Question about turnitin.com

[Stacy Pober]

Could you explain why you feel strongly that this was an 
inappropriate request?  

I have been asked for this in the past and have no problem
with the request.  Take the "plagarism" issue out of it for
a second. People occasionally ask for help in finding
the source of some obviously quoted material in other
circumstances and they get help with those requests.
For example, a student may come in with one xeroxed 
page from an article but they need more info to cite it 
in a bibliography.

My attitude is that I'm there to help people find 
information that answers their questions.  In this case, the
question is, "Was this already published somewhere else by
a different author?" Seems like a reasonable request to me.

Stacy Pober
Information Alchemist
Manhattan College Libraries
spober at manhattan.edu

> From: Ellen Andes <EAndes at rbc.edu>
> I was recently asked by our provost to provide information 
for our faculty
> on tracking down plagiarism.  I willingly provided them 
with information on
> Plagiarism Software (including turnitin.com)  and also 
sites with
> information on plagiarism - for instance on how to teach 
students to avoid
> plagiarism and how to best deal with this whole issue. 
Shortly after
> providing this information, a professor came in with an 
essay that she felt
> a student could not have written and asked us to try to 
find out if he/she
> had copied it from the Internet or elsewhere.  I feel 
strongly that this is
> not our job.  I am happy to track down references as 
provided, but the
> professor needs to make the call on the issue of 
plagiarism. This is not a
> job that we as librarians should take on.    This should 
be handled at a
> departmental  or division level. 
> 
> 
> Ellen C. Andes
> Reference & Circulation
> Richard Bland College Library