UMSN Plagiarism Guidance for Faculty

Overview

UMSN faculty have expressed interest regarding the use and availability of plagiarism software. This overview is intended to provide general information on plagiarism resources available to UMSN faculty. Before using any plagiarism detection software or tools it is recommended that faculty:

• Discuss essay and writing assignment strategies and plans with a UMSN instructional designer
• Use authentic assessment techniques when developing essay and writing assignments
• Understand how to administer and use the plagiarism tools and also understand their limitations
• Set student expectations around academic integrity and the use of plagiarism software and tools for their courses University Context

The UM campus community in general has moved away from the use of plagiarism software detection tools.  ITS for example states that "U-M does not currently provide a plagiarism checking system. Use of these tools has not gained broad support on campus, thus the lack of a funded campus-wide offering." Also, units like LSA (the largest academic unit at the University) have strategically opted to not provide or use plagiarism software as part of their pedagogical/andragogical approach.

For faculty who would like to use plagiarism software, UMSN-IT supports TurnItIn (other tools are not supported). To help faculty weigh the benefits of the use of TurnItIn, a short list for pros/cons and other relevant resources are provided below.  

TurnItIn Pros/Cons

Pros

• TurnItIn can reasonably detect similar content that is in its database which may help identify plagiarism material
• TurnItIn can reasonably detect current ChatGPT generated content

Cons

• There are copyright issues associated with using TurnItIn as students must agree to TurnItIn's terms of use
• TurnItIn cannot catch work that generated as a work for hire where the students pay someone to write their papers
• Low similarity scores in TurnItIn are not a guarantee that the work was not plagiarized (false negatives)
• High similarity scores in TurnItIn are not a guarantee that a work has been plagiarized (false positives)

UMSN TurnItIn Resources

• TurnItIn Instructor Guide
• Article - TurnItIn Student Guide

UMSN Academic Integrity Resources

• UMSN Online Assessment Design Guidance 2023
• Online Assessment Design Guidance

University Academic Integrity Resources

• Getting Started - Introduction to Academic Integrity - Research Guides at University of Michigan Library
• Teaching Strategies: Academic Integrity in the Classroom | CRLT (umich.edu)