Feedback November 2002 (Vol 43 No 4)

dealing with common knowledge or facts. The website raises the issue of using visualinformation or graphics from the World Wide Web. Such information, too, must betreated in the same manner as textual information. Given that text, images, and graphicsare at everyone’s disposal with the click of a mouse, it is important to emphasize tostudents that any information/expression, no matter what form, needs proper documentation.The Writing Tutorial Services of IU is taking the lead on this matter (TheTrustees of Indiana University, 1998).Glatt Plagiarism Services, Inc. offers three different software programs to help deterand detect plagiarism ( http://www.plagiarism.com/). The Glatt Plagiarism TeachingProgram is a computer tutorial that helps teach students what plagiarism is and ways toavoid it. Students learn the difference between plagiarizing and paraphrasing and areinstructed in proper source attribution (Glatt Plagiarism Services, Inc., 2002). The costof GPTeach is $300; however, if it is bought in conjunction with the second softwareprogram, Glatt Plagiarism Screening Program (GPSP), both programs cost $250 each.The GPSP is similar to the Document Source Analysis used by “Turnitin.com.”GPSP assumes each person has his/her own writing style, which is similar to a person’sfingerprints, and their style can be assessed using this computer software. Each documentis given a Plagiarism Probability score to help instructor’s determine the guilt orinnocence of potential plagiarists (Glatt Plagiarism Services, 2002).The third Glatt Plagiarism offering is known as the Glatt Plagiarism Self-DetectionProgram (GPSD). This computer program helps individuals become more sensitive totheir own writing style. For $65 anyone can purchase a Windows version of theprogram and use it to assess a document’s level of plagiarism. The GPSD is similar tothe more expensive screening program noted above, but it is less reliable and accurate(Glatt Plagiarism Services, Inc., 2002).Coordinator of Information Literacy Services and Instruction at the University ofIllinois Library at Urbana-Champaign, Lisa Hinchliffe, offers a web resource entitled,“Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism: Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism”(http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~janicke/plagiary.htm). Hinchliffe (1998) provides examplesof plagiarism, offers suggestions on how to detect and prevent it, and includes tips onhow to check for plagiarism (e.g., review original sources in reference list). In addition,a short bibliography of articles about plagiarism is provided. Hinchliffe (1998) alsoincludes links to the various papers mills that students might use to obtain papers fortheir assignments.Heyward Ehrlich, associate professor of English at Rutgers University, has alsocreated a site devoted to plagiarism entitled, “Plagiarism and Anti-Plagiarism”(http://newark.rutgers.edu/~ehrlich/plagiarism598.html#W). Ehrlich’s (2000) website,like the others, discusses the on-going problem of plagiarism; however, he raises threeimportant points that educators should address. First, faculty should ask themselveswhat their department, college, and/or university policy is on plagiarism and arestudents aware of it? Second, what are the penalties for plagiarism and what is therecent history of successfully prosecuted plagiarism cases? Third, what is the impact ofcomputers on plagiarism and how does copyright law apply (Ehrlich, 2000)? Thesequeries are a springboard for developing a defense against student plagiarism. Ehrlich(2000) offers possible solutions to reduce plagiarism among students and providesseveral web resources and articles related to combating the problem.BEA—Educating tomorrow’s electronic media professionals 21