CCCC-IP and Turnitin article in Business Week

I'd like to make a public apology to the CCCC-IP for comments that were misquoted in an article on the Business Week web site.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070313_733103...

As with most media interviews, the reporter was interested in finding support for Turnitin, so limited the quote to make it seem as if I supported the use of Turnitin, and also made it appear that my words were the words of the CCCC-IP. I wrote him to protest this, but was told that I could just comment on the article, which I will try to do.

For the record, below is the text of my reply to the reporter.

Again, my sincere apologies for the trouble I have caused.

Michael Day

From: Michael Day [mailto:TB0MXD1@wpo.cso.niu.edu] Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 4:05 PM To: MacMillan, Douglas Subject: Re: BusinessWeek article

Hi Doug,

The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) hasn't passed a resolution on Turnitin, to my knowledge, but many members are concerned that Turnitin and other plagiarism detection services pose a threat to student intellectual property rights and contribute to a negative climate of learning. To address that concern, the CCCC Intellectual Property Caucus has drafted the CCCC-IP Plagiarism Statement, available at

http://kairosnews.org/cccc-ip-plagiarism-detection-services-st

Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the page to read the full statement. You may also be interested in a discussion between Turnitin advocate Michael Bruton and members of the Kairosnews blog including Charlie Lowe, about Turnitin last September.

http://kairosnews.org/turnitins-response-to-recent-posts-discu

Be sure, also, to look at "Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices," which spells out a more careful approach to plagiarism than can be implied by uncritical uses of plagiarism detection services.

http://www.ilstu.edu/~ddhesse/wpa/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf

See particularly the statement on the use of plagiarism detection services on page 7.

Below, my opinions only, with some reliance on the CCCC-IP statement:

What's the strongest argument for the use of Turnitin?

Used with forethought, plenty of discussion with students and colleagues, and with student consent, as a formative teaching tool and not a "You're busted!" gatekeeper tool, plagiarism services such as Turnitin can help students and teachers test their writing against an ever-growing database of existing writing, to see what has already been said, and by whom. In short, such services may be used in the drafting stages of academic writing assignments to help students learn quotation, citation, and paraphrase, as well as avoid plagiarism and the punishments almost always imposed by teachers and institutions. Further, students and teachers can use the results of plagiarism detection reports to critically investigate notions such as ownership, property, originality, and copying in intellectual work. As the CCCC-IP Plagiarism Caucus Recommendations Regarding Academic Integrity and the Use of Plagiarism Detection Services make clear, in an age dominated by Web and Internet writing, wikis, blogs, remixing, and patch-writing, we owe it to our students to interrogate such notions.

What's the strongest argument against the use of Turnitin?

Though I am concerned by the way plagiarism detection services appropriate student work and uses it for profit, I believe that the biggest problem for teachers is that these services imply on a summative, "gatekeeper" notion of teachers as a judges or police, whose job it is to root out and punish wrongdoers. While I do advocate punishment for blatant and egregious plagiarism, along with the writers of the WPA statement I understand that inexperienced students do make mistakes, and that, particularly in the draft stages of writing, sometimes inadvertent copying occurs. Careful teachers will use these occasions as "teachable moments" to better inform the students about conventions of quotation, citation, and paraphrase, but we know how busy some teachers are. Busy teachers might also be to rely on the plagiarism detection service rather than devise assignments that are tailored to the students and subject, and that are more difficult to plagiarize. But I think that the WPA and CCCC-IP statements make the case far better than I can.

I hope this helps; please let me know if you need further information.

Take care,

Michael

Michael J. Day Director, First-Year Composition Program Associate Professor English Department Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Illinois 60115 (815) 753-6603 mday@niu.edu http://www.niu.edu/~tb0mxd1 Co-Chair, CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication

Hi Michael,

Deborah Holdstein told me I should speak with you. I'm currently reporting a story for BusinessWeek.com about the anti-cheating service Turnitin.com, and I understand the CCC has addressed whether it is an appropriate tool for schools to implement, given the controversy it raises over intellectual property rights. Can you refer me to any resolutions the conference passed, or fill me in on the proceedings if they are ongoing? What is the strongest argument in favor of using Turnitin? What is the strongest argument against it? Please feel free to call me at 212-512-2577 at your convenience, or e-mail me back at this address. I appreciate your help.

Best,

Doug MacMillan BusinessWeek.com 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York City, NY 10020 212-512-2577 douglas_macmillan@businessweek.com