Stopping Plagiarism with the Internet
"A powerful tool for the security and promotion of academic integrity"
By Tom Fox, Co-Founder

Widespread public concerns about academic integrity began in mid-18th century Europe when writers practiced imitation to develop style, expression, and taste. Imitation was a policy set by classical writers such as Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. A growing worry developed from excess use of this practice, which understandably resulted in lack of creativity by the students (Buelow, 120).

Plagiarism, taking credit for the words of ideas of others, has tripped some well-known people. Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr. did it in his dissertation and Senator Joseph Biden in a key political speech (Chisholm, 266), so did Rigoberta Menchu, Bob Dylan, and even journalists for the New York Times (Fox, 1343).

Writers plagiarize when they include someone else's ideas, thoughts, or words that are not common knowledge, without including proper citations. Common knowledge depends on the audience, but is often classified as information that most experts consider to be facts. Students can borrow extensively from sources in a paper as long as they make these sources clear to readers. In fact, some of the best papers are "heavily composed of long quotations" (Fox, 1345).

The internet, which has changed the way we do research, has ushered in a new phase in the history of plagiarism. Online search engines allow anyone to instantly look up facts regardless of location. The new knowledge that the Internet gives researchers is retrievable to the vast majority of the world. The Internet has increased the threat of plagiarism by enabling students to cut and paste information into their research papers.

So how can the Internet stop plagiarism with the limitless quantities of information now available? The most common answer is that students can now be held accountable for referencing others' work with Citation Builder, which helps students quickly build accurate citation databases. Learning how to properly cite sources and organize research is an essential skill set that every student must utilize throughout his or her education. Designed specifically with the students' needs in mind, Citation Builder seamlessly organizes research and creates proper citations from the information students input into its database. Students only need internet access to be able to cite their research sources in any of the four major writing styles (MLA, APA, CMS, CSE). Citation Builder assists students in building both bibliographic citations and note citations with proper formatting.

Once students plagiarize however, it may be difficult to find where the source originated. Although most people on the Internet use Google when searching phrases, many times they will not find exactly what they were looking for. Online search engines do not index much of the "hidden web" these programs include. The hidden web are the files on the internet that cannot be found through search engines and related tools (Royce, 26). Teachers can still cross-reference students' research papers with huge databases of material copied from the Internet with Turnitin.com. Turnitin.com can locate where students cut and paste or buy essays from paper mills. It scans databases of information gathered from the Internet and collected from other submissions to find from where the material has been copied from (Roach, 45).

Plagiarism can extend from political figures to students who neglect citing unoriginal thoughts. Together Citation Builder and TurnItIn.com provide before and after online solution to plagiarism.

Works Cited

Buelow, George J. "Originality, Genius, Plagiarism in English Criticism of the Eighteenth Century." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 21.2 Dec. 1990: 117-128. JSTOR. 1 Apr. 2006 <http://www.jstor.org/>.

Chisholm, Donald. "An Epidemic of Cheating?" Political Science and Politics 25.2 Jan. 1992: 264-272. Date Accessed (14 Mar. 2006) <http://www.jstor.org/>.

Fox, Richard W. "A Heartbreaking Problem of Staggering Proportions." Journal of American History 90.4 (2003): 1341-1346. America: History and Life. ABC-Clio. C. Gordon Library, Worcester, MA. 15 Mar. 2006 <http://serials.abc-clio.com/>.

Roach, Ronald. "Rutgers Tests Internet Plagiarism Software." Black Issues in Higher Education 18.6 27 Sept. 2001: 45. Expanded Academic ASAP Document. 27 Sept. 2001 <http://find.galegroup.com/>.

Royce, John. "Has turnitin.com got it all wrapped up? (Trust Or Trussed?)." Teacher Librarian 30.4 (April 2003): 26(5). Student Edition. Thomson Gale. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 10 April 2006 <http://find.galegroup.com>.

Citation Builder for Your School
By Ronald Silvia, Co-Founder

Academic subscriptions integrate Citation Builder as a school resource to stop plagiarism before it occurs. Your school can subscribe to Citation Builder on a couple of different levels. Institutional licenses offer increased functionality for both managing the school, as well as the end users aka, your students!

Citation Builder Classroom Edition (CBCE)
CBCE is the best aid to accompany your class curriculum. Students can create bibliographies, footnotes, and endnotes in MLA, APA, CMS, and CSE. Teachers can track students' work through the Classroom Control Panel. See a students' research progress, to ensure students are getting their work done on time. CBCE is an insurance policy that can be well monitored to make sure no source gets left out of the paper!

Citation Builder Institutional Edition (CBIE)
Academic campuses from Jr. High through Graduate School are now using SourceAid to facilitate student management of research citations. SourceAid understands that schools have needs: each Institutional Edition is customized entirely to reflect the school's investment to improve writing and research. CBIE is an affordable subscription that adds enormous value to every subscribing school's electronic resources. Please contact a friendly SourceAid sales representative for more information, or to Pilot CBIE in your school at institution@sourceaid.com or directly at 877.687.2324. Our priorities are to educate students, and provide them with resources that are helpful and easy-to-use.