How plagiarism detection software helps uphold academic integrity

August marks the beginning of school year 2020-2021 for most educational institutions in the Philippines, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made it inevitable for distance learning to become the 'new normal' in education.

Why upholding academic integrity should be part of the 'new normal' in education / Source: Pexels

However, over the years, the use of the internet for research and academic purposes has given birth to a big threat in every school or university's academic integrity, as some student resort to or unintentionally commit plagiarism.

And now that almost all academic institutions will adapt to remote learning, and students will be even more dependent on the internet for homeworks, projects, or thesis, the issue on how to ensure that students will produce original work is now being put in the spotlight.

In a virtual discussion with the media, Turnitin.com executives in Southeast Asia, Jack Brazel, Head of Business Partnerships, and Yovita Marlina, Customer Growth Manager, discussed the vital role their software plays in helping educators and institutions further uphold academic integrity.

What important role Turnitin plays in championing academic integrity / Source: Turnitin

Academic integrity and its importance

Turnitin is an internet-based plagiarism prevention software developed in 1998 by Dr. John Barrie from Berkeley University, who realized the challenge posed by the internet on academic integrity.

And ever since its establishment, Turnitin has assisted 15,000 institutes in 140 countries and everyday there are 34 million students who log in and use their software.

Moreover, Turnitin has been present in the Philippines since 2013 and have partnered with universities such as De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila Univeristy, and the University of the Philippines, to name a few.

In the online media meet, Jack Brazel discussed the rationale behind Turnitin and why they encourage educational institutions to prioritize academic integrity.

“From our perspective at Turnitin, we believe that academic integrity is actually a culture.

“So, being able to actually engage with the research correctly, being able to teach student how to cite, paraphrase, even time management, all these things, they're actually a skill set that have to be learned every time. You're not born with that.

“And I think our biggest challenge is that often people think that plagiarizing is just a malicious decision by the student, to say, 'Hey, you know what? Let me just copy that. Job done.'

“What our research tells us is that there are deeper reasons. And we have to actually focus on how do we make students citizens of integrity. And Turnitin will help with that.

Yovita Marlina also emphasized that the school has a great responsibility in instilling in their students the value on academic integrity.

“It's (up to) to the institution itself, as well as the instructor, how they can manage their students and how they can make the students not only do it because they're afraid of being caught, but to do it because they realize it's a fundamental need once they enter the working environment.

“They cannot copy someone's work when they are working.”

Jack also mentioned in his presentation that one of the top 10 skills for 2022 that most employers will be looking for in their employees is originality, and the academe should definitely help students hone this skill before they join the workforce.

“We believe that original thinking skills are really critical in today's society, regardless of where you are in the world.”

Jack Brazel, Turnitin's Head of Business Partnerships in Southeast Asia

Threats to academic integrity

According to Jack, plagiarism has evolved over the years and has taken on different forms. And Turnitin has always worked hard to address the changing needs in protecting and championing academic integrity through constantly developing solutions.

In 1998, students were inclined to copy and paste information they saw on the internet. So, they developed a web database to detect potential matches.

After the copy-paste trend came collusion or the cloning someone else's work. And they beat this by establishing a student paper database.

Then, research misconduct became prevalent, which they fought off by partnering with a global research body, which gives them access to the world's best research, so they can spot similarities in students' submitted papers.

Later on, contract cheating became a thing where students hire a ghostwriter to do their paper or thesis.

So, they developed a technology using metadata and analytics of past submissions to be able to detect contract cheating.

Jack also shared, “And then greatly our biggest evolution in 2020 is that we see a threat in code plagiarism.

“So, what we believe is that potentially people might be reusing other people's code or copying from open source.

“So, all-in-all, we have a pretty sophisticated way to ensuring the integrity of the global education system.”

How Turnitin works

The traditional way of assessing students' output is quite linear. Students submit their work and teachers go over it and give a grade.

However, according to Jack, Turitin utilizes a modern iterative approach which creates more learning opportunities.

“Where I believe success will come with our institutes that we work with is that they actually treat writing as a process.

“So, you encourage your students to draft their papers, and of course use a plagiarism prevention system, and then what we actually have to do is we have to teach the instructors how to have those conversations with students about that source management.

“For instance, if a student runs their paper through Turnitin, there'd be several matches and then like I said in my presentation, we need to empower the instructor to have a learning opportunity with the students, saying, 'Listen. What you've done with that source is inappropriate. Those reasons. Perhaps, you need to rephrase it in that manner.' And off they go. They redraft.

“We support the students through that creation process, to ensure they produce a really excellent document.

“We provide them with a submission tool, they get grading and feedback, but also we're providing the institute really good analytical data, so that they know where their student population is going, they know where their instructor base is going with their feedback.

“And year on year, they're improving the quality of experience for both student and the instructor.

Moreover, Yovita said that educators can easily learn how to use the software and it only takes less than a minute for Turnitin to check a single document or submission for plagiarism.

Yovita Marlina, Turnitin's Customer Growth Manager in Southeast Asia

The ultimate goal

Jack emphasized that Turnitin's goal is not merely to put an end to plagiarism, but more importantly, to empower Filipino instructors, create more learning opportunities, and help students become citizens of integrity.

According to Jack, all these will ultimately benefit society as a whole in the bigger picture.

“What our technology does and has done for Filipino customers for over the last five years is that we help develop integrity skills or we help students become citizens of integrity.

“But also, at the same time, we're helping instructors do a better job at managing the output of students. We're saving their time and making life easier.

“We believe our technology ensures academic integrity. And if we give students original thinking, we're actually going to contribute to a better society.”

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