Blackboard utility to detect plagiarism
Published Aug. 28, 2007
MU is considering acquiring a program called SafeAssign that is used to prevent plagiarism and protect the originality of other written works. The program not only detects plagiarism, but also has features that educate students about the importance of proper citation.
SafeAssign is based on older technology Blackboard acquired from Sciworth Inc. It is based on Sciworth's MyDropBox program, but is better integrated with Blackboard products.
Educational Technologies Director Andrew Loostens-White said submitted papers would be compared to other available documents.
SafeAssign is equipped with a database filled with articles gathered from four different sources, including Internet search engines such as Google; a program called ProQuest, which contains about 1,100 publications; an institutional database unique to MU; and one database that spans the globe. With those databases, SafeAssign can compare any submitted paper with those it has stored to search for matches in wording or even exact copies of another article.
English professor Donna Strickland said she would not use the program herself, but she believes other instructors would.
"I know that more and more professors across all disciplines are worried about plagiarism and that the availability of online sources makes plagiarism seem more prevalent," she said. "However, I don't know that any research has been done to confirm that plagiarism is, indeed, on the rise."
Loostens-White said students would be able to check their own paper against the databases before submitting their final product.
"Students also have the ability to send a draft and get the feedback themselves," Loostens-White said. "They can use it as a tool to help them find areas that they might need to better cite."
He said he hoped instructors would use the software as a tool to teach students about plagiarism.
"We want to make sure that both faculty and students are able to use it as a way of discussing how to respect intellectual property and avoid intentional or unintentional plagiarism," he said.
Loostens-White said teachers will inform the students that their papers will be submitted through SafeAssign.
The system wouldn't be infallible, Loostens-White said.
"It might suggest excerpts that it thinks were inappropriately taken from another source, but in fact were not," he said.
Students would also be able to submit their own papers to the databases to prevent their work from being plagiarized by future students.
Other programs such as Turnitin.com serve the same purpose and were under consideration by the university a few years ago but were turned down, Loostens-White said.
"The university does not use Turnitin because when a student submits a paper [with Turnitin], the student does not have a choice whether the student wants their paper integrated with the company's database," Loostens-White said. "We felt a student should have the choice whether some other company uses their work."
He said Turnitin would have cost MU approximately $25,000 to $30,000, while SafeAssign is a free feature within Blackboard.
MU is still waiting to turn on SafeAssign because the university's attorneys are sorting out licensing issues with Blackboard.