Plagiarism Detection Services Bibliography

The following resources are useful to anyone researching Turnitin and other plagiarism detection services:

“At Issue: Should Educators Use Commercial Services to Combat Plagiarism?” CQ Researcher 13.32 (Sept. 19, 2003): 789. http://www.cqpress.com/docs/Combating%20Plagiarism.pdf (6 September 2006).

Point/counterpoint-type of columns, with the President and Founder of Turnitin.com representing the “yes” viewpoint, and Rebecca Moore Howard representing the “no” viewpoint. Howard’s 6-paragraph stance on the issue is among the most concise, clear, and articulately stated opinions on the matter. Contained within a 24-page special edition of CQ Researcher entitled “Combating Plagiarism.”

Carbone, Nick. “Converting Practices.” TechNotes: Teaching Writing in an Online World May 16, 2006 http://ncarbone.blogspot.com/TeachingWriting/2006_05_14_twowarchive.html

More recent commentary through an entry on Carbone’s blog about how to make Turnitin.com useful if teachers are “stuck with it.” Suggests ways to promote good pedagogy and create teachable moments if an institution has already committed to having it.

Carbone, Nick. “Plagiarism.” Strategies for Teaching with Online Tools. http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/workshops/plagiarism.htm (5 September 2006).

Carbone, Nick. “Re: a Rebuttal of Turninin.com.” Strategies for Teaching with Online Tools 1 February 2002. http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/hccworkshop/missedplagiarism.htm (5 September 2006).

Carbone, Nick. “Turnitin.com, A Pedagogic Placebo for Plagiarism.” Bedford/St. Martin’s Tech Notes: Technology and Teaching June 13, 2001 http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/techtiparchive/ttip060501.htm

Provides some background on Turnitin.com’s beginnings and describes reasons in depth why Turnitin.com is unethical and pedagogically misguided. Written fairly early on in use/marketing of Turnitin.com.

Castner, Joanna, Michael Donnelly, Rebecca Ingalls, Tracy Ann Morse, Anne Stockdell-Giesler. “(Mis)Trusting Technology That Polices Integrity: A Critical Assessment of Turnitin.com.” Inventio (Fall 2006). http://www.doit.gmu.edu/inventio/. Forthcoming.

The Council of Writing Program Administrators. “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices.” http://wpacouncil.org/files/WPAplagiarism.pdf (5 September 2006).

Denhart, Andy. “The Web's Plagiarism Police.” Salon 14 January 1999. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/06/14/plagiarism/ (5 September 2006).

Foster, Andrea. “Plagiarism-Detection Tool Creates Legal Quandary.” Chronicle of Higher Education 17 May 2002. http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i36/36a03701.htm (5 September 2006).

Starts out as an even-handed article outlining legal issues and student copyright concerns, but towards the end of it, leans more toward Turnitin.com citing “success stories.”

Herrington, Anne, and Charles Moran. “What Happens When Machines Read Our Students' Writing?” College English 63.4 (March 2001): 480-499.

The Intellectual Property Caucus of the Conference On College Composition and Communication. “CCCC-IP Caucus Recommendations Regarding Academic Integrity and the Use of Plagiarism Detection Services.” (Fall 2006). Forthcoming.

Lowe, Charles, Ellen Schendel, and Julie White. "Issues Raised by Use of Turnitin Plagiarism Detection Software." 6 September 2006. http://cyberdash.com/plagiarism-detection-software-issues-gvsu (7 September 2006).

Marcua, Lisa. “The Plagiarism Panic: Digital Policing in the New Intellectual Property Regime.” New Directions in Copyright Law. Vol. 2. Ed. Fiona Macmillan. London: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006.

Marcua, Lisa. “Plagiarism and Copyright: Connections in the Turnitin Culture.” Sweetland Writing Center Newsletter (Winter 2006). http://141.211.177.75/UofM/Content/swc/document/SWC_W06.pdf (5 September 2006).

This article is a (more or less) condensed version of Maruca's chapter in the following book. She maintains that plagiarism and copyrightissues are more than simply loosely connected; they represent related societal tinderboxes which exist because the market economy recasts ownership values.

Marsh, Bill. “Turnitin.com and the Scriptural Enterprise of Plagiarism Detection.” Computers and Composition 21 (2004): 427-438.

Martin, Brian. "Plagiarism: A Misplaced Emphasis." Journal of Information Ethics 3.2 (1994): 36-47.

Masur, Kate. “Papers, Profits, and Pedagogy: Plagiarism in the Age of the Internet.” Perspectives (May 2001). http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2001/0105/0105new3.cfm (5 September 2006).

“McGill Student Continues Fight Against Anti-Plagiarism Website.” CBC News 27 December 2003) http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/national/2003/12/27/plagiarism031227.html (5 September 2006).

“McGill Student Wins Fight Over Anti-Cheating Website.” CBC News 16 January 2004. http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/national/2004/01/16/mcgill_turnitin030116.html (5 September 2006).

Purdy, James P. “Calling Off the Hounds: Technology and the Visibility of Plagiarism.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 5.2 (Spring 2005): 275-295.

Study of plagiarism detection services.

Royce, John. “Trust or Trussed? Has Turnitin.com Got It All Wrapped Up?” Teacher Librarian 30.4 (April 2003). http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/tlmag/v_30/v_30_4_feature.html (5 September 2006).

Clarifies the shortcomings in Turnitin.com’s detection system and reviews various studies on Turnitin’s effectiveness. Ultimate message: if you have to use it, use it wisely, but as Royce says, “buyer beware.”