Introduction to Plagiarism
Prevention
for Students
What are Plagiarism Prevention tools?
• Plagiarism Prevention tools detect similarities between
assignments that you submit and content online.
• Plagiarism Prevention tools are intellectual property checkers.
Much like a spell checker checks for spelling errors, this tool
checks for original phrasing and ideas.
• Each time you submit an assignment an Originality Report is
generated.
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Why are we using Plagiarism Prevention
software?
• The intention of these tools is to protect original work.
• These tools can help you learn how to cite sources properly.
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SafeAssign and Turnitin
• There are two plagiarism prevention tools available at UMass
Boston. One is integrated within the Blackboard Assignments
tool and it is called SafeAssign. There is another tool called
Turnitin that functions similarly.
• You will find links to selected assignments in the course that are
set up to use either tool.
• More about SafeAssign:
umb.edu/it/safeassign
• More about Turnitin:
howto.wikispaces.umb.edu/turnitin
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Originality Reports
• Each time you submit an assignment you may have the ability to
view an Originality Report.
• The report will show you how much of your document matches
other online sources.
• You may have the opportunity to view these reports and resubmit your assignments.
• With an assignment “draft,” each time a new document is
submitted the previous document and report is overwritten up
until the due date.
• NOTE: Turnitin originality reports for second or subsequent
submissions are delayed 24 hours.
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Student Privacy
• Instructors may request the following from students:
– Papers are to be submitted in a supported electronic format.
– Plagiarism prevention tools will be used for designated
assignments.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Instructors may submit student papers to
the UMass Boston institutional database at any time directly with
the SafeAssign DirectSubmit tool provided that all student
personal information is removed including, student name, id
number, etc.
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Avoiding Plagiarism and Citation Resources
To access the Atomic Learning Videos below:
Login to Atomic Learning with your full UMass Boston email
address and password.
• Avoiding Plagiarism
Demonstrates paraphrasing vs. quoting resources.
• APA Research Basics
Covers the basics of formatting a research paper in APA Style.
• MLA Research Paper Basics
Covers the basics of formatting a research paper in MLA Style.
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Student Writing and Citation Resources
• A good resource for thinking about plagiarism:
Rutgers Provost Video on Plagiarism
• Reading, Writing, and Study Strategies Center (RWSSC)
http://www.umb.edu/academics/vpass/academic_support/tutorin
g/rwssc
• Research Help at Healey Library
http://www.lib.umb.edu/research-help
• Additional resources may be found in the Code of Student
Conduct "Academic Honesty”
http://www.umb.edu/life_on_campus/policies/community/code
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General Tips
• Allow 5 to 10 mins for reports to return.
• File sizes should be under 2 MB.
• Formats accepted: doc, docx, odt, pdf, txt, rtf, htm or html
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