Detection Tips
1. Use EVE2 detection software
EVE2 is fabulous. You "load" a document or set of documents, and EVE2 will perform thousands of "mini searches" on the Internet using phrases in each document. (If you think you can use Google to do this, you are mistaken.) Just $19.95, and worth every penny -- I bought myself a copy. Go to EVE2 web site.
2. Use Turnitin.com
Swarthmore contracts with http://www.Turnitin.com. Please contact Anne Garrison (Head of Reference Services, McCabe Library) for a user ID and password, then follow the instructions in TurnitinInst.pdf. If you feel that you are "insulting" the honest students, go ahead and ask your class (with anonymously-posted responses) whether they would object. Honest students typically welcome such scrutiny, because it only makes it more likely that they will get a fair grade in the course (i.e., more likely that cheaters won't tweak the curve). Note: to use this service you will need an electronic version of the file. If retyping it sounds loathsome, most flatbed scanners come with optical character recognition software to facilitate the conversion of a paper assignment into an electronic Word file. The Biology Department has a sheet-feeder scanner that can deal with double-sided papers.
3. MOSS (Measure of Software Similarity)
MOSS tests software for code plagiarism. Free. Highly recommended by Richard Wicentowski, Computer Science Department; contact him (rwicent1@swarthmore.edu) for further information.
4. Search for matching phrases in relevant journal articles and magazines
Access Swarthmore College databases.
5. Search for matching phrases in books
Amazon.com's FREE "Search Inside the Book" feature locates text inside many of the books it sells.
6. Web searches
If you find a passage that sounds oddly familiar, or sounds unlike the student's normal voice, you can plug that phrase into a search engine. Google and other engines are terrible at finding these phrases if students have carefully altered a word or two. Also, students are unlikely to use the "obvious" web sources on a particular topic. Instead, they will find an obscure site that is unlikely to be on the first page of "hits" after a search.
7. Checking file ownership
When papers are simply "stolen" from other students, sometimes the evidence of this theft is in the "Properties" of the file itself (example), although you will need to examine the student's electronic file. Along with "author" information, file summaries will list the file creation date and how many hours he/she has had the file "open" during editing. When creation date equals "last night" and editing time equals "30 minutes," you might have cause for concern.