Turnitin/Plagiarism

Plagiarism is becoming a common problem for students because it is so easy to access information from the web and copy and paste it into a document.  Students need to be aware of plagiarizing, and its serious implications. Authors and creators deserve credit for their work. Any work that is not directly from one’s thoughts, and if there is any information that comes from another source, it needs to be cited, even if it is put into one’s own words. Turnitin.com is a software application that students and teachers can use to determine how much plagiarism is in a document. It searches the Internet to find any similarities to the document submitted, and generates a percentage to reflect how much of the paper is plagiarized, and it gives the links to the webpages where the similarities were found. Teachers can set the percentage for how high they want the maximum amount of plagiarism to be. This software can also assist teachers in helping students meet Common Core Standard CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.6 : Use technology to share and publish written documents. Students can begin learning how to use this software as soon as they have to start submitting documents that require research sources. It is very simple to use, and the software is readily available online. Using software like Turnitin helps students and teachers abide by ISTE Standard 4, by helping students understand and be aware of legally producing digital work.