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Educational Technology Innovation and Impact/Computer Assisted Assessment/Plagiarism Advisory Service

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Plagiarism Advisory Service

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The Plagiarism Advisory Service’s (PAS) title is self explanatory. The service provides tutors and students in UK with information about and guidance on plagiarism prevention and detection. Following the advent of the Internet and the almost limitless access to online resources and information, research papers and the relative ease that these electronic text sources can be duplicated academic institutions are forced to view plagiarism and it’s implications with growing concern. (JISC 2005) The service promotes the adoption of a holistic approach to plagiarism prevention encompassing institutional policy and procedures, academic practice and student skills, an approach which is supported by the implementation of best practice procedures, the evaluation of appropriate learning materials, the support of online discussions forum to increase awareness and stimulate debate, assistance with regional training workshops with focus on prevention strategies and the provision of training for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded electronic plagiarism detection service.

The subject of plagiarism and the possible sources of data are and will remain eternally fluid, so there is a requirements that any newly identified loopholes are detected and closed. However, after due consultation with users, PAS has the aim to establish advice, guidance, information and materials to assist both students and tutors which have been designed to promote understanding of, and compliance with, the issues surrounding plagiarism.

An overview of this information is available online. Also, there are now a number of software applications available that run electronic detection service packages. Examples of such programmes are "iThenticate" or “Turnitin”, which sell themselves on their plagiarism prevention, and appears to be the standard in online plagiarism prevention. (Turnitin, 2006)

Programmes and software such as this can generate ‘originality reports’ to assist students and tutors alike in the debate on the importance of academic honesty in the teaching and learning environment. PAS views detection or plagiarised document, but are used only within the PAS service as a single part of its remit and strategy of prevention.

PAS’s role is that of a provider of information and advice firstly and then a policing group second, however it must not be forgotten the plagiarism has multiple guises which can have serious repercussions. By promoting best practice within the academic community PAS seeks to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the prevention and detection of plagiarism and thereby maintain levels of incidents of plagiarism and of academic misconduct within the community.

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References

JISC (2005) Plagiarism Advisory Service [On-line] Available: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=services_plagiarism Accessed: 2 May 2006

TurnItIn (2006) Plagiarism Prevention [On-line] Available: http://www.turnitin.com/static/plagiarism.html Accessed: 2 May 2006

Bibliography:

Indiana University (2004) Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It [On-line] Available: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml Accessed: 2 May 2006

Plagiarism.Org (2006) Plagiarism Today [On-line] Available: http://www.plagiarism.org/ Accessed: 2 May 2006

Wikipedia (2006) Plagiarism: [On-line] Available http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism Accessed: 2 May 2006

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