Using an Electronic Text-Matching Tool (Turnitin) to Detect Plagiarism in a New Zealand University

Abstract

This paper is concerned with reporting the experience and findings of staff using a commercially-available textmatching tool (Turnitin) to detect plagiarism in a university setting in New Zealand. The use of actual instances of plagiarism revealed through Turnitin in a teaching department is a departure from the more usual selfreporting methodology used in many plagiarism research papers. The paper concludes by asking questions of the implications for institutions, teaching staff and students.