Most college students are familiar with the originality check of Turnitin, a cloud service. It is a useful tool for both students and teachers. The aim is to minimize intentional or inadvertent plagiarism.
On receiving the last Turnitin report on my research proposal, I was lightning struck. The report indicated my work was 73% similar to a previous paper! I couldn’t believe my eyes. My heart pounded. The first thought that came to my mind was “Someone stole my paper”!
Fortunately, my supervisor rectified this problem. It was only a technical glitch. Finally, the report read a 12%. Although acceptable, it was still a blow telling me there was still much to learn. My previous submissions returned 0%, and I was proud of myself. Reflecting on this, there are three revelations.
First, use quotation sparingly. It was tempting to quote because I found it satisfying to insert the page number after citing the reference. It was like saying, “See! I did read the book!” Some authors use a lot of direct quotes to support their points. This is especially common in textbooks. However, that contributes to similarities when evaluated by Turnitin. Therefore, we should avoid direct quotes if possible and paraphrase instead.
Second, beware of commonly used expressions. It may be inevitable, but I was surprised to see expressions such as, “This is outside the scope of the current study” reported as similarities.
Lastly, never publish anything before submission. To manage the workload, I broke down my paper into small sections. After writing a part, I posted it on my blog. The idea was to initiate discussions and recommendations for revisions. This was in keeping to the working hypothesis of my study that collaborating through social media fosters learning. When all the parts were finished, I integrated them to form my paper. My supervisor was aware of this.
It turned out to be a big no no because then my Turnitin report showed similarities to contents on the Internet – my blog posts. So, there was a kind of reverse self-plagiarism because the blog was created only for my writing process.
On the other hand, the risk that someone else could use my work was real. By posting, I have created an opportunity for plagiarizing. I am a trusting person. I believe most people are good and honorable. Unfortunately, there exist wicked people who can hurt others without remorse.
We were taught how to prevent plagiarism in the first semester of the program. We were also warned that we would be expelled if we plagiarize. However, when applying what seemed to be obvious, such as preventing inadvertent plagiarism, I still stumbled. On the other hand, it was lucky that this happened earlier in the project. It could have been worse, much worse. I learned a lesson.
Education Issues for Female Baby Boomers 