Searching Online for Plagiarism

In his highly recommended online essay, “Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers,” Robert Harris provides this advice about how to search online for suspected plagiarism: “perform an exact phrase search on a four-to-six-word phrase from a suspect part of the paper (find a phrase that has two or three relatively unusual words in it).”  The resources below can be used to help search online for plagiarism.

• Search Engines (AU Library)  A comprehensive list of top search engines; start with Google.
  
  
• University of Alberta Libraries Faculty Guide to Plagiarism  A useful guide that supplements Harris’s tips.
  
  
• Plagiarism Detection Services/Software  A list of sites and reviews by the Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland University College.  Some sites/services are free; others charge a fee.
  
  
• The Plagiarism Resource Center  A free software program by a University of Virginia professor who uncovered a cheating scandal.
  
  
• Term Paper Mills are Web sites and services where students can obtain research papers for free or for a fee.  It is worth knowing these sites which some students might use inappropriately.  As well, many of them can be searched.
  • Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You, Kimbel Library of Coastal Carolina University  A fine discussion of internet paper mills which gives tips for detecting plagiarized papers and lists paper mill sites (midway down page), both alphabetically and topically.
• Paper Mill Web Site Directory Provided by Kim McMurtry of T.H.E. Journal, an educational technology journal, with a useful table identifying different features of these sites.