Cheating used to be easy, but it’s getting a lot tougher with the use of Turnitin.com, a Web site designed to catch plagiarists.
U of T uses the site for over 300 of its courses. Students submit their papers to the service which are checked against a database of previously submitted essays, the Internet and online journals.
Students across Canada have condemned Turnitin for making them feel like criminals. The University of Saskatchewan refuses to use Turnitin on the basis that it creates an atmosphere of mistrust.
One McGill student even fought back. When Jesse Rosenfeld refused to pass in his essay, he was given a failing grade. Rosenfeld protested having to prove himself before his prof even looked at his paper. He took his case to the university’s senate committee and won.
Pam Gravestock, the assistant director at the Office of Teaching Advancement, sees it more as prevention than as an accusation. “In many ways, the use of Turnitin can be compared to the use of metal detectors at airports – it is something that is done for the good of everyone.”
McGill staff agree. “I think it is a red herring to claim that asking students to submit papers to Turnitin.com implies presumed guilt,” said Morton J. Mendelson, associate dean at the Faculty of Science. “I also don’t think that having invigilators present during an exam implies presumed guilt.”
Concern over copyright also has students up in arms. Under the Copyright Act, copyrighted material, like an essay, may be used for academic or research purposes. Turnitin, on the other hand, is a for-profit service.
Turnitin claims that by attending university, students implicitly consent to have their work evaluated for authenticity.
Legal counsel to Ryerson’s student committee refutes that statement. “…[It’s] obviously not the case where students do not know about and/or understand those procedures, or the procedures themselves are improper.” The article states that although Turnitin might hold up in the US, it is unclear whether it’s legit under Canadian law.
U of T students are not obligated to use Turnitin. Objectors may hand in a hard copy along with their rough work if desired.
Gravestock protests that she’s only received positive feedback. Most students have told her that the service helps to even out the playing field.
The Students’ Administrative Council (SAC) isn’t convinced, however. “We’re not sure how to approach it [Turnitin.com], in helping students who don’t want to submit to the service,” said Leigh Honeywell, SAC’s Academic Commissioner. Honeywell personally feels the service is just a substitute for hiring more teaching assistants.
At least Turnitin won’t hurt local business. Essay Experts, a service that will write your paper for you, doesn’t see it as competition. “The premise of Turnitin is to stop copying from the Internet,” said owner Marcelo Vilanez. “I don’t see it as stopping us. I’m not helping students to cheat.” The company writes only original essays, which are supposed to serve as a model, not the finished product, for its customers.
SAC was to discuss Turnitin’s use at U of T at a town hall meeting last night.
