by:
  Michael Donnelly,
  Rebecca Ingalls,
  Tracy Ann Morse,
  Joanna Castner, and
  Anne Meade
  Stockdell-Giesler

  A Focus on Revision

It is often hard to get students to understand revision as something greater than making corrections. However many times I breakdown the word for students-re-vision (to see again in a new way), it is always the case that a student in her revision plan memo will write, "I plan to fix my grammatical mistakes and spelling." Maybe by using Turnitin.com, students will be able to see their revisions in a new way.

Since Turnitin.com retains every submitted paper in its database, it is possible to submit different drafts of the same paper and learn from the plagiarism report generated from Turnitin.com how much one draft has changed from the next. The benefit for students is that they can have a quantitative report in the percentage referring to how much of their draft is the same, or "plagiarized" in Turnitin.com terms, to their previous draft submitted to the database.

This report will also highlight for students any public material borrowed from outside sources. Students and instructors can then use these reports to examine the writer's documentation of the borrowed material. Using Turnitin.com as a revision tool allows students to take responsibility for proper documentation and provides a forum for bringing teaching on plagiarism into our curriculum.

While students work through their processes of writing and rewriting using Turnitin.com, class discussions can generate thoughtful reflection on plagiarism. In addition, instructors can teach students about intellectual property and copyright. Students may want to examine the ethical questions that arise in Turnitin.com's practice to save every submitted paper, including their own and what feelings they have about adding their writing to the database.

Students may even gain a sense of ownership when it comes to their writing-even identifying as writers. While I can come up with some positive ways to use Turnitin.com and possible positive effects from students engaging with the tool, I am still torn with requiring students to use it. My inclination is not to force students to use Turnitin.com, but make it optional. Students can take responsibility for their own writing processes and the tools they wish to employ.

• Introduction
  Michael Donnelly
• Dissimulation in the Writing Classroom
  Anne Meade Stockdell-Giesler
• Students Consenting to Turnitin.com: What Are We Asking When We Ask Them to Sign Away Their Work?
  Rebecca Ingalls
• Turnitin: Oversimplified Answer to a Complex Problem
  Joanna Castner Post
• Conclusion

• Introduction: A Writing Program Director's Dilemma
• Flying, Finally
• The Role of the WPA
• The Problems with PDS
• May the Conversation Continue...
• Dissimulation in the Writing Classroom
• The Devaluing of Growth?
• A Lack of Ethics
• An Ethos of Academic Integrity
• Students Consenting to Turnitin.com: What Are We Asking When We Ask Them to Sign Away Their Work?
• The Concept of Intellectual Property
• Roots of Consent
• Why "Consent" May Not Be Sufficient
• Turnitin.com: A Teaching Tool
• Responsibility for Writing
• A Focus on Revision
• Turnitin: Oversimplified Answer to a Complex Problem
• Skill and Creativity
• Self-Fulfilling Prophesies
• A Stimulus to Creativity
• Engagement and Success
• Conclusion
• References
• print version