June Turnitin Anti-Plagiarism Workshop: A Resounding Success

The June Turnitin Anti-Plagiarism Workshop hosted by the Research Commons was a success, drawing 89 participants eager to enhance their paraphrasing and summarising skills. Held from 10:00 to 11:00 on Monday, 10 June 2024, at the Merensky 2 Library, this workshop delved into the crucial topic of academic integrity. Participants were given the option to attend either in person or online.

Mrs. Gerda Ehlers, Learning Centre Co-ordinator and Senior Information Specialist, led the workshop, shedding light on the complexities of anti-plagiarism. She began by defining plagiarism in an academic context and discussing its serious implications for an individual’s integrity if they are found guilty of this offense. Mrs. Ehlers also detailed various types of plagiarism, including "The Ghost Writer," "The Photocopy," "The Labor of Laziness," "The Forgotten Footnote," and "The Poor Disguise." She emphasised the importance of cultivating a vigilant awareness of the different forms of plagiarism, particularly in more subtle cases, as a key step towards preventing it.

The workshop also addressed the intersection of AI and plagiarism. Mrs. Ehlers advised students on the ethical use of AI tools like ChatGPT, stressing the importance of understanding AI’s strengths and limitations. She provided guiding principles for using generative AI, highlighting the necessity of fact-checking, verifying information, and properly citing sources. She encouraged students to view AI as a tool to enhance their knowledge, critical thinking, and idea generation, rather than as a substitute for thorough research and academic rigour.

In addition, Mrs. Ehlers clarified the distinctions between paraphrasing, quoting, and summarising. She explained that paraphrasing involves restating someone else’s work in your own words without altering the meaning, whereas quoting uses the author’s exact words, which must always be cited and enclosed in quotation marks. Summarising, on the other hand, involves condensing the author’s ideas without changing their interpretation.

The final topic covered was the Turnitin tool, which Mrs. Ehlers described as an originality-checking and plagiarism-prevention service. Turnitin compares submitted papers to a vast database of student work, websites, books, and articles to identify citation mistakes or inappropriate copying.

Participants left the workshop with a solid understanding of plagiarism and its implications. They gained insights into the different types of plagiarism and learned the distinctions between quoting, paraphrasing, and summarising, along with how to apply these skills in their assignments. The basics of referencing and the application of Turnitin software were also thoroughly covered.

The Research Commons remains dedicated to fostering research excellence and supporting researchers through workshops like this one. For more information about our workshops or any other inquiries, please contact us via email at [email protected].