Staff getting a feel of the software

Before you think of copying that sentence from some obscure research paper and calling it your own, think again: a software used by Monash University Sunway campus academics will catch you.

Using the “originality check”, a function of the Turnitin software, lecturers are able to tell whether an assignment has been plagiarised.

Plagiarism can be detected between five and 30 minutes, says Dr R. Nagasundara Ramanan, a School of Engineering Lecturer who gave a briefing on Turnitin.

“The software enables the educator to match description for cross-checking to detect plagiarism. For educators, the software saves time to evaluate a paper in terms of writing and citations,” he explained.

Dr Ramanan recommended Turnitin’s use to academics, which reduced the time for academics to locate good versus bad assignments.

“In some cases, a paper can be 89 per cent plagiarised,” he said. “Once students know that academics are using this facility, they will make better effort with the assignment,” he added.

According to Mr Edmund Turner, Director of Information Technology Services, four Schools at the Sunway campus are currently using the software: School of Business, School of Engineering, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and School of Science.

 Dr R. Nagasundara Ramanan encourages more academics to use the Turnitin software.