Turnitin
Encyclopedia
Turnitin is an Internet
-based plagiarism
-detection service created by iParadigms, LLC. Typically, universities
and high school
s buy licenses to submit essay
s to the Turnitin website, which checks the documents for originality. The results can be used to detect plagiarism or can be used in formative assessment
to help students learn how to avoid plagiarism and improve their writing.
Students may be required by schools to submit essays to Turnitin, as a deterrent
to plagiarism. This has been a source of criticism, with some students refusing to do so in the belief that requiring it constitutes a presumption of guilt
. Additionally, critics have alleged that use of the software violates educational privacy
and intellectual property
laws.
Parent company iParadigms, LLC, also offers a similar plagiarism detection service for newspaper editors, book and magazine publishers called iThenticate
, and runs the informational website Plagiarism.org. Other services marketed under the Turnitin brand
are aimed at the education market, such as GradeMark (online grading and feedback) and PeerMark (peer review) services. Turnitin released the WriteCycle Suite on February 3, 2009. WriteCycle bundles the Originality Checking service with its GradeMark online grading tools and PeerMark tools. Turnitin released Turnitin2 on September 4, 2010.
. It scans its own databases, and also has licensing agreements with large academic proprietary databases.
used to check for plagiarism. This prevents one student from using another student's paper, by identifying matching text between papers.
In addition to student papers, the database contains a copy of the publicly accessible internet, with the company using a webcrawler
to continually add to the web archive, observing for robots.txt exclusions. It also contains commercial pages from books, newspapers, and journals. In addition, Turnitin has partnered with a note-sharing website, GradeGuru
, which offers rewards in exchange for study materials created by students.
file. Teachers can also set up the assignment analysis options so that students can review their originality reports before they make their final submission. A peer-review option is also available.
Some virtual learning environment
s can be configured to support Turnitin, so that student assignments can be automatically submitted for originality analysis. Moodle
, WebCT
, Blackboard
and ANGEL
all support Turnitin integration with course sections and assignments.
(FERPA) prohibits disclosing confidential information about students to third parties without their or their families' permission. Critics of Turnitin argue that sending papers to Turnitin without student permission thus violates their rights.
Turnitin claims its archiving of student papers complies with FERPA, since the statute only applies at two points: when it is transmitted to them, and when it is released from the database when a match is found with another submission. In the former case it is not considered part of the educational record since it has not yet been graded, and in the latter it does not divulge personal identifying information. However, the Family Compliance Policy Office, the department of the Department of Education responsible for enforcing FERPA, has stated that institutions may submit student papers to Turnitin only if they remove all personally identifiable information from the papers.
The Student Union
at Dalhousie University
has criticized the use of Turnitin at Canadian universities because the American government may be able to access the submitted papers and personal information in the database under the USA PATRIOT Act
.
Mount Saint Vincent University
became the first Canadian university to ban Turnitin's service partly because of implications of the USA PATRIOT Act.
since creators are granted exclusive reproduction rights by Title 17 of the United States Code
. Turnitin founder John Barrie claims the company is merely making fair use
of student work since, despite iParadigms' profiting from use or sale of the software, it is ultimately for educational purposes.
Lawyers for the company also claim that student work is covered under the theory of implied license to evaluate, since it would be pointless to write the essays if they were not meant to be graded. That implied license thus grants permission to copy, reproduce and preserve, it says. Dissertations and theses
, the company's lawyers claim, also carry with them the implied permission to archive in a publicly accessible collection such as a university library
.
University of Minnesota Law School
professor
Dan Burk countered that the company's use of the papers may not meet the fair-use test for several reasons:
When a group of students filed suit against Turnitin on that basis, in Vanderhye et al. v. iParadigms LLC, the district court found the practice within fair use; on appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
affirmed.
, which may violate scholastic disciplinary codes and applicable local laws and judicial practice. Some teachers and professors support this argument when attempting to discourage their schools from joining Turnitin.
complained that "They are warlords who are arming both sides in this plagiarism war".
declined to submit his academic work to Turnitin. The University Senate eventually ruled that Rosenfeld's assignments were to be graded without using Turnitin. In 2005 another McGill student, Denise Brunsdon, refused to submit her assignment to Turnitin.com and won a similar ruling from the Senate Committee on Student Grievances.
A few other Canadian universities are currently in the process of either total or partial ban of this service. On March 6, 2006, the Senate at Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia prohibited the submission of students’ academic work to Turnitin.com and any software that requires students' work to become part of an external database where other parties might have access to it. This decision was granted after the students’ union alerted the university community of their legal and privacy concerns associated with the use of Turnitin.com and other anti-plagiarism devices that profit from students’ academic work. This was the first campus-wide ban of its kind in Canada, following similar decisions by Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Stanford in the US.
At Ryerson University
(Toronto
), it is up to the students whether to submit their work to Turnitin.com or to make alternate arrangements with the instructor.
On March 27, 2007, with the help of an intellectual property attorney, two students from McLean High School
(with assistance from the Committee For Students' Rights) and two students attending Desert Vista High School
, filed suit in United States Circuit Court (Eastern District, Alexandria Division) alleging copyright infringement by iParadigms, Turnitin's parent company. Nearly a year later, Judge Claude M. Hilton granted summary judgment
on the students' complaint in favor of iParadigms/Turnitin, because they had accepted the click-wrap agreement
on the Turnitin website. The students appealed the ruling, and on April 16, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Judge Hilton's judgment in favor of iParadigms/Turnitin.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
-based plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
-detection service created by iParadigms, LLC. Typically, universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
and high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s buy licenses to submit essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s to the Turnitin website, which checks the documents for originality. The results can be used to detect plagiarism or can be used in formative assessment
Formative assessment
Formative assessment is a range of formal and informal assessment procedures employed by teachers during the learning process in order to modify teaching and learning activities to improve student attainment. It typically involves qualitative feedback for both student and teacher that focuses on...
to help students learn how to avoid plagiarism and improve their writing.
Students may be required by schools to submit essays to Turnitin, as a deterrent
Deterrence (psychological)
Deterrence is a theory from behavioral psychology about preventing or controlling actions or behavior through fear of punishment or retribution...
to plagiarism. This has been a source of criticism, with some students refusing to do so in the belief that requiring it constitutes a presumption of guilt
Presumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many...
. Additionally, critics have alleged that use of the software violates educational privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
and intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
laws.
Parent company iParadigms, LLC, also offers a similar plagiarism detection service for newspaper editors, book and magazine publishers called iThenticate
Ithenticate
iThenticate is a plagiarism detection service for the corporate market, from iParadigms, LLC, which also runs the websites Turnitin and Plagiarism.org. The service was launched in 2004, as result of market demand...
, and runs the informational website Plagiarism.org. Other services marketed under the Turnitin brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
are aimed at the education market, such as GradeMark (online grading and feedback) and PeerMark (peer review) services. Turnitin released the WriteCycle Suite on February 3, 2009. WriteCycle bundles the Originality Checking service with its GradeMark online grading tools and PeerMark tools. Turnitin released Turnitin2 on September 4, 2010.
Function
Turnitin checks for possible plagiarism by comparing submitted papers to several databases using a proprietary algorithmAlgorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
. It scans its own databases, and also has licensing agreements with large academic proprietary databases.
Student paper database
The essays submitted by students are stored in a databaseDatabase
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
used to check for plagiarism. This prevents one student from using another student's paper, by identifying matching text between papers.
In addition to student papers, the database contains a copy of the publicly accessible internet, with the company using a webcrawler
WebCrawler
WebCrawler is a metasearch engine that blends the top search results from Google, Yahoo!, Bing Search , Ask.com, About.com, MIVA, LookSmart and other popular search engines. WebCrawler also provides users the option to search for images, audio, video, news, yellow pages and white pages...
to continually add to the web archive, observing for robots.txt exclusions. It also contains commercial pages from books, newspapers, and journals. In addition, Turnitin has partnered with a note-sharing website, GradeGuru
GradeGuru
GradeGuru.com, by McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a free study network where college students can share and find class-specific study notes, learn collaboratively and build their academic reputations to earn rewards, internships and career opportunities....
, which offers rewards in exchange for study materials created by students.
Classroom integration
Teachers may submit student papers to Turnitin.com as individual files, a bulk upload, or a ZIPZIP (file format)
Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
file. Teachers can also set up the assignment analysis options so that students can review their originality reports before they make their final submission. A peer-review option is also available.
Some virtual learning environment
Virtual learning environment
Defined largely by usage, the term virtual learning environment has most, if not all, of the following salient properties:* It is Web-based* It uses Web 2.0 tools for rich 2-way interaction* It includes a content management system...
s can be configured to support Turnitin, so that student assignments can be automatically submitted for originality analysis. Moodle
Moodle
Moodle is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment...
, WebCT
WebCT
WebCT or Blackboard Learning System, now owned by Blackboard, is an online proprietary virtual learning environment system that is sold to colleges and other institutions and used in many campuses for e-learning...
, Blackboard
Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. is an enterprise software company with its corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C. and is primarily known as a developer of education software, in particular learning management systems. Blackboard was founded by CEO Michael Chasen and chairman Matthew Pittinsky in 1997 and...
and ANGEL
ANGEL Learning
ANGEL Learning, Inc. was a privately held educational software company specializing in eLearning. Its main products are the ANGEL Learning Management Suite , ANGEL ePortfolio, and services offerings. In May 2009 it was acquired by Blackboard Inc.....
all support Turnitin integration with course sections and assignments.
Privacy
The U.S. Family Educational Rights and Privacy ActFamily Educational Rights and Privacy Act
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 is a United States federal law.It allows students with access to their education records, an opportunity to seek to have the records amended, and some control over the disclosure of information from the records...
(FERPA) prohibits disclosing confidential information about students to third parties without their or their families' permission. Critics of Turnitin argue that sending papers to Turnitin without student permission thus violates their rights.
Turnitin claims its archiving of student papers complies with FERPA, since the statute only applies at two points: when it is transmitted to them, and when it is released from the database when a match is found with another submission. In the former case it is not considered part of the educational record since it has not yet been graded, and in the latter it does not divulge personal identifying information. However, the Family Compliance Policy Office, the department of the Department of Education responsible for enforcing FERPA, has stated that institutions may submit student papers to Turnitin only if they remove all personally identifiable information from the papers.
The Student Union
Dalhousie Student Union
The Dalhousie Student Union is the official representative of students at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.- History :On November 10, 1869 students accepted ownership of the Dalhousie Gazette from the founding editors....
at Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
has criticized the use of Turnitin at Canadian universities because the American government may be able to access the submitted papers and personal information in the database under the USA PATRIOT Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...
.
Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University is a university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1873 and is locally referred to as The Mount.-History:...
became the first Canadian university to ban Turnitin's service partly because of implications of the USA PATRIOT Act.
Concerns about violation of student copyright in the United States
Since Turnitin archives all papers which it receives and it sells its services including that database, for profit, the company has also been charged with violating student copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
since creators are granted exclusive reproduction rights by Title 17 of the United States Code
Title 17 of the United States Code
Title 17 of the United States Code is the title of the United States Code that outlines United States copyright law.—Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright—Copyright Ownership and Transfer—Duration of Copyright—Copyright Notice, Deposit, and Registration—Copyright Infringement and...
. Turnitin founder John Barrie claims the company is merely making fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
of student work since, despite iParadigms' profiting from use or sale of the software, it is ultimately for educational purposes.
Lawyers for the company also claim that student work is covered under the theory of implied license to evaluate, since it would be pointless to write the essays if they were not meant to be graded. That implied license thus grants permission to copy, reproduce and preserve, it says. Dissertations and theses
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
, the company's lawyers claim, also carry with them the implied permission to archive in a publicly accessible collection such as a university library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
.
University of Minnesota Law School
University of Minnesota Law School
The University of Minnesota Law School, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, is a professional school of the University of Minnesota. The school offers a Juris Doctor , Masters of Law for Foreign Lawyers, and joint degrees with J.D./M.B.A., J.D./M.P.A, J.D./M.A., J.D./M.S., J.D./Ph.D.,...
professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Dan Burk countered that the company's use of the papers may not meet the fair-use test for several reasons:
- The company copies the entire paper, not just a portion
- Students' work is often original, interpretive and creative rather than just a compilation of established facts
- Turnitin is a commercial enterprise
When a group of students filed suit against Turnitin on that basis, in Vanderhye et al. v. iParadigms LLC, the district court found the practice within fair use; on appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:*District of Maryland*Eastern District of North Carolina...
affirmed.
Presumption of guilt
Some students argue that requiring them to submit papers to Turnitin creates a presumption of guiltPresumption of innocence
The presumption of innocence, sometimes referred to by the Latin expression Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, is the principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Application of this principle is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, recognised in many...
, which may violate scholastic disciplinary codes and applicable local laws and judicial practice. Some teachers and professors support this argument when attempting to discourage their schools from joining Turnitin.
WriteCheck
iParadigms, the company behind Turnitin, runs another website called WriteCheck where students can submit their papers to be tested against the same database used by Turnitin, and determine whether or not their paper will be detected as plagiarism. Alex TabarrokAlex Tabarrok
Alexander Taghi Tabarrok is a Canadian-American economist and co-author, with Tyler Cowen, of the economics blog Marginal Revolution....
complained that "They are warlords who are arming both sides in this plagiarism war".
Litigation
In one well-publicized dispute over mandatory Turnitin submissions, Jesse Rosenfeld, a student at McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
declined to submit his academic work to Turnitin. The University Senate eventually ruled that Rosenfeld's assignments were to be graded without using Turnitin. In 2005 another McGill student, Denise Brunsdon, refused to submit her assignment to Turnitin.com and won a similar ruling from the Senate Committee on Student Grievances.
A few other Canadian universities are currently in the process of either total or partial ban of this service. On March 6, 2006, the Senate at Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia prohibited the submission of students’ academic work to Turnitin.com and any software that requires students' work to become part of an external database where other parties might have access to it. This decision was granted after the students’ union alerted the university community of their legal and privacy concerns associated with the use of Turnitin.com and other anti-plagiarism devices that profit from students’ academic work. This was the first campus-wide ban of its kind in Canada, following similar decisions by Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Stanford in the US.
At Ryerson University
Ryerson University
Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
(Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
), it is up to the students whether to submit their work to Turnitin.com or to make alternate arrangements with the instructor.
On March 27, 2007, with the help of an intellectual property attorney, two students from McLean High School
McLean High School
McLean High School is a public secondary school located in McLean, Virginia. It is located on 1633 Davidson Road and is part of Fairfax County Public Schools....
(with assistance from the Committee For Students' Rights) and two students attending Desert Vista High School
Desert Vista High School
Desert Vista High School is located in the Ahwatukee neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona, was established in 1996, and is a part of the Tempe Union High School District.-Academics:...
, filed suit in United States Circuit Court (Eastern District, Alexandria Division) alleging copyright infringement by iParadigms, Turnitin's parent company. Nearly a year later, Judge Claude M. Hilton granted summary judgment
Summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment is a determination made by a court without a full trial. Such a judgment may be issued as to the merits of an entire case, or of specific issues in that case....
on the students' complaint in favor of iParadigms/Turnitin, because they had accepted the click-wrap agreement
Clickwrap
A clickwrap agreement is a common type of agreement often used in connection with software licenses. Such forms of agreement are mostly found on the Internet, as part of the installation process of many software packages, or in other circumstances where agreement is sought using electronic media...
on the Turnitin website. The students appealed the ruling, and on April 16, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Judge Hilton's judgment in favor of iParadigms/Turnitin.
External links
- Turnitin
- Plagiarism.org
- CCCC-IP Caucus Recommendations Regarding Academic Integrity and the Use of Plagiarism Detection Services - recommendations authored by the Caucus on Intellectual Property and Composition/Communication Studies
- Fair Use, Turnitin, And... Why Google Never Should Have Caved On Book Scanning
- Fourth Circuit's Turnitin.com Ruling Brings More Trouble for Plaintiffs