ERIC EJ991412: Encouraging Good Writing Practice in First-Year Psychology Students: An Intervention Using Turnitin

2012·0.07 MB·English

by  ERIC

Individual paper
Encouraging good writing practice in
first-year Psychology students:
An intervention using Turnitin
Lucy R. Betts, Stephen J. Bostock, Tracey J. Elder & Mark Trueman
There is growing concern among many regarding plagiarism within student writing. This has promoted
investigation into both the factors that predict plagiarism and potential methods of reducing plagiarism.
Consequently, we developed and evaluated an intervention to enhance good practice within academic writing
through the use of the plagiarism detection software Turnitin. One-hundred-and-sixteen first-year psychology
students submitted work to Turnitin and 71 of these students evaluated their learning experiences. For the
next assignment the students completed, there was a reduction in academic misconduct cases compared to the
previous year and students evaluated the session positively. The findings have implications for teaching
good practice in academic writing.
Keywords: Student writing; plagiarism; Turnitin; psychology.
P
LAGIARISM involves ‘students taking report that 50 per cent of 291 undergraduate
the words of others and passing them science students, from year 1 to year 3, indi-
off as their own in their coursework cated that it was acceptable to use the
assignments’ (Hayes & Introna, 2006, p.55) internet when engaging in plagiarism. Male
without appropriate acknowledgement students were more accepting of academic
(Flint, Clegg, & Macdonald, 2006), and is ‘bad’ practice than females, and those in the
generally regarded as ‘bad’ practice or first and second year were more accepting
academic misconduct. Although the extent than those in the third year. Further, in a self-
of plagiarism can vary ranging from nothing, report examination of ‘cheating’ behaviour,
to a few words, to an entire document researchers have also identified that para-
(Bennett, 2005), from a legal perspective phrasing without appropriate references was
plagiarism is regarded as a violation of intel- the most prevalent form of such behaviour
lectual property rights that are protected by (Newstead, Franklyn-Stokes & Armstead,
copyright laws (Anon, undated a). There is 1995; Norton et al., 2001).
growing concern among some tutors and Although some students regard plagia-
researchers regarding the impact of plagia- rism as acceptable, not all students do. For
rism (Larkham & Manns, 2002); conse- example, 46 per cent of students regarded
quently, a number of investigations have plagiarism as ‘fundamentally immoral and
been undertaken to determine the extent of shameful’ (Bennett, 2005, p.149). However,
the problem. In 1999, 69 per cent of tutors 46 per cent of the students reported that
questioned reported that they detected at they had plagiarised an entire paragraph
least one instance of plagiarism during the without appropriate references, 31 per cent
last year in their marking (Young, 2001). reported that they had plagiarised several
More recent figures suggest that the rate of paragraphs, and 25 per cent reported that
plagiarism seems unchanged with students they had submitted a complete piece of work
becoming more accepting of the practice. that were plagiarised (Bennett, 2005). These
For example, Szabo and Underwood (2004) figures are in stark contrast to the same
74 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012
© The British Psychological Society 2012
Encouraging good practice in writing
students’ perceptions of the extent of plagia- university (Bennett, 2005; Flint et al., 2006;
rism. Specifically, 33per centof the students Hayes & Introna, 2006; Parameswaran &
believed that less than 11 per cent of Devi, 2006). Further, as students progress
students plagiarised, and 25 per cent through their studies, they report that their
thought that over 35 per cent of students confidence in academic writing and their
plagiarised. Although a high proportion of knowledge of how to avoid plagiarism
students reported engaging in plagiarism, increases (Pittama et al., 2009). Conse-
three-quarters of the students believed that it quently, some argue that part of the tutors’
was not easy to get away with plagiarism and role is to ensure that students are aware of:
that their tutors took the issue of plagiarism (a) What constitutes good practice; and (b)
seriously (Bennett, 2005). Therefore, it the importance of following discipline-
seems that although many students do specific reference conventions (Para-
engage in plagiarism, most acknowledge that meswaran & Devi, 2006).
it is unacceptable and that tutors take the In response to the suggestion that tutors
issue very seriously. should educate students about good practice
There has been much debate about the in academic writing, there have been a
motives of students who plagiarise. For number of interventions developed to help
example, some argue that plagiarism is the to facilitate psychology students’ under-
result of a student’s lack of understanding standing of referencing conventions. For
concerning what constitutes plagiarism example, through providing students with
(Hayes & Introna, 2006), whilst others argue feedback on their paraphrasing skills,
that plagiarism occurs when there are lower Landau et al. (2004) reduced the instances
levels of academic support (Szabo & Under- of plagiarism in a follow-up task. Similarly,
wood, 2004), or when students are not aware giving students referencing tasks has also
of how to apply the appropriate referencing been found to increase adherence to refer-
conventions (Landau, Druren & Arcuri, encing conventions (Schuetz, 2004).
2002). In a comprehensive study, Bennett Although these approaches have been
(2005) identified a number of predictors of successful, with the increase in the use of
both minor and major plagiarism. With plagiarism detection software by universities,
regard to minor plagiarism, students were we wanted to develop an intervention
more likely to plagiarise if they: (a) Were less designed to enhance students’ good practice
integrated into the academic community; by using plagiarism detection software. The
(b) had part-time employment that intervention might have an impact both
disrupted their studies; (c) experienced high through its educational guidance and
levels of parental pressure to succeed but through the deterrent effect of knowing that
were performing less well academically; and the university was using this software. The
(d) engaged in ineffective study skills. Major intervention we developed involved creating
plagiarism on the other hand was predicted a teaching session that was focused around
by: (a) Fear of failure; (b) low fear of being the plagiarism detection software Turnitin.
caught; (c) lack of academic integration; (d) The Turnitin online software is becoming
lax attitudes; and (e) good relationships with increasing popular with educators, with an
their tutors – due to a perception that the estimated nine million users in 2006 (Pilon,
tutor would not penalise the student. Whilst 2006) rising to over 60 million pieces of work
a number of factors have been identified as submitted in 2011(Anon, undated b). Once
important predictors of a student’s propen- a document has been submitted to Turnitin,
sity to engage in plagiarism, there appears to it compares the text within the document
be a consensus that plagiarism may occur with text: On the web, with databases of
because students are unsure of what consti- previously submitted material, and with
tutes good academic practice when they start material submitted by all students for an
Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012 75
Lucy R. Betts, Stephen J. Bostock, Tracey J. Elder & Mark Trueman
assignment (for collusion). Turnitin then internet plagiarism when information tech-
generates an ‘originality report’ that identi- nology students were deducted marks
fies matching sections of text in the according to the percentage of similarity
submitted document and the documents generated from the Turnitin reports in a
that it has been compared with. Turnitin peer-review context (Ledwith & Risquez,
does not find plagiarism per se but rather 2008). However, Rolfe (2011) reported that
attempts to match sequences of text that may whilst students’ confidence in their
be unacknowledged and so may be plagia- academic writing increased following
rism or collusion (Royce, 2003). Because submitting a draft essay to Turnitin, the inci-
Turnitin considers such a range of internet dence of plagiarism following the submis-
sources and previously submitted work, it sion was not reduced. Together, these
increases the likelihood that genuine findings suggest that Turnitin may serve as a
instances of plagiarism or collusion will be useful tool for teaching students good prac-
detected (Royce, 2003). One advantage of tice in their academic writing. Therefore, we
Turnitin, as a method of detecting plagia- wanted to embed the use of Turnitin within
rism, is that it reduces the amount of time a first-year psychology teaching session with
that tutors spend trying to locate plagiarism the aim of enhancing students’ under-
(Larkham & Manns, 2002). However, origi- standing of the importance of good practice
nality reports need interpretation. Turnitin within academic writing. We also asked the
gives both false negative matches (failing to students to evaluate the intervention and
detect text sources that would match) and examined departmental records of academic
false positives (correctly quoted and cited misconduct following the intervention to
text, short phrases that randomly match assess the success of the intervention.
other documents, and short phrases that are
in common use in the subject). Further, for Method
some students informing them that their Participants
work will be submitted to Turnitin is not One-hundred-and-sixteen first-year students
always effective in deterring them from completing an introductory research
plagiarising (Youmans, 2011). methods and statistics module as part of the
There are few reports of previous inter- psychology component of their dual
ventions where tutors have used Turnitin as a honours degree, participated in the session.
method of teaching good practice in Students submitted a formatively assessed
academic writing. However, in a study with laboratory report to Turnitin during one of
year 3 and year 4 pharmacy students at the six laboratory teaching sessions. Seventy-one
University of Auckland, Sheridan, Alany, and of these students completed an on-line eval-
Brake (2005) evaluated students’ percep- uation of the intervention following the
tions of the use of Turnitin. Of the 172 session.
students asked, no student suggested that
Turnitin could serve as a method of teaching Evaluation measures
good practice in academic writing. However, Plagiarism rates in subsequent work.As an objec-
42 per cent of students reported that tive measure of the effectiveness of the inter-
Turnitin did help them to understand some vention, information concerning instances
of the issues surrounding plagiarism and 55 of potential plagiarism was collected from
per cent of the students said that Turnitin the departmental records for the students’
helped them to recognise the importance of next piece of laboratory coursework.
writing in their own words suggesting that Student questionnaire. Following the interven-
Turnitin could be used in a teaching context. tion, students completed a short online eval-
Recent research has also suggested that uation comprising seven statements
Turnitin can be used to reduce instances of assessing students’ satisfaction and the devel-
76 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012
Encouraging good practice in writing
opment of transferable skills pertaining to vention, there was a significant reduction in
referencing (e.g. ‘Having used Turnitin it the instances of suspected academic miscon-
will help my work in the future’). Questions duct compared to the previous year where
were also included that assessed how user- no such session was delivered. During the
friendly Turnitin is perceived to be because if previous year where the same report was
technology is perceived as user-friendly it will submitted but without the session using
be more successful than if it is not (Maier & Turnitin as a tool for promoting good prac-
Warren, 2000). Students responded to the tice in writing there were seven cases of
statements by indicating their agreement suspected academic misconduct whereas in
using a five-point scale (1=Strongly disagreeto the year when the students received the
5=Strongly agree). Finally, students were given session using Turnitin there was only one
the opportunity to provide free text case of suspected academic misconduct.
comments concerning their experiences of
using Turnitin. Originality reports
For the work submitted during the teaching
Procedure session, the amount of text Turnitin identi-
A teaching session was designed to introduce fied as being similar ranged from 0 to 52 per
students to what constitutes good practice in cent (M=13.88, SD=12.80). Although there
academic writing in psychology. As part of were some instances of matching text identi-
the session, students were given a series of fied in the similarity reports, but as reflected
activities to facilitate their understanding of in the descriptive statistics, there tended to
the issues surrounding good practice and be low instances of matching text within the
plagiarism. Additionally, a tutor-led presenta- documents submitted by the students.
tion was also given on the importance of Further, some of the similarity scores should
following the referencing conventions be treated with caution as instances where
within psychology. Finally, students were matching text was identified was due to the
asked to submit a formatively assessed labo- nature of the assignment. Specifically, there
ratory report to Turnitin as part of the were a number of false positives identified
session. Once students had submitted their where students used a common phrase or
work to Turnitin they were given assistance included appropriately referenced quotes.
in interpreting the originality report. After
the session, the students were then asked to Students’ evaluations
evaluate the effectiveness of Turnitin as a Students evaluated the learning experience
method of increasing awareness of good associated with using Turnitin positively. For
practice in academic writing. Once the example, 68 per cent of students agreed or
students had submitted the next piece of strongly agreed that using Turnitin helped to
coursework, the departmental records for reassure them that their work was their own,
cases of suspected academic misconduct whilst 58 per cent of students agreed or
were accessed. strongly agreed that using Turnitin helped
them to understand the issues surrounding
Results plagiarism. The frequencies and descriptive
Suspected cases of academic misconduct in statistics are presented in Table 1. A one-
subsequent work sample t-test was used to analyse the results
An objective measure of the success of effec- of the evaluation where a rating of 1 indi-
tiveness of the session using Turnitin was to cated that Turnitin had been evaluated nega-
examine the number of suspected academic tively as a method of enhancing students’
misconduct cases that arose following knowledge of good practice in academic
submission of the students’ next piece of writing (see Harris & Queen, 2007). The
laboratory coursework. Following the inter- results of the t-tests indicated that the
Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012 77
Lucy R. Betts, Stephen J. Bostock, Tracey J. Elder & Mark Trueman
students had evaluated Turnitin as a positive does facilitate students’ understanding and
method of teaching good practice in fulfils the requirement of tutors to transmit
academic writing and as a method of raising this information to students (see Para-
awareness of the issues surrounding plagia- meswaran & Devi, 2006).
rism. Although Turnitin has been regarded by
Twenty students took the opportunity to some students as a deterrent to avoid plagia-
provide free text evaluation comments rism (Stapleton, 2012), warnings that work
which focused on different themes. Students will be submitted to Turnitin are not always
reported that the use of Turnitin was helpful effective (Youmans, 2011). There are a
as a method of increasing good practice in number of issues that must be considered
academic writing (N=8). However, some when tutors develop and implement similar
students were concerned that Turnitin interventions. For example, Hayes and
matched common phrases or appropriately Introna (2006) criticise Turnitin because it
referenced text (N=8). A few students detects direct copies of strings of text and this
reported that they had difficulty using the in itself may be problematic. In particular,
software (N=2) or following the instructions Turnitin does not take into account that
(N=3). someone could paraphrase ideas by changing
some words but not appropriately acknowl-
Discussion edging the source. Consequently, Turnitin
Due to the increasing concern over the may be more prone to detect plagiarism in
importance of following good practice in non-native English speakers because of differ-
academic writing and the importance of ences in language abilities (Hayes & Introna,
making students aware of the conventions of 2006). Tutors also need to be aware that
academic writing, the present intervention there are copyright issues surrounding the
aimed to enhance students’ understanding submission of students work to Turnitin. For
of good practice through the application of example, students may be concerned that
Turnitin. In particular, we asked students to Turnitin violates their copyright and their
submit a laboratory report to Turnitin as part privacy (Foster, 2002) and asking students to
of a larger session on academic writing. The submit their work could foster an environ-
results were encouraging. There was a reduc- ment of mistrust and suspicion between
tion in the number of cases of suspected students and tutors (MacMillian, 2007).
academic misconduct in the piece of course- Perhaps the most important issue that
work that followed the intervention in tutors must address when using Turnitin, as a
comparison to previous years. Students also tool to encourage good practice in academic
reported a broadly positive experience of writing, pertains to the identification of the
using Turnitin and reported that the experi- source of the text which may be plagiarised.
ence helped to raise awareness of the issues As Royce (2003) notes, and as commented
surrounding good practice in academic on by the students, Turnitin originality
writing. reports may identify text as suspicious that
The student evaluations were also posi- has been properly referenced and acknowl-
tive and suggest that Turnitin can be a useful edged. Such false positives are a particular
vehicle for teaching good practice in student issue for the present research. It is important
writing. The students also commented that that students understand that, in some
the use of Turnitin helped them to under- instances, a string of text may be identified
stand the conventions of referencing and because: (a) It is a common phrase; or (b) it
was a valuable transferable skill. Together, is a properly referenced quotation. Finally, as
these comments suggest that asking students Robertson (2007) argues, that by allowing
to submit work to Turnitin as part of a students access to their originality reports
session on good practice in academic writing this in itself does not facilitate students’
78 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012
Encouraging good practice in writing
7*** 5*** 3*** 4*** 0*** 4*** 8***
t 5 3 5 7 2 8 6
1. 1. 0. 0. 2. 7. 5.
2 2 2 2 2 1 2
SD .94 .95 1.03 .92 .97 1.07 .80
9 3 5 7 1 9 4
M 5 6 7 4 8 4 5
3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3. 3.
ye
onglagre 1 2 2 2 1 3 2
rs
e. StDi
s
n
o e
p e
h res ating Disagr 9 5 5 5 4 7 2
c r
cting ea for each eutral 11 13 13 21 16 17 20
e y N
el nc
s s ue
dent Freq gree 53 30 24 25 22 21 32
u A
t
s
f
o y
ber onglgree 7 7 14 5 16 10 2
m trA
u S
n
e
h
Table 1: T It was easy to submit the report to Turnitin I was able to interpret the originality report Using Turnitin helped to reassure me that my workwas original Having used Turnitin it will help my work in the future Using Turnitin helped me to understand theimportance of writing in my own words and with appropriate referencing Using Turnitin helped me to understand the issues surrounding plagiarism I was satisfied with the learning experience associated with Turnitin Note: *** p<.001
Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012 79
Lucy R. Betts, Stephen J. Bostock, Tracey J. Elder & Mark Trueman
understanding of what they did wrong or The Authors
how they could improve in the future. Lucy Betts
Therefore, if this intervention was developed Nottingham Trent University.
for use with other students, tutors need to be
aware that simply asking students to submit Stephen J. Bostock
their work to Turnitin and view their origi- Keele University.
nality report may not be that beneficial for
students. They must be helped to interpret Tracey J. Elder
the reports generated by the software. Palmers’ College.
One of the limitations of this study is that
whilst there was a substantive decrease in the Mark Trueman
rate of academic misconduct in the piece Keele University.
that immediately followed the intervention
session, from the current data it is not clear Correspondence
whether this reduction is maintained in Dr Lucy Betts
subsequent assessments. Further, replicating Senior Lecturer in Psychology,
the findings with another cohort would also Division of Psychology,
increase the evidence of the appropriateness Nottingham Trent University,
of this intervention. It is also not clear from Burton Street,
the current study why the reduction in Nottingham, NG1 4BU.
academic misconduct occurred in the subse- Email: [email protected]
quent piece of work. Therefore, future
research should examine the mechanism
through which this intervention is effective.
For example, is it because the students’
awareness of Turnitin has increased or is it
because of genuine change in their
academic writing practices?
In summary, we developed an interven-
tion that embedded the use of Turnitin as
part of session with first-year psychology
students that allowed students to view the
originality reports generated by Turnitin.
The students evaluated the session
favourably and there was a reduction in
academic misconduct cases following the
session suggesting that Turnitin could be
used, with appropriate support, as a method
of increasing students’ awareness of good
practice in academic writing.
80 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 18 No. 2, Autumn 2012
Encouraging good practice in writing
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