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Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Plagiarism, referencing in the digital age and Turnitin. Are we policing or supporting our learners?

This is certainly a hot topic at the moment, particularly within HE institutions given the advent of electronic plagiarism detection services such as Turnitin, the system in operation here.

As College Administrator for Turnitin, I am heavily involved in instructing both staff and students on how to use the system. We've recently had a discussion within our own section on how we manage the teaching of referencing to both FE and HE learners as we are a mixed economy College, and that this needs to be done holistically, as part of the formative process as a supportive mechanism.

Indeed, our taught LIS sessions of referencing are changing incrementally to tackle the issue of electronic sources of information and the requirement to cite and reference these sources accurately.

It is a difficult balance, conveying the complexities of the Harvard system whilst at the same time supporting students in a non-punitive way. Allowing students access to the Originality Reports that are created based on their submissions has improved understanding as to what the issues associated with referencing e-resources are, but it is a shared responsibility and one that needs a consistent message from all areas of the organisation.

Any thoughts?