Wikipedia Edits Get Student Paper-Style Plagiarism Check -- THE Journal

Wikipedia Edits Get Student Paper-Style Plagiarism Check

By Dian Schaffhauser
11/17/15

The most cited source in secondary and higher education student papers is getting the same kind of plagiarism check those student papers often get. The non-profit Wikipedia has struck an informal, non-exclusive agreement with Turnitin to run the technology company's plagiarism checking software on the English version of the digital encyclopedia to identify potential copyright violations.

Turnitin's software is intended to help students learn how to use, cite and paraphrase source material properly as part of the process of improving their writing and critical thinking skills.

The Turnitin technology works alongside a copy-and-paste detection program developed by the Wikipedia community named EranBot. The addition of Turnitin to EranBot allows the latter to examine individual edits instead of just whole articles. Each day new edits are checked for potential copyright abuse. Those that require additional research by Wikipedia's army of volunteer editors are flagged and reported for follow-up.

"As an openly licensed free encyclopedia, Wikipedia respects copyright the same way traditional publishers do. In fact, each contributor in our community is a copyright owner who chooses to freely license his or her own work," said Jake Orlowitz, in a press release. Orlowitz is head of the Wikipedia Library, a program that helps its volunteer editors access reliable sources to improve the resource. "Turnitin now gives us access to a more sophisticated system for flagging potential copyright violations."

WikiEdu, the Wiki Education Foundation, which encourages college faculty to have their students contribute to the Wikipedia knowledge base as part of classroom assignments, is also working with Turnitin to check student edits through Wiki Ed's Classroom Program.

A 2011 research project by Turnitin's former owner, iParadigms, found that Wikipedia was the most popular plagiarized source for both secondary and higher education.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

E-Mail this page

Printable Format

Featured

Meta Introduces Stand-Alone AI App

Meta Platforms has launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.
OpenAI Launches GPT-4.1, Offering Upgrades in Coding, Context Processing, Efficiency

OpenAI has introduced GPT-4.1, offering stronger performance across software development, instruction following, and long-context comprehension.
HMH Forms Educator Council to Inform AI Tool Development

Adaptive learning company HMH has established an AI Educator Council that brings together teachers, instructional coaches and leaders from school district across the country to help shape its AI solutions.
Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot to Become Available for Teen Students

This summer, Microsoft is expanding availability of its Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot products for students aged 13 and older. Administrators will be able to grant access for students based on their institution's plans and preferences, the company announced in a blog post.