Tips on detecting plagiarism

(Numbers in Brackets refer to Sources list)

Introduction

The following list provides some tips on the detection of plagiarism:

Visual Clues

• Obvious web formatting or otherwise odd layout (e.g., inconsistent page breaks, unusual layout, “grayed out” words or sections, embedded links, etc.) (1, 2)
• Inconsistent citation style or bibliography (3, 4)
• Essay contains embedded links, inappropriate page breaks or inconsistent numbering (5)
• Strange text at top or bottom of printed page (2)
• Essay was printed from a web browser (7)
• Essay lacks title page or contains title page scrawled by hand in an otherwise typed essay (6)

Content Clues

• Talk to the Student:
  
  • Can they summarize the main points of the essay? (2)
  • Can they provide copies of material cited in the essay? (2)
  
  
• Layout:
  
  • Inconsistent citation style or bibliography (3, 4)
  • Does the essay contain phantom references to graphs, charts, images, people, events that aren't there? (2)
  
  
• Uncommon Similarities / Playing Left Field:
  • Have you seen an essay on the exact same narrow topic? Does the current essay look alarmingly familiar? (9)
  • Is the essay way off topic? Does it contain only a few paragraphs to bring it in line with topic? (e.g., pasted-on student work at beginning, at the opening and ending of essay, sandwiching copied material in the body of the essay) (2, 7)
  • Essay contains reference(s) to its paper mill origin (7)
  
  
• Writing Style / Mechanics:
  
  • Is professional jargon or advanced vocabulary used? (1)
  • Strange grammar or syntax (i.e., this could be the result of using a web translation service to translate a copied essay into French or German and then back to English to foil detection) (4)
  • Are references to historical persons or events made in the current sense? (2, 8)
  • Refers to lectures from “a mystery instructor” (7)
  • Is the essay significantly different from or “much better than previous writing samples”? (10)
  • Does the essay address the assignment requirements or are portions of the assignment neglected? (4)
  • Grade-school essay quality (e.g., essay reads like an encyclopedia like World Book or www.encyclopedia.com) (7)
  • Sentences that sound too good may be unattributed quotes (1)
  • Essay is a bit too good; contains no spelling or syntax errors (7)
  
  
• Documentation / Check Sources:
  
  • Does the essay lack citation to recent sources? (e.g., are all of the important sources cited the same number of years old?) (4)
  • Are a majority of web sites listed inactive? (2)
  • Does the essay present detailed or specific information but then lacks the source(s) to substantiate the claim? (3)
  • Are the sources cited in the essay the sources actually used? (e.g., are some of the sources fabricated in order to adding padding?) (1)

Tracking Down the Original Material – Non-Software Solutions

• Look for the sources listed; If a majority of the sources originate from outside of the CSUCI library, consider asking the student how they came across their sources. (1)


• Search for unique keywords or phrases from the essay using some of the tips and source listed below. The more databases and search engines you use, the better the chance of tracking down the original source material.
  • Use search engines such as Vivisimo, Google, Hotbot, etc. (1);
  • Search some of the full-text library databases, such as Academic Search Premier ,Expanded Academic Index, LexisNexis Academic, etc. (10);
  • Try also looking in a “commonly available electronic encyclopedia” such as Encarta, etc. (5).; and
  • When searching, you might want to use some of the misspellings in the paper as your search keywords (5).
  
  
• Visit some of the term essay mills. (11)


• Contact Peter Sezzi, Reference Librarian, at peter.sezzi@csuci.edu for further assistance. All inquiries will be treated with complete confidentiality.

Tracking Down the Original Material – Software Solutions

A cautionary note about using plagiarism detection software:
“Although it may be tempting to submit student essays to a free detection service, it is strongly recommended that searchers only submit phrases or a few sentences to these search engines. With a stroke of ingenuity, there is evidence to suggest that some of these detection services may be taking submitted student essays and re-selling them from essay mills.” (6)

The CSUCI library does subscribe to Turnitin.com, an online plagiarism detection service. For more information about how to register for Turnitin.com,

Trunitin.com is not the only computer-based plagiarism detection service. The list below provides the names and a brief overview of some other online and software solutions to plagiarism detection. By no means is the list authoritative or exhaustive. To suggest other software or websites, contact Peter Sezzi, Reference Librarian, at peter.sezzi@csuci.edu.

• Plagiarism.org / Turnitin.com
  The sites are now combined; Turnitin.com is the parent site. This website offers numerous services, of which plagiarism detection is but a part. Instructors are required to register for and create a “class” on the site. Documents can then be submitted by instructors or students. Turnitin.com then searches against its database for similarly worded documents. A color-coded system indicates the “originality” of the document submitted. The website contains a constantly updated database of documents, including both material submitted by instructors as well as articles from online databases (such as ABI/Inform, Reader’s Guide, etc.), online paper mills and—of course—the Internet.


• Moss
  Moss stands for a “Measure Of Software Similarity.” Designed at UC Berkeley in 1994, it is a free online service designed to detect plagiarism in computer science assignments. It is designed to determine “the similarity of C, C++, Java, Pascal, Ada, ML, Lisp, or Scheme programs.”

Sources

1. Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism: Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism (Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign)
2. Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You – Detecting Plagiarized Essays (Peggy Bates and Margaret Fain, Coastal Carolina University)
3. Student Plagiarism in an Online World (Julie J.C.H. Ryan, ASEE Prism Magazine, December 1998)
4. Detecting Plagiarism (Fran Nowakowski, Dalhousie University)
5. Plagiarism and Anti-Plagiarism (Heyward Ehrlich)
6. This suggestion came from CSUCI English Professor Renny Christopher.
7. Plagiarized.com's Dead Giveaways
8. Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Essays (Robert Harris)
9. Detecting Plagiarism (University of Alberta)
10. Electronic Plagiarism Seminar (Gretchen Pearson, Le Moyne College)
11. Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You – Term Essay Mills (Peggy Bates and Margaret Fain, Coastal Carolina University)

Authored by Peter Sezzi and Tom Emens.
Adopted from http://www.library.dal.ca/how/detect.htm