Papers and Perspectives

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Curing the Cold but Killing the Patient? Turnitin.com, Online Paper Mills, and the Outsourcing of Academic Work

John Regan

Plagiary 2008 3(2): 1-11 (25 February 2008)

Abstract

During the last decade, Turnitin.com has become the most prominent text matching service and the first choice of most colleges and universities who seek a technological approach to detecting student plagiarism. Turnitin’s rise parallels a significant shift in a business that would seem to be one of its primary targets —the online term paper mill industry. Online paper mills have significantly changed in the last few years, evolving into professionally designed sites touting custom writing services. This evolution reflects the industry’s reaction to the pervasive use of Turnitin and its perceived effectiveness in detecting student plagiarism; moreover, the industry’s new rhetorical focus on outsourcing positions custom writing services as a potentially powerful temptation to student learners. Custom writing services simultaneously extol the virtues of outsourcing one’s academic work while warning against outsourcing that same work to foreign entities, a powerful rhetorical combination that both plays into the benefits of outsourcing for consumers and also targets--in pejorative tone--the mainstream fears of overseas outsourcing in general. While the submission of custom essays may never amount to more than a fraction of academic misconduct cases, we may also be at the beginning of a powerful trend towards the outsourcing of academic work.

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Electronic Plagiarism Detection Services: A Learning Tool or a Quick Fix?

E. Joel Heikes and John Kucsera

Plagiary 2008 3(3): 1-18 (29 April 2008)

Abstract

With the advent of nearly universal Internet access and the upsurge of paper mills, universities and colleges are scrambling to find effective solutions to the rise of plagiary on campus. Some colleges and universities are implementing electronic plagiarism detection services. The two main rationales for using these devices are to deter and detect plagiarism as well as teach students proper writing and citation techniques (Martin, 2004). However, research has yet to determine if the student learning function of these tools is present. The purpose of the study was to assess if one electronic plagiarism prevention device, Turnitin, is being used to teach students proper writing and citation techniques or solely to deter and detect plagiarism. Our results showed that although instructors and students found the tool easy to use and believed it reduced plagiarism, students reported receiving little instructional value related to their writing. As a result, it appears that when detection services are introduced within college classrooms, instructors may use these tools mainly to detect and deter plagiarism rather than to teach students how to avoid plagiarism. We believe this challenge can be addressed by teaching instructors and students how to incorporate detection services into the writing process.

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A Pilot Study Examining Rational Choice and Techniques of Neutralization as Explanatory Theories for the Crime of FEMA Benefit Fraud

Kelly Frailing

Plagiary 2008 3(4): 1-9 (21 May 2008)

Abstract

This pilot study examines the reliability of a Likert scale survey designed to determine the strengths of rational choice (RC) and techniques of neutralization (TN) theories in explaining FEMA benefit fraud following Hurricane Katrina. The reliability of RC and TN items were analyzed for all participants, for those who had received FEMA money and those who had not. It was hypothesized that whichever theory had more reliable items was the better explanatory theory for the crime of FEMA fraud after Katrina. Rational choice items were generally more reliable than techniques of neutralization items, allowing the tentative conclusion that rational choice shows greater utility in explaining FEMA benefit fraud. As a theory, it provides useful tools for fraud prevention.

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Analyzing Alleged Plagiarism in Nineteenth-Century Literature: A Case Study of Ellen G. White’s The Desire of Ages

David J. Conklin, Jerry Moon, and Kevin Morgan

Plagiary 2008 3(5): 1-29 (25 July 2008)

Abstract

This paper proposes a method of determining whether the literary practice of a nineteenth-century author exceeded the generally accepted norms of literary borrowing for that same period of writing. The method takes as its case study one chapter from Ellen G. White’s Desire of Ages which, of all her works, has received the most extensive investigation regarding alleged plagiarism, and compares it to the corresponding chapters of 47 other works of the same genre and century, using the computerized literary tool WCopyfind to locate parallel phrases between the various works. These parallels are then evaluated for strength and frequency. Study results indicate that un-attributed borrowing of phraseology was rather common, and even considered to be more acceptable among the nineteenth-century authors of this genre than would be acceptable in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The minimal borrowing by Ellen G. White in this chapter was within the acceptable standards of that era.

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