Detection
Clues
(Based on Robert Harris's Anti-Plagiarism Strategies)
- Jargon or advanced vocabulary that seems out of place
- Papers that appear to be of grade school quality
- Anachronisms
- Strange layout or formats in the paper
- Web addresses printed at the top or bottom of the page
- Papers that are only on topic for the first and last paragraphs, with seemingly incongruous material in between
- Works Cited pages and Bibliographies with a mix of citation styles or sources all from a previous year
The best detection strategy of all: get to know your students' writing style before they turn in their research papers. Anything that is way beyond or below the student's typical level of writing should be suspect.
Collect Proof
Library staff are available to help with this process.
Free Resources
- Type a suspect string of five or six words from the paper into Google or another search engine. Be sure to put quotation marks around the phrase so that the search engine will look for your exact string of words.
- Be familiar with the term paper mill websites. Try tracking down the suspect paper directly on their sites. For a comprehensive list, go to http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/mills2.html.
- Be aware that Wikipedia and sites like it are among the most frequently plagiarized sources.
Paid Services
Turnitin.com: CBU ran a trial of Turnitin during Fall Semester 2012 but did not continue with a subscription.
Glatt Plagiarism Services: Program eliminates every fifth word of student's paper. The student is asked to supply the missing words. The number of correct responses, the amount of time intervening, and various other factors are considered in assessing the final Plagiarism Probability Score.
EVE2: Download this software on site. Performs complex searches of Internet Sites. Generates a comparison report.