Tips on detecting plagiarism

Introduction

The following list provides some tips on the detection of plagiarism:

Visual Clues

• Obvious web formatting or otherwise odd layout (e.g., inconsistent page breaks, unusual layout, “grayed out” words or sections, embedded links, etc.)
• Inconsistent citation style or bibliography
• Essay contains embedded links, inappropriate page breaks or inconsistent numbering
• Strange text at top or bottom of printed page
• Essay was printed from a web browser
• Essay lacks title page or contains title page scrawled by hand in an otherwise typed essay

Content Clues

• Talk to the Student:
  
  • Can they summarize the main points of the essay?
  • Can they provide copies of material cited in the essay?
  
  
• Layout:
  
  • Inconsistent citation style or bibliography
  • Does the essay contain phantom references to graphs, charts, images, people, events that aren't there?
  
  
• Uncommon Similarities / Playing Left Field:
  • Have you seen an essay on the exact same narrow topic? Does the current essay look alarmingly familiar?
  • Is the essay way off topic? Does it contain only a few paragraphs to bring it in line with topic? (e.g., pasted-on student work at beginning, at the opening and ending of essay, sandwiching copied material in the body of the essay)
  • Essay contains reference(s) to its paper mill origin
  
  
• Writing Style / Mechanics:
  
  • Is professional jargon or advanced vocabulary used?
  • Strange grammar or syntax (i.e., this could be the result of using a web translation service to translate a copied essay into French or German and then back to English to foil detection)
  • Are references to historical persons or events made in the current sense?
  • Refers to lectures from “a mystery instructor”
  • Is the essay significantly different from or “much better than previous writing samples”?
  • Does the essay address the assignment requirements or are portions of the assignment neglected?
  • Grade-school essay quality (e.g., essay reads like an encyclopedia like World Book or
  • Sentences that sound too good may be unattributed quotes
  • Essay is a bit too good; contains no spelling or syntax errors
  
  
• Documentation / Check Sources:
  
  • Does the essay lack citation to recent sources? (e.g., are all of the important sources cited the same number of years old?)
  • Are a majority of web sites listed inactive?
  • Does the essay present detailed or specific information but then lacks the source(s) to substantiate the claim?
  • Are the sources cited in the essay the sources actually used? (e.g., are some of the sources fabricated in order to adding padding?)

Tracking Down the Original Material – Non-Software Solutions

• Look for the sources listed; If a majority of the sources originate from outside of the CSUCI library, consider asking the student how they came across their sources.


• Search for unique keywords or phrases from the essay using some of the tips and source listed below. The more databases and search engines you use, the better the chance of tracking down the original source material.
  • Use search engines such as Vivisimo, Google, Hotbot, etc.
  • Search some of the full-text library databases, such as Academic Search Premier,Expanded Academic Index, Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, etc
  • Try also looking in a “commonly available electronic encyclopedia” such as Encarta, etc.; and
  • When searching, you might want to use some of the misspellings in the paper as your search keywords