Software Plagiarism Detection
- From: Scott Seidman <namdiesttocs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 7 Feb 2006 14:53:31 GMT
Though it had nothing to do with software, I had a rough time in my class
this year with academic honesty issues. In response, I am opting to use
free plagiarism detection tools, and I am making it known in advance to
my classes that I am using such tools. All major work will be handed in
in electronic form, as well as a hard copy, with a mismatch between the
two considered an act of academic dishonesty. I will maintain a library
of these submissions, and will search each new submission with WCopyFind
(http://www.plagiarism.phys.virginia.edu/Wsoftware.html).
In my search for such tools, I've come across one that seems particularly
suited for software. It can be found at
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~aiken/moss.html
These tools might not be as good as similar ones that compare to internet
sources and databases maintained by companies that maintain proprietary
databases, but they avoid certain legal issues. You might not catch
everyone, but you will certainly catch two students who are
misappropriating from the same source. When a student grabs a piece of
code, he now needs to worry about anyone who has stolen the same code in
the past.
This isn't to say that using someone else's code is necessarily an act of
plagiarism-- but representing it as your own creation is. Students need
to be trained in the difference between grabbing code and calling it
their own.
I urge my academically oriented colleagues to try these tools, and to let
your students know you are using them. If they work for you, please
share them with your departments.
--
Scott
Reverse name to reply
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Multidimensional arrays and fortran MeX
- Next by Date: Re: Serial port object Terminator property
- Previous by thread: how can I write polynomial roots in a text file?
- Next by thread: Run C s-function in Matlab
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
|
