SafeAssign as a Tool for Student Identification of Potential Plagiarism in an Animal Science Writing Course

Abstract

As writing across the curriculum becomes more important in higher education, the need for instruction about plagiarism is growing. Several plagiarism detection technologies are available to evaluate student writing and have been used to deter students from plagiarism. These technologies may be useful as an instructional tool to assist students to self-identify potential areas of plagiarism in their writing and make appropriate revisions before submission. The objectives of this work were to determine if use of the plagiarism detection software SafeAssign by students would decrease the similarity between their writing and other texts, and to gauge student response to the program. Use of SafeAssign on the first draft of a literature review did not decrease the percentage of matching text in the final draft. Instances of matching text included potential plagiarism as well as common phrases and literature cited. Students reported that use of the program was helpful in identifying potential areas of plagiarism, increased confidence in their writing, and increased their awareness of plagiarism during the writing process. The report generated by SafeAssign must be carefully interpreted by both the instructor and student, which provides an additional opportunity for dialogue about plagiarism. Use of plagiarism detection programs may be beneficial when used formatively by students during the writing process when supported by other mechanisms of instruction.