Abstract:

This paper seek to assess the impact of the plagiarism Detection technology (Turnitin), both positive and negative on students at Botho College Francistown. The College recently adopted a Zero tolerance on plagiarism, which may include copying and pasting, collusion, patchwork copying (certain keywords and phrases altered from the original) and submission of a particular document by more than one student. This has be done to promote academic honesty in all rights and the same time promote originality on student’s work.
The introduction of use of Turnitin as a tool to detect plagiarism has brought about mixed feelings amongst students. This paper tends to assess positive and negative impact on the students and the lecturers of the use of Turnitin. Interviews will be conducted by the researchers on both the students and the lecturers. The researchers’ experiences will used in the research since the researchers are actively involved in Academic Honesty Unit . The research will be conducted on one of the 3 centres of Botho College. The research will focus on two different groups of students, those doing their Diploma courses and those in their final year for the Open University Top up Degree.

Keywords:

Plagiarism, Turnitin, Academic honesty.