In her article, "Can Turnitin be used to provide instant formative feedback?” in the July 2011 edition of the British Journal of Educational Technology, Vivien Rolfe discusses the value of the up and coming academic submission program, Turnitin. She provides the data of various studies conducted between 2006 and 2009 on the effectiveness of the program in terms of preventing inadvertent and intentional plagiarism, the production of higher quality papers, and as a tool for furthering student comprehension in regards to proper citation and etc.
“More often, plagiarism is not deliberate -- for example, it can be because of the student not understanding what it is (Yeo, 2007) or having a poor understanding of how to correctly cite and reference sources (Ellery, 2008)” (Rolfe, 701). Accordingly, Turnitin seeks to provide a viable alternative to the crash and burn method of inadequate citation experienced by most early learners. Moreover, it was the intention of developers to enable students to evolve their writing and citation skills with the instant feedback that the program provides. Regarding the effectiveness of the system Rolfe contends: “The current findings indicate that, with guidance, students can use a plagiarism detection system to submit draft assignments and receive instant feedback on their work, with large numbers doing so with no reported problems. The results show that the majority of students chose to view the feedback and claimed that it helped improve their writing” Rolfe, 706).
In her analysis, Rolfe seeks to answer those who argue that such programs encourage a trend of laziness when it comes to bibliographies and textual citations. She writes: “It is acknowledged that so-called 'generation Y' students are motivated by seeking information rather than critiquing it (Weiler, 2004). Increasingly, universities are addressing the development of student skills through partnerships between programmed teams and library services (Galvin, 2005). The current study suggests that using an online solution (which was viewed positively by staff and students) can be a useful tool for motivating students to improve their literacy skills and, at least, for increasing awareness of their importance” (Rolfe, 707-708).
Rolfe provides an excellent argument for a tool in very little need of defense. The student-teacher data and popular opinion agree: Turnitin as an extremely effective academic tool. The program eases the burden on teachers in regards to identifying and addressing issues regarding plagiarism, while at the same time enabling students to identify and address issues on their own. It was nice to get a broad overview of relevant information & etc., but the content seemed to be a bit rudimentary. The article is well written for the most part, I did find one error on word choice and improper use of tense, but that was in the midst of data provision rather than the meat of the article itself. Would I read it again? Not for pleasure, but it might prove a valuable source in some essay or assignment of the future.
Work Cited:
| Title: | Can Turnitin be used to provide instant formative feedback? |
|---|---|
| Personal Author: | Rolfe, Vivien |
| Journal Name: | British Journal of Educational Technology |
| Source: | British Journal of Educational Technology v. 42 no. 4 (July 2011) p. 701-10 |
| Publication Year: | 2011 |
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