Is Your School Using a Plagiarism Prevention Service?

If your school uses a plagiarism prevention service, such as Turnitin or Safe Assign, make sure that it is being used to entice students to learn how to write better (the carrot) and not as just another way to fail them (the stick). The service should not be used as a teacher’s own private detection center, but instead, especially in middle school and the early years of high school, as a way for students to learn to recognize what parts of their work may not be original and/or may not be cited properly. Plagiarism prevention works best when it is used by students and teachers to improve writing and research skills and not just as a way for teachers to “catch” students. And, if you don’t know … the beginning of the school year is the best time to ask.

Comments

[plagiarism checker]

I think they should review the whole idea of using plagiarism checkers in school. Indeed they should be used just to motivate students to write original and high quality content, not to catch them and punish.