Journal Article 3
A War of Words
By: Jim Paterson


Plagiarism is a problem in most schools, from grade school through Universities. Technology has the ability to catch students who plagiaries, one company claims to having reduce plagiarism by 80%. This use of technology is now being debated between those who support it and those who see it as an invasion of privacy, and accusing the student before there is proof of guilt. Using the technology to catch the students doing something wrong, but not showing the student how to do research the right way is not educating the student. “Technology is no substitute for good teaching.”
Over the last ten years there have been many companies that have developed software that is designed to help students learn the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. The software helps students search for information in a controlled style and directs them on how to cite sources, and placing their information onto note cards. These note cards can then be arranged in any order the student wants, and then used to write their assignment.


Question: Are plagiarism software 100% reliable?

Answer: According to the article the technology available today has it’s shortcomings. Some programs have been known to give false positive, accusing an innocent student and affecting their future. The software cannot have records of every book or article ever written, allowing some guilty students to get away with plagiarism. There are also the students who will plagiaries, but changes enough words so that the software does not detect the plagiarism.


Question: Should a teacher relay on a software program to teach students how to do
research?

Answer: Software alone should not be used to teach students how to do research and the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing. Teachers should instruct the students on the difference and the best way to paraphrase a sentence or idea. The software should be used after the student understands the concepts, and then only as a research tool.