16.031 anti-plagarism software

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty (w.mccarty@btinternet.com)
Date: Tue May 21 2002 - 02:09:25 EDT

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                    Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 31.
           Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
                  <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>

       [1] From: <JAD@sun.ac.za> (93)
             Subject: RE: 16.029 anti-plagarism software

       [2] From: Michael Hart <hart@beryl.ils.unc.edu> (25)
             Subject: Re: 16.029 anti-plagarism software

    --[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 06:43:41 +0100
             From: <JAD@sun.ac.za>
             Subject: RE: 16.029 anti-plagarism software

    Dear Nancy,

    Many thanks for the pointer to, what seems to be, a quite comprehensive
    resource. Given a cursory glance, what caught my eye especially was the
    redefinition of the term 'paper mill' and that we now have essay "banks".
    Which is on par with another term I recently learnt of 'malware'.
    This leads me to wonder if most word coinages are technology driven these
    days...

    Greetings, Jennifer

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty
    > <w.mccarty@btinternet.com>)
    > [mailto:willard@lists.village.virginia.edu]
    > Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2002 10:46 AM
    > To: humanist@Princeton.EDU
    > >
    >
    > Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 29.
    > Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
    > <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
    > <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
    >
    >
    >
    > Date: Sat, 18 May 2002 09:41:29 +0100
    > From: "Nancy Weitz"
    > <nancy.weitz@computing-services.oxford.ac.uk>
    > Subject: Re: 16.025 anti-plagarism software?
    >
    > We've made a couple of forays into this issue and found that
    > the current
    > plagiarism-detection packages have limited use and depend on
    > what you wish to
    > test for. It's likely, however, that there will be
    > improvements in the future.
    > The two main strands of software are:
    >
    > - those which test for collusion (students copying from each
    > other). These
    > compare word usage and phrasing and are most effective once there are
    > sufficient "banks" of essays to test against. It's possible that this
    > strand could extend
    > to other print sources, if publishers cooperate.
    >
    > - those which test for copying from internet sources. These
    > are generally
    > glorified search engines.
    >
    > More information about some specific programs and links to
    > larger studies
    > can be found at:
    > http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ltg/reports/plag.shtml (note: the
    > appendices
    > are access-protected to Oxford)
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: "Humanist Discussion Group
    > <w.mccarty@btinternet.com>)" <willard@lists.village.virginia.edu>
    > To: <humanist@Princeton.EDU>
    > Sent: Friday, May 17, 2002 7:05 AM
    >
    >
    > > Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 16, No. 25.
    > > Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's
    > College London
    > > <http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
    > > <http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 07:02:51 +0100
    > > From: <JAD@sun.ac.za>
    > > Subject: RfI: anti-plagiarism software
    > >
    > > Dear Fellow Humanists:
    > >
    > > I am sending this query in the hope that you may assist a
    > colleague, Edward
    > > Foster <ejff@sun.ac.za> in his quest .w.r.t.
    > anti-plagiarism software. He
    > > is seeking recommendations on the efficacy of such
    > software, the range of
    > > options available (freeware, shareware, etc), and any
    > other relevant
    > > information. Any and all opinions are most welcome.
    > >
    > > Many thanks,
    > >
    > > Jennifer De Beer
    > > Web Administrator - Universiteit Stellenbosch University, ZA
    > > (W3) sun.ac.za & (W3) geocities.com/jennifer_de_beer/
    > > Alt e-mail: jennifer_de_beer@acm.org
    > >
    > >
    >

    --[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
             Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 06:44:07 +0100
             From: Michael Hart <hart@beryl.ils.unc.edu>
             Subject: Re: 16.029 anti-plagarism software

    [Are The Anti-Plagiarists Plagiarizing, And Charging For YOUR Works?]

    ANTI-PLAGIARISM TOOL MAY INFRINGE ON COPYRIGHT
    One of the most popular anti-plagiarism Web sites, Turnitin.com, has
    come under scrutiny because of its practice of adding students' works
    to its database, sometimes without the students' knowledge. Unlike
    other plagiarism-detection Web sites that compare submitted works only
    to material on the Internet or to other papers in the class, Turnitin
    also adds submitted papers to its database, thereby expanding the reach
    of its detection program. However, many students are not told that
    their papers will be submitted and added to the database at Turnitin.
    This has some worried that students' copyright is being violated and
    has led the University of California at Berkeley to decide not to use
    Turnitin. Others have opted to use Turnitin but only after informing
    students, giving them the option not to have their work sent to Turnitin.
    Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 May 2002

    [Review from Newsscan, republished with permission in:

    The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter For Wednesday, May 15, 2002

    [Comments in brackets are mine]

    Thanks!

    So nice to hear from you!

    Michael S. Hart
    <hart@pobox.com>
    Project Gutenberg
    "*Ask Dr. Internet*"
    Executive Coordinator
    "*Internet User ~#100*"



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