The effectiveness of plagiarism detection software as a learning tool in academic writing education

Plagiarism detection software (or more accurately, text-matching software) is commonly employed in a punitive capacity, detecting plagiarism after assignment submission. As an alternative to this approach, online plagiarism detection software was adopted as a learning tool for students instead. A trial was conducted in the foundation unit of the professional development component of the engineering degree at the University of Western Australia. Prior to the use of plagiarism detection software as a learning tool, efforts to instruct students regarding proper referencing and paraphrasing did not result in commensurate decreases in the levels of plagiarism detected. Many student assignments submitted displayed at the very least careless source acknowledgement. As part of the trial, students were given individual access to the software to self-assess their work as often as required prior to submission. The plagiarism detection algorithm assignment-originality statistics across three substantial written assignments throughout semester revealed continual and substantial improvement in student ability to avoid plagiarising. Through the use of this software, students were facilitated to learn how to properly acknowledge sources and improve their paraphrasing. This was accompanied by a dramatic decrease in the reportable incidence rates of plagiarism. Student perception of the use of plagiarism detection software in this capacity was also very positive.