2008 Woodie Awards
Students Seriously Question Necessity of TurnItIn.Com
TurnItIn.Com is in the Sights of Students and Teachers alike on Campuses Around the Country
Summer Rogers
Issue date: 9/27/06 Section: News
High school students at McLean High School in Virginia petitioned against turnitin.com, claiming the website violates their intellectual property rights.
The McLean students claim that once their paper is added to the infinite turnitin database, their
intellectual-property rights are infringed upon.
The students also object to the use of the plagiarism deterrent due to feeling "guilty until proven innocent" by said website.
Any Fullerton College student who has turned in a paper knows about the infamous website turnitin.com.
For those unaware of the site and its associations, the website is designed to divert students from deliberately plagiarizing from a
website or even another student's paper. The data base stores papers by students located all over the world; anywhere from Hawaii to Paris and serves high schools and colleges.
In addition to thousands of high schools across the county, and our own Fullerton College, turnitin is used by prominent universities such as Georgetown University and University of Maryland.
However, schools such as University of Kansas are discarding the website due to "questionable use of student rights," as worded by three professors at Grad Valley University in Michigan. Lawyers for the website's company firmly believe that their client's website does not encroach upon student rights.
Unbeknownst to students using turnitin.com, it costs money to turn in a paper. Schools pay the website company a going rate of 80 cents per student per year. If, for example, Fullerton College were to pay the website for all 19,000 or so students, it would cost the school approximately $15,200. That is a rather large chunk of change for a literary theft preventative service.
With money entering the equation, student authors should have another motive for rebelling against the use of turnitin.
"These students are giving their work to a company that's making money and they are getting no compensation," said a University of Tampa English professor Rebecca Ingalls.
So the inquiry on scholarly minds is, "To turnitin, or not to turnitin? That is the question."
The McLean students claim that once their paper is added to the infinite turnitin database, their
intellectual-property rights are infringed upon.
The students also object to the use of the plagiarism deterrent due to feeling "guilty until proven innocent" by said website.
Any Fullerton College student who has turned in a paper knows about the infamous website turnitin.com.
For those unaware of the site and its associations, the website is designed to divert students from deliberately plagiarizing from a
website or even another student's paper. The data base stores papers by students located all over the world; anywhere from Hawaii to Paris and serves high schools and colleges.
In addition to thousands of high schools across the county, and our own Fullerton College, turnitin is used by prominent universities such as Georgetown University and University of Maryland.
However, schools such as University of Kansas are discarding the website due to "questionable use of student rights," as worded by three professors at Grad Valley University in Michigan. Lawyers for the website's company firmly believe that their client's website does not encroach upon student rights.
Unbeknownst to students using turnitin.com, it costs money to turn in a paper. Schools pay the website company a going rate of 80 cents per student per year. If, for example, Fullerton College were to pay the website for all 19,000 or so students, it would cost the school approximately $15,200. That is a rather large chunk of change for a literary theft preventative service.
With money entering the equation, student authors should have another motive for rebelling against the use of turnitin.
"These students are giving their work to a company that's making money and they are getting no compensation," said a University of Tampa English professor Rebecca Ingalls.
So the inquiry on scholarly minds is, "To turnitin, or not to turnitin? That is the question."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Karen Goddard
posted 9/27/06 @ 6:41 PM PST
What a great article. Very informative and eye opening. Makes one wonder what is the property of the school and students? I liked it and would refer it to others. (Continued…)
Caitlin Bedell
posted 9/28/06 @ 12:56 PM PST
Awesome article. Very well written. Go get'um Summer...Hup!
Tim Johnson
posted 9/28/06 @ 3:02 PM PST
Maybe some students don't care if others are cheating their way through school because they are cheating themselves. Is it fair that some students do their own work while others plagiarize and get better grades? Several studies show that cheating and Internet plagiarism is at an all-time high, both in the academic and business worlds. (Continued…)
Dan
posted 10/19/06 @ 2:41 AM PST
Here is an absolutely eye-opening article with tons of proof. I had no idea how much Turnitin violates students' rights.
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