======= Date Modified 19 Sep 2011 10:58:05 =======
Has anyone used this to check their work for plagiarism? I do want to run my work through something because I'm paranoid about plagiarism and because I do think it's a grey area and it's certainly something I don't want to do or be accused of. This is something like turnitin but for students

I can't say that I have but, tbh, I wasn't thinking of doing it either. I appreciate that you've worked really hard on your thesis but are you sure you want to check it? Not that I think you've done, quite the opposite, I don't think you have so... I'm really sorry, but it just sounds like a waste of money to me... if you know you haven't done it and if you've kept a 'paper trail' somewhere, most of us have in some shape or form, then I don't think you need it. But if you really want to, you could 'test it out' and add some random quote or info from a paper and send it through to test it...

I just got told I have to hand an electronic version of my thesis in, so I was tempted to run it through something, but I remember a discussion about this on here before and recall some people saying that some of these programs have small print which means they can use/own any material that is run through it, so be careful!

It's just in the past I've noticed a few on here talk about using a such a checker. I most definitely would not plagiarise deliberately but it does appear to be a grey area and I am paranoid about it. I spent all of today checking a chapter against original papers and don't appear to have plagiarised anything and so i'll probably do the same with the rest.

Sneaks, I'm probably not going to use such a checker but will double check everything myself.

can you get someone to run it through turn it in at your uni?

I've never used turn it in, but my understanding is that it comes up with high percentages anyway a lot of the time, and with something the size of a thesis I suspect it would come up with a high percentage (although that's just a massive guess lol!)

Writecheck is from the makers of Turnitin but designed for students, as far as I can tell.

There's no-one I can ask except my supervisors and although my work hasn't been put through Turnitin they know I'm paranoid about plargiarism and keep reassuring me that everything's fine. I think I'll just keep check manually, as painful as it is...

I agree with skig you should know yourself if you have plagiarised. I like to believe most of us are all honest researchers.

Sounds like alot of hard work and hassle plagiarising

It is not black and white but a grey area and others I've asked even agree with me. The fact that I'm asking about this on a forum where no-one knows me should show that I don't want to do this. I very much don't believe I have, as I've never copied and pasted anything and have tried to reference properly. All papers show a level of plagiarism, I've been told, and so I just want to make sure I haven't as far as possible.

I regret asking about this and I'm not the first person to do so on this forum. Quite a few have said they intend to run their work through some kind of check but I've decided I'm not going to.

Dear Delta,

I have used Turnitin (via a University account) and Viper (free service) earlier for checking plagiarism but not Writecheck. I actually agree with you that sometimes it can be a good idea to do that especially before any major submissions (and in case that the examiners are in the habit of googling for phrases from your thesis). One of my lab-fellows submitted his first year report and the examiner somehow found out a single sentence which he had forgot to paraphrase properly (even though he had given the citation earlier) and it took quite a bit of an effort for him to get out of this mess (as they were almost ready to make his report a fail/re-submission just because of that one line. . .:-s).

My personal experience is that at times, in the several hundred of pages and over 3 years or so of working on a problem, it is quite easy to inadvertently re-use one sentence or so without remembering the source (e.g. if it was something which has became your second nature due to prevalence in literature etc.) so these services can help find out the source (and then you can paraphrase/add proper citation in case you missed it earlier on)

Hope this helps

mak_2011, thanks, it does.

I'm sorry you feel this way as I'm pretty sure we're all just trying to help. I'm not really sure how my comment came across to you. I don't think for a minute that you plagiarised (or why would you start this thread??;-) ) but I can see you're concerned that you might be accused of plagiarising. I was just trying to reassure you that this is unlikely, but I don't think I did a good job :-(

Chances of anyone remembering lines of papers are slim and I'm pretty sure unis don't run our thesis through such services.

(I was just trying to help. Sorry :$)

Hi Skig,

No worries, I was being overly sensitive. I'm a belt and braces type person and tend to worry about things that shouldn't be of concern. I worry that I'll fail and have to tell people (it's the telling people that concerns me not failing as such) but my supervisors seem more than happy with my work. I worry that I'll get horrible examiners but I've been told they'll be firm but fair and I worry about plagiarism when I can't see that I've any reason to be...I suppose I'm a worrier!

Maybe you're a worrier... but I don't think you're alone on this one, we work hard for our thesis and we want to succeed!

A couple of weeks ago I wanted to change two whole chapters because I started doubting my own work even though sups were happy with it already. I started emailing them about different stuff only for them to come back arguing against the changes I wanted to make, and after about 3/4 emails I'd noticed what I was doing... Like you, I'm worried that I won't pass, I worry that the examiners will just be there to put me down and I don't use the word hate very often, but I hate oral exams, so a viva is my worst nightmare.

I don't worry about plagiarism though but I worry that I won't be able to submit on time, that they won't accept it for some silly reason, etc... but now that I know that I'm worrying, I can take a step back and think 'logically'. Because I know that I can't predict what the viva will be like or whether I'll pass, but I know that feeling anxious doesn't help either and I'd much prefer to do something else than feeling anxious ;-)

I know it's hard but try not to worry... I know, easier said than done! But there are ways around it, you just need to find something that works for you8-)

Good luck!