The Effectiveness of Text-Matching Software: Using Turnitin tm with Graduate Research Students

1. The Effectiveness of Text-Matching Software: Using Turnitintm with Graduate Research Students Colin Rundle Formerly Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) colinrundle@yahoo.com

2. Overview • Text-matching using Turnitin • Turnitin’s Originality Check • The Study • Results: • Dramatic reduction in plagiarism • Student views on using Turnitin • Conclusion

3. TurnitinAn online system to which student papers are uploaded in order to: • Directly compare student writing and matching texts • 14 billion current and archived web pages • 150 million student papers • Millions of books • Millions of articles from libraries and publications • Educate students about plagiarism and thereby reduce it.

4. Originality Check and Similarity Index • Originality Check: Color-codes POTENTIAL plagiarism • Clicking coded text brings up published text for direct comparison • accurate plagiarism determination • precise revision, e.g. paraphrasing, citation, direct quotes • Similarity Index: Amount of coded text as percentage of total text. 30+% suggests problems with plagiarism

5. Originality Check Interface https://www.turnitin.com/static/videos/demo_or.html

6. The Study • The Context • Japanese, Asian, African • Development economics MAs • 15-25 page MA dissertations • 5 x one-year MA cohorts, 2006-2011 • Written October-August each year • 161 students

7. The Study (cont.) • Compare average similarity indexes • 136 dissertations: ALL support only (2006-2010) • 25 proposals: ALL support/TII workshop only (2011) • 25 dissertations: ALL support and Turnitin self-access (2011) • Survey of Turnitin Use • 14/25 students

8. The Study (cont.) • Half students in all cohorts took intensive EAP program, including plagiarism avoidance. • Turnitin cohort took 90 minute workshop on plagiarism and using Turnitin while drafting dissertation proposals • Embedded ALL support by consultation • Originality reports evaluated by instructor and students • Referred to in consultations when necessary

9. Results: Similarity Index

10. Results: Similarity Index (Cont.) Percentage distribution 30% 2011 2006-10

11. Results: Usage Survey Using Turnitin (5 = Strongly agree, 1 = Strongly Disagree)

12. Results: Usage Survey (cont.) Explain how it helped you: • 6/10 identified paraphrasing, e.g. • After Colin showed us how the Turnitin found the part which is similar to other papers, I become more careful when I paraphrase. I am sure that it improved my referencing to some extent. • I tried to do paraphrasing as much as possible.

13. Results: Usage Survey (cont.) What did you like about it? • There were colorful lines in a paper and it gave me a vivid image of plaigarism. • It provides exact place where we have wrongly cited or paraphrased • Facility of cross-checking with original sources.

14. Results: Usage Survey (cont.) What didn’t you like about it? • 4/7 identified difficulty of use, e.g. • For the first time, it seems a bit difficult and complicat to use. • Need to induct student fully on the application of the software

15. Results: Usage Survey (cont.) Recommendations for its further use • 5/10 recommend increasing its use, e.g. • Allow it to be used in all other areas of writing such as term papers not only in [dissertation writing].

16. Conclusion • Turnitin • reduces potential and actual plagiarism. • Demonstrates clearly what plagiarism is • Particularly where (how?) to paraphrase • Students should be trained to use it to effectively improve paraphrasing/ referencing during redrafting process