Detection

**Unintentional**: Often students will **plagiarize** without fully realizing it. This can happen if:

 * The student is unclear about the expectations of the paper. Direction such as analyze or compare and contrast may lead the student to taking clips of information and putting it directly into their paper for the purpose of accurately describing the topic.
 * The student does not have good note taking skills. Student may simply copy and paste text as a method of collecting information, rather than summarizing or paraphrasing. Also, if the student does not properly note their sources as they are researching, they could loose track of sources.


 * Intentional**: This is in contrast to students who knowingly or intentionally **plagiarize**. Some reasons for this are:
 * The student lacks confidence to write about a topic in their own words. They may feel their vocabulary or understanding is not as sophisticated as that in the material they are reading and therefore their own work will fall short of expectations.
 * The student feels pressure to get good grades, yet because of poor time management, cannot devote the effort necessary to do the work properly.

The first step to identifying **plagiarism** is to know the types and reasons, and to know your students. While there is not a profile of a **plagiarist**, and certainly no one is above the act, there are some behaviors and characteristics to be aware of:
 * Identifying Plagiarism**
 * The student who is habitually late - for class, for homework, for projects - this is indicative of poor time management.
 * The student who is distracted in class - not paying attention, reading non class material - is not interested in the course material and likely not interested in digesting research material for the course and writing about it.
 * The students style and voice. Know how your students speaks and writes. Start the class off with an in-class writing sample. Encourage in class discussions so your students develop confidence, and so you know how they express themselves. This should be consistent with their writing style.


 * Methods of Detection**
 * Look for inconsistencies or oddities in the paper. Are margins off in some parts of the text? Is the vocabulary or phrases in the paper out of context for the student? Are there grayed out words in the paper (indicates a hyperlink copied as text)?
 * Check the sources of the paper. Spot check sources to maintain a sense of integrity. If you are suspicious of a paper, fully check all sources.
 * Search it on the Web - This method of finding plagiarism is to search for it on the web. Using a suspicious sentence or phrase from the paper (not the title of the report or paper), put it in the search box on at least 3 different, popular search engines. Currently Google, Yahoo are the top 2, with Bing becoming the third most used.
 * Search the invisible web - using an engine like [|completeplanet.com] search the invisible web for the suspicious phrases. The invisible web is a term for databases and web sites that are not indexed by the standard search engines, even Google.
 * Use a service to check the paper. These services are fee based. Your school can obtain a subscription to the service. These include
 * [|Turnitin.com] - the mostly widely known service.
 * [|Eve2]
 * [|Glatt Plagiarism Service]
 * [|PlagiarismdotOrg] - this service provides informative articles on plagiarism and touts support for students to avoid **plagiarism**

There are numerous issues r egarding **plagiarism** detection software, such as //Turnitin.// Since it has become so widely used, many claim that its use is unethical as it stores students’ work in a database after it is submitted. This is considered by many to be a violation of the student’s intellectual property rights. // Turnitin // claims it never publishes student work, and that each student still has the full rights and ownership over his/her work. Those educators concerned with the ethical implications should make students aware that //Turnitin// is to be used. Additionally, the educator should remove anything in the paper that could identify the student.
 * Issues Regarding Plagiarism Detection Software**