bothers me a great deal.
>
>I would refuse both submitting a paper to turnitin AND doing supplemental
>work. In all honesty, I do hope that some student sooner or later ends up
>suing colleges. Assuming people to be guilty unless otherwise proven
>violates quite a number of human rights.
>
>Rosanna Tarsiero
> 
>"Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him."
>
>--James Allen 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
>[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Mark Warschauer
>Sent: venerdÃ¬ 9 marzo 2007 0.50
>To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>Subject: Re: [Air-l] turnitin issue
>
>I know of no precedent or case law, but this is an issue that is 
>taken seriously here at UC Irvine. Students are usually given the 
>permission to opt out of submitting their papers through 
>Turnitin.com, but professors then require any students who opt out to 
>complete one or more alternate assignments to demonstrate their 
>papers were not plagiarized (and those alternatives can be quite 
>onerous).  See examples at 
>http://eee.uci.edu/faculty/ccopenha/39b-student/turnitin.students.htm
>
>Mark Warschauer
>
>>Dear AOIRers,
>>
>>A colleague teaching another course has come across an issue with an
>>undergrad who refuses to hand in her term paper because the faculty
>>member's course requires that all papers also be submitted to
>>Turnitin.com.
>>
>>The student claims that this violates her own intellectual property
>>because Turnitin reportedly keeps copies for future plagiarism searches.
>>
>>As a supposed ICT & society "expert," my colleague came to me for advice.
>>My first thought was horsefeathers.
>>
>>However, I am wondering if there is any precedent or case law on this in
>>Canada or the US. (EU would be too different, I think.)
>>
>>I am not interThanks,
>>  Barry Wellman
>>  _____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>   Barry Wellman   S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology   NetLab Director
>>   Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
>>   455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162
>>   wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
>>         for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
>>  _____________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
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-- 
Dan L. Burk
Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly Professor
University of Minnesota Law School
229 19th Avenue South
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