[WEB4LIB] RE: Question about Turnitin.com

[Michael VanHouten]

Our situation (I got this all started) is that we may provide access to
Turnitin.com for faculty (perhaps through our website), and provide
training/instructions for use. It would be up to the faculty to actually
use the service - either submitting papers themselves, or having
students submit their own papers.

>>> Daniel Messer <dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us> 12/03/01 11:08AM >>>
Stacy Pober wrote:

> Just to clarify: though I think help in finding the source
> of a possibly plagarized paper is an appropriate question
> for a librarian, using turnitin.com SHOULD be the job of
> the professor.
>

    Now that makes a lot of sense. Finding the SOURCE of a possibly
plagarized paper is an appropriate question for a librarian. However,
what I disagree with is the professor coming in, tossing the term
paper
on the desk and stating that they need help tracking down citations.
    To put it simply, I think it's inappropriate to involve the
library
when it comes to deciding whether or not the paper contains
plagiarism.
Asking a librarian to look it up on a database such as Turnitin does
just that. It should be up to the professor or the department to
decide
whether or not plagiarism exists. If the answer is affirmative, then I
think it's appropriate for the prof to turn to the library in order to
locate the sources from which the student plagiarized. However I feel
it's the professor's responsibility to look through the sources on
their
own.

Dan

--
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer, Technology Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us 
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                     -Hunter S. Thompson