Using the Web based TurnitinUK ServiceJim Sharp

Hotline - plagiarism@qmu.ac.uk

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Overview

• The extent of plagiarism in the UK• QMU approach – avoiding the “arms

war”• Introduction to the TurnitinUK service• Role of the tutor (Instructor)• Interpreting “originality” reports• Using with students

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Latest, latest….• 17 March 2006 - One in three students cheats, survey finds

One-third of students admit to cheating at university by copying ideas from books or the internet, according to the results of a survey published today in The Times Higher Education Supplement. The statistics come to light only a day after Oxford University warned that plagiarism by its students could threaten the value of its degrees.

The survey, based on 1,022 undergraduates at 119 universities and colleges, found that one in six students admitted they copied work from friends while 10 per cent said they looked for essays online.

Male students were more likely to copy work from their friends (21 per cent) than female students (14 per cent), the study revealed.

Nearly half of male students (45 per cent) said they copied from their friends for group assignments, compared with 29 per cent of female students, the researchers discovered.

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Student View?

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Essay Banks (Cheat Sites)

• www.oxbridgewriters.com• www.ukessays.com * (notorious!)

• http://www.academicdb.com/• www.lawteacher.net/essaybank.html• www.DissertationsAndAssignments.com• www.essayrelief.co.uk• www.EssayAcademy.com• www.nonplagiarizedessays.co.uk

‘Essays’ can be available for as little as £4.99

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Exercise – your experience

A recent survey of both students and staff at Northumbria University ascertained the proportions of students who believed certain forms of cheating to be common (Dordoy, 2002).

From your experience and intuition complete the supplied pro-forma with your best guess at these proportions (the percentages need not add up to 100%)

Then check your answers with the next slide.

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Plagiarism in the UK

Proportion thinking that cheating is ‘common’ (i.e. more than 10% cases)

Staff %(n=155)

Students %(n=140)

A recent survey of both students and staff at Northumbria University ascertained the proportions of both staff and students who believed certain forms of cheating to be common (Dordoy, 2002).

Copying a few paragraphs from a book/internet un-cited

Copying most of an assignment from some source

Downloading a whole essay from a cheat site on the internet

Buying an essay from a ghost-writing service

Cheating in an exam

Making up data for a project or lab class

Working with another student on work that is meant to be individual

Passing off others’ ideas/images/designs as your own

71 74

15 24

3 11

2 11

4 21

20 60

62 77

45 77

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The QMU Approach - 1

• One of the key elements of our approach is to avoid a ‘them and us’ situation caused by a perception of being “policed”

• It is tempting to believe that a problem exacerbated by ICT (eg the Internet) can be solved by ICT (eg the TurnitinUK service)

• Cole & Kiss (2000) describe a situation in American Universities where ‘cheaters’ are using devices such as silent pagers and tiny video cameras to gain marks which in turn requires lecturers to deploy forensic linguistics to detect plagiarism

• They describe this as a ‘dispiriting arms race’ and is certainly something we at QMU want to avoid.

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The QMU Approach - 2• Using workshops where appropriate, we are introducing

what Carroll & Appleton (2001) describe as a “balanced institutional response” including:– Creating a climate that discourages plagiarism– Teaching students what plagiarism is– Teaching students paraphrasing/referencing skills to avoid

plagiarism – Encouraging tutors to ‘design out’ opportunities for plagiarism– Introducing the judicious use of electronic aids ie TurnitinUK

(Note that these steps should not be confused with the need for a well defined disciplinary procedure for when serious plagiarism is detected. This procedure should be clearly separated from the assessment process.)

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TurnitinUK – An introduction

• QMU is a registered user of the TurnitinUK service available at www.submit.ac.uk

• This web-based service compares submitted assignments against a database of over 1000 million web pages, Electronic databases such as Emerald, Gale InfoTrac, CrossRef, ProQuest and thousands of previously submitted student assignments from UK universities.

• It then produces an originality report identifying sections of matching text and providing links to the original sources.

• This service is free to all QMU tutors and students.• The intention is that students will routinely submit their

assignments to the service and use the originality reports generated as re-assurance that they have referenced appropriately.

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• Administrators –Susi Peacock and Jim Sharp– will create “Instructor” (QMU Tutor) accounts on-demand and also

operate as a Plagiarism hot-line to deal with queries via plagiarism@qmu.ac.uk

– Note we do not know and cannot retrieve passwords (but tutors can do this for themselves)

• Instructors– QMU tutors who wish their students to use the TurnitinUK service– Able to set up “classes” (usually one per module) with one or more

assignment areas. Optionally each assignment can be accompanied by one or more “revision” areas

• Students– Enrol themselves onto classes set up by their tutor– Then submit assignments via the appropriate class to get an “originality”

report– Use the originality report to refine their assignment referencing– Can re-submit a number of times depending on how many revision

areas the QMU “Instructor” tutor has set up.

TurnitinUK – 3 types of user

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TurnitinUK – the process1. Tutor contacts administrator to be set up as an “Instructor”

2. Administrator creates “instructor” account using tutor’s email address. The TurnitinUK service emails a starter password directly to the tutor.

3. Tutor logs in to the new account at www.submit.ac.uk and adds a class, creating a “class name” and a “class enrolment password”. The system creates a unique “class id” number. To this class the Tutor adds “assignment headings”

4. Tutor communicates the “class id” number and the “class enrolment password” to the relevant students (the tutor can also enrol the students manually)

5. Each student accesses www.submit.ac.uk and creates an account (user profile) using a convenient email address and a suitable password

6. After creating the account, the student “enrols” onto the class created by the tutor, using the class id and password supplied in step 4

8. Student checks originality report and makes any necessary changes to the work. If the tutor has provided revision areas, the student can re-submit as in step 7.

7. When ready, the student submits work under the relevant assignment heading. The TurnitinUK service then matches the work against the database, generating an “originality” report

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Tutor / Student Interaction

Student submits work & receives reports

Class A Assignment 1

Revision 1b

Revision 1a

TurnitinUK Service

Tutor creates & monitors

Assignment 2

Class B

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Tutor (Instructor) – logging on

1. Tutor types in full email address followed by the password sent via TurnitinUK (note that only the tutor can change or retrieve his/her password)

2. and clicks on ‘Sign in”’ button

Using any browser, access www.submit.ac.uk :-

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Instructor – adding a class

2. tutor adds a class (module) to the account by clicking the “ + add a class" button.

3. The next screen - the tutor is setting up a class called ‘Study & ITSkills module’ with an “enrolment password” of ‘sitsmodule’

4. The tutor has set up a class end date of 26 August 2009. Note that all assessment submission dates must be before this date.

1. The ‘tutor account’ page will appear

5. Tutor clicks on ‘submit’ button to continue

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Instructor – adding an assignment

Note: the number next to the class name is the class id, which students will need along with the class enrolment password to enrol in the class. The tutor should note this number so that it can be distributed to students along with the class enrolment password.

• The class is now listed on the Tutor’s account page

• This will initially be empty so Tutor clicks on ‘+ new assignment” button

• Tutor clicks on the class name to "enter" the class and open the class ‘assignments page’.

Instructor – choosing assignment type

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Click “Next Step” to continue

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Instructor – adding assignment dates

If tutor wants students to submit revisions then additional copies of the assignment need to be created with this set to ‘revision assignment’ (from assignment home page)

Note: on first use tutor must click on + (more options) to see additional options (IMPORTANT!)

First occurrence of assignment only

due date = deadline for assignment

post date = release date for marks if using Grademark otherwise set to one day after due date

Only used if using Grademark (marking online)

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Instructor – adding assignment options 1

Normally ‘no’ unless using GradeMark

Always ‘yes’

Usually ‘no’ but can be ‘yes’ if required

Always set to this

Usually ‘no’ but can be ‘yes’ if required

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Instructor – adding assignment options 2

Always ‘yes’, submission after the due date will be flagged as ‘late’

When complete, click on the ‘submit’ button

Best as ‘yes’ and 1% , makes report easier to read

Always ‘yes (critical)

Leave this section as is …

Always ‘yes for QMU

Leave this section as is …

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Assignment Inbox

Once the assignment dates and options have been submitted, the assignment inbox is created as above. Tutors and student submit by clicking on the “View” link.

The tutor can use the ‘More actions’ link to editing the assignment settings, submit a paper or delete the assignment.

Usually, tutors allow more than one opportunity for students to submit work so they can improve their referencing and see if their changes have worked. In this case the next step is to create what are called “revisions”. The process is started by clicking on the ‘+ new assignment’ button.

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Instructor – adding a “revision” area (1)

Start as for a new assignment but select ‘revision assignment’ here -

Click ‘Next Step’ button

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Instructor – adding a “revision” area (2)

Choose the correct one from the assignments listed here

Change due and post dates to the same as the assignment (not done automatically)

Always set to yes

Always set to this

When complete, click on the ‘submit’ button

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Instructor – assignment after revision• After adding a revision the assignment page for the ‘Study & IT Skills’ class

looks like this to the tutor:

A tutor can add a further “revision” if required by clicking again on the “+ New Assignment” button.

A tutor can view all submissions in an assignment by clicking on the “View” link in the appropriate line.

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Enrolling students

• Before students can access a TurnitinUK class they have to have an account and be enrolled on to the class. This can be done:– By the tutor, student by student– By the tutor by preparing an batch file of all

students off line– By the student on receipt of the class id

number and password from the tutor

• For more details see the Tutor Guide

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Student view – assignment inbox

The student would submit their first attempt using the “Submit” button in the “coursework essay” line, then if necessary submit a second attempt in the “coursework essay | revision” line.

A student sees a slightly different view of the In-box:

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Typical Tutor Inbox Entry

Name of Student

Title of Student submission

Outcome of submission – click here to see Originality Report

No match1 word-24% match25-49% match50-74% match75-100% match

Tutor can submit an assessment at any time by clicking on the “+ submit paper” button

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Please remember …

• Academic judgement is essential when interpreting the report– % scores can be misleading

– try including/excluding reference list/quotations

– always check matches for referencing

– look out for plagiarism “rings”

– take care with other class data situations

• The TurnitinUK service is one tool in the QMU “plagiarism toolbox”

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Turnitin and Students

• Book a computing workshop if necessary• Invite students to bring a trial submission• Issue Student Guide document Publicise class id

and password• Take students through account creation using

Student presentation• Supervise their first submissions• Assist in interpreting reports

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Signposts to Resources• Hotline - plagiarism@qmu.ac.uk• Website http://mcs.qmu.ac.uk/plagiarism

– Introduction to originality reports– Examples of originality reports– This presentation online– Tutor Quick Start Guide– Student Quick Start Guide– List of “Cheat” sites– Access to referencing guides via Library website– Access to relevant QMU regulations – Hints on assessment design (Leeds University)

• Study Skills website– www.qmu.ac.uk/futurefocus

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Bibliography

• Franklyn-Stokes,A. and Newstead,S. (1995), ‘Undergraduate cheating: who does what and why?’ Studies in Higher Education, 20(2), 159-172.

• Newstead, S., Franklyn-Stokes, A. and Armstead, P. (1996), ‘Individual differences in student cheating’, Journal of Educational Psychology, 88 (2), 229-241.

• Dordoy, A. (2002), ‘Cheating and Plagiarism: Staff and Student Perceptions at Northumbria’, University of Northumbria Conference on Plagiarism [on-line] http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/images/bin/AD.doc

• Carroll, J. and Appleton, J. (2001), ‘Plagiarism: A Good Practice Guide’, Oxford Brookes University Guide Series [on-line] http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/apppage.cgi?USERPAGE=6202

• Cole, S. and Kiss, E. (2000), ‘What can we do about student cheating?’, About Campus, May-June, 5-12.

• Other reading – ‘Plagiarism and Poor Academic Practice – A Threat to the Extension of e-Learning in Higher Education?’ Mike Hart, King Alfred’s University College, Winchester, UK, and Tim Friesner, University College Chichester, UK [on-line] http://www.ejel.org/volume-2/vol2-issue1/issue1-art25.htm