Internet sites tackle problem of plagiarism

A 1998 study by "Who's Who Among American High School Students," an annual publication recognizing outstanding high schoolers, states that four out of five students have cheated on schoolwork before reaching college. This can be a problem, especially with Web sites such as www.cheathouse.com, which has free papers available online for students to plagiarize. \nIU's Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct defines academic misconduct as "any activity which tends to undermine the academic integrity of the institution." With many students uncertain of the division between citations and plagiarism, teachers have begun using www.turnitin.com to solve the problem. \nThis Web site allows teachers to have their class turn their papers in to the site, which then checks them against the database and comes up with a color-coded score of plagiarism.\n"It's like the terrorist alerts," said Telecommunications Professor Julia Fox. "The cooler color result you get back, the less likely chance it is that you plagiarized." \nFox is less concerned about sites like www.cheathouse.com than students not understanding how to paraphrase.\n"A lot of students honestly don't know how to paraphrase," Fox said. "I wouldn't say I had problems with plagiarism in the 'ha-ha, I'll get away with it' sense, but I do get students who change two words in a sentence and think it is their own work."\nJunior Jason Growe has used www.turnitin.com in one of his classes and sees its problems as well as its benefits.\n"I think it's a computer, and it's trying to think ... like a person, and if you presented your score to a teacher in a fair way, any teacher would understand," Growe said. \nFox also sees the problems as well as the benefits to the site.\n"It's not foolproof," Fox said. "Sometimes it misses if students change one or two words in a sentence. On the other hand, you get a yellow if you use a couple quotes, which of course is fine. I also get students using more quotes with Turnitin so they don't get in trouble, but then I don't get to hear their voice."\nThough this is the first time Fox has used the site, she plans to take advantage of it again for other classes, despite the problems.\n"I'm mainly using it as a teaching tool," Fox said. "As an instructor, you can set it up so students don't see their reports. I think people who are out to get cheaters are more likely to use it that way. I want the students to see their reports and revise as necessary."\n-- Contact staff writer Cecelia Wolford at cwolford@indiana.edu.