JISC

For current information on plagiarism, see the JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service

The JISC Electronic Plagiarism Detection project was established to review electronic solutions to the issue of plagiarism. However, it became clear that, as with most things in life, technology can only assist us, it will never replace the expertise of humans and that the answer to problems usually lies in process and procedures not technology alone. Electronic detection has its place in institutions but the real solutions lie in appropriate assessment mechanisms, supportive institutional culture, clear definitions of plagiarism and policies for dealing with it and adequate training for staff and students. If these areas are improved, the need, desire, and appeal of plagiarism can be taken away for most students.

The JISC project was split into 4 strands, each examining a different aspect of plagiarism. The 4 strands included:

• A technical review of free-text and source code plagiarism detection software
• A small pilot of free-text detection software and a good practice guide to plagiarism prevention

Each strand was carried out by institutions from the Higher and Further educational sectors under the central management of JISC. At the end of the project, a series of workshops were held around the country where delegates were given an opportunity to hear the results from all the strands, to comment on these and to provide suggestions to JISC on what further work needed to be carried out.

A set of web pages outlining the plagiarism project and related materials has been archived.

See the JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service

Areas not covered by the JISC Electronic Plagiarism Detection Project

This project concentrated on the detection of plagiarism from the Internet and student collusion. Although recommendations were made in the report concerning other sources, it was not the aim of the project to investigate detection of more traditional forms of plagiarism, such as copying from books or journals.

Other areas not included in this report are:

• Detection of text converted to a foreign language and then translated back to English
• Detection of essays translated from a foreign language
• Plagiarism of diagrams, pictures or graphs
• Cheating in exams using mobile phones, pagers, hidden crib sheets, calculators etc.