The following is an update to a K-State article written in 2007 on plagiarism. Plagiarism tends to occur because of a lack of understanding about what plagiarism is, university policies and procedures, and how to cite references (Guertin, 2005). There are free and purchased applications available for plagiarism detection.
McQueeny (2006) provides an overview of plagiarism detection software. With these types of applications, faculty and/or students submit their paper electronically, which is put through a search of Internet sites, previously submitted student papers, and commercial databases. The extent of the search depends on the level of sophistication of the software. The results usually provide a percent of matched content, however faculty must still build a case for plagiarism. Problems with these types of applications are false positives, false negatives, questions surrounding copyright and privacy of students’ papers, and the need for institutional policies regarding the widespread use of this type of software.
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