Do Plagiarism Checkers Store Papers (Turnitin, Unicheck, Grammarly)
Plagiarism checkers have become an essential part of both online and offline education. Educational institutions employ the use of some form of plagiarism checker for both teachers and students.
These tools are necessary to ensure students don’t breach the school’s code of academic integrity and also train them to avoid such issues along the line.
Being a teacher myself, we sometimes have to advise students to delete their scripts from the plagiarism checker after using them as they keep getting flagged for plagiarism in such cases.
This article will try to provide insight into some of the relevant questions both teachers and students may have about these tools.
Does Unicheck Store Papers?
Yes. Like most premium plagiarism checkers that test against both internet sources and their library, Unicheck stores any uploaded user document to its library while providing an option for users to delete uploaded files on completion.
Unicheck compares uploaded documents with internet sources and their library to identify plagiarized content.
Unfortunately, users who forget to delete their documents from this library after a plagiarism test stand the risk of getting flagged for plagiarism.
That said, Unicheck plagiarism results are quite detailed and easily show the name of the initial user who uploaded the file and the date, making it easier for any lecturer to identify such an error on the part of the student.
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Does Turnitin Store Papers?
Yes. Turnitin has its paper repository where all submitted documents are stored to be included in comparisons for subsequent similarity checks. Point 6 of Turnitin’s license agreement stipulates that, although the user owns the document, Turnitin also owns a license to store any submission.
If you’re already using Turnitin, you’ve most likely already agreed to this clause as Turnitin’s service or account can be created only after agreeing to their terms and conditions.
However, lecturers can set up Turnitin so that submitted assignments aren’t stored in the paper repository.
Does Grammarly Plagiarism Checker Save Your Work?
Yes. Grammarly, like most premium plagiarism checkers, has a private library where uploaded documents can be stored. However, data stored in this repository is not available in Google’s index so other plagiarism checkers won’t be able to flag your submission for plagiarism.
How Long Does Unicheck Take?
Although the Unicheck plagiarism test can take as little as a few seconds to 10 minutes, it can sometimes take more than 30 minutes to complete a test.
Is Unicheck Free?
No, Unicheck plagiarism checker isn’t free for individual use. However, educational institutions can purchase subscriptions enabling teachers and students with official school email addresses to freely use the plagiarism checker.
Individual users can also create free accounts on Unicheck but will need to purchase pages to check their assignments or articles for plagiarism.
Can Plagiarism Be Detected On Pdf?
Yes, modern plagiarism checkers can detect various file formats including pdf, Doc, Docx, Odt, and more, with the uploaded file format having no influence on the results of the test.
Should I Report Plagiarism?
Plagiarism should be reported when it’s beyond the threshold outlined by your educational institution. However, if the plagiarism index isn’t too high above the threshold, it’s advisable to send out a warning to the offending student to alert them of the consequences of subsequent occurrences.
Why Teachers Ignore Plagiarism
There’re various reasons why a teacher may ignore plagiarism including
· No Action By Institution
Sometimes a teacher may decide not to take any actions against plagiarism especially when the educational institution has refused to take any actions concerning previously filed reports on the issue.
I remember reporting a student for plagiarism to one educational institution which promptly contacted the offending student.
This student simply wrote his name and then found an assignment online and then put a quotation mark at the beginning of the text and the end.
Essentially, only his name at the top of the assignment wasn’t plagiarized. The institution later got back to me to inform me that I was to grade the assignment since they don’t consider it as plagiarism.
I informed them I couldn’t grade such an assignment and encouraged them to find someone else who would as this was against the code of academic integrity we had taught the students.
Any student could acquire an assignment online simply to put quotes at the beginning and end of the passage, including their names, and submit them as their assignment. Bear in mind this was a post-graduate course.
This event made it difficult to report any subsequent issues of plagiarism in my assignments.
· Warning
Although continuous offense demands repercussions, some first offenses with a slightly high level of plagiarized content can be ignored.
This should however be accompanied by some form of warning to the offending party to avoid a repeat of the incident.
· No Plagiarism Detectors
Although modern educational institutions are leveraging some form of plagiarism tool, most are yet to properly utilize such tools.
Unfortunately, teachers aren’t able to easily ascertain plagiarism, and such instances are easily missed especially when grading a large number of scripts.
