Plagiarism detection

NB! Since February 2024 university uses StrikePlagiarism for plagiarism detection.

According to the Study Regulations, the university is entitled to check students’ written papers with a plagiarism detection system and for that purpose, add them to the database of plagiarism detection system. [effective as of 2 May 2017] Checking student papers with a plagiarism detection system is part of the evaluation process. The teaching staff do not have to ask the students’ consent for checking their work with a plagiarism detection system, but it is advisable to inform the students of that. 

Plagiarism detection software compares uploaded texts to three types of sources: 

• materials publicly available on the internet 
• publications and student papers in the UT digital archive in DSpace 
• texts in the plagiarism detection system database 

Students cannot use plagiarism detection system independently – cooperation between the lecturer/supervisor and student is important.  

With plagiarism detection system, teaching staff can check students’ theses as well as written papers submitted for courses (e.g. reports, studies). Plagiarism detection system detects textual matches between the submitted paper and the texts on the internet and in databases connected to system. After the analysis, the lecturer can check whether the student has cited properly, and if plagiarism is found, explain the breach to the student.  

For all student papers, the personal (to change and supplement) and proprietary rights (to make copies and disseminate) of the paper belong to the student. For theses, students give the university the right to publish the theses by non-exclusive licence. 

Works uploaded to plagiarism detection system remain in the database of system and will be used as sources in the future. Plagiarism detection system is not an environment for publishing works. Works uploaded to system cannot be retrieved from the database by the search. The materials you can access in plagiarism detection system due to matches are not suitable for citing and referencing, except if the same work is publicly accessible on the internet and/or in public databases. In that case, the public source must be referred to. 

The plagiarism detection software does not apply for the copyright of the documents uploaded by the user. Plagiarism detection system does not have the right to disseminate the uploaded material or forward it to third parties without the author’s written consent.  

Using StrikePlagiarism

There are two ways to use StrikePlagiarism: 

• You submit a written paper in a Moodle course via an assignment, a forum, workshop or quiz essay question to which the lecturer has added the plagiarism detection system check. This means that submitted papers are uploaded to plagiarism detection system for checking and later the match percentage is shown next to the submission. The lecturer can see the report and may also make the report accessible to the learner. 
• You send the file to the lecturer by email and the lecturer uploads it to StrikePlagiarism web panel using his or her account. You will not receive the report automatically, but the lecturer can share the report with you. 

The checking of students’ files is always done via the lecturer or supervisor. For theses, using your supervisor’s help is highly recommended, as then the supervisor can help you interpret the report and give advice on making changes.  

If you want to check the draft of your thesis already, but your supervisor has not offered you this opportunity, ask your supervisor for that. Plagiarism detection system helps you write your thesis.

The plagiarism detection system report and its interpretation 

As a result of text comparison, plagiarism detection system prepares a report showing to what extent the analysed text coincides with other texts (incl. properly cited quotes). The report shows which parts of the text coincide with other sources. 

Plagiarism detection system checks the matches of the uploaded text with the materials on the internet and in the plagiarism detection system database. Based on the matches detected by plagiarism detection system, the lecturer can analyse whether the quotes in the submitted text have been presented properly and whether the sources have been properly referred to. It is up to the lecturer to assess whether a match constitutes plagiarism or not. 

Even if the report shows a high match percentage, there might be no reason for concern, as it can be due to allowed matches (e.g. previous version or parts of the same work, properly cited quotes, compulsory parts of a thesis, the list of sources, etc.). 

Support 

If you have problems with using plagiarism detection system or need help with interpreting the report, contact the lecturer or supervisor.