Hi all - the TurnInIt tweet thread about #1776Report is blowing up in a way I never could have expected, so, some context/clarifications:
1. The % score for TurnItIn doesn't necessarily mean anything definitive. You have to still check everything that is highlighted. 1/
1. The % score for TurnItIn doesn't necessarily mean anything definitive. You have to still check everything that is highlighted. 1/
2. One thing that gets tagged a lot is direct quotation. Papers with any quotes usually get tagged for plagiarism. With proper citation, this is fine and normal! The 1776 report did not include any citations. 2/
3. The rest of the % is usually comprised of small common phrases (usually these don't mean anything) and sometimes longer passages. This is where we usually detect plagiarism. 3/
4. In the case of this report, some longer passages were tagged, including material from an Inside Higher Ed essay and from the Heritage Foundation. Initially, I thought these were clear examples of plagiarism... 4/
But reading more carefully, these documents were written by some of the authors of the report. It seems that they were recycling their own material. 5/
5. I believe we can call this self-plagiarism. Now, as I tell my students, self-plagiarism is still plagiarism! It is different in kind but it still requires citation. 6/
The morals of this story:
1. (To me) Don't tweet.
2. (To everyone else) Cite your sources appropriately! (Even if it is yourself.)
3. (To all of us) Context matters! Good history, writing, and analysis requires nuance. 7/7 #Twitterstorians
1. (To me) Don't tweet.
2. (To everyone else) Cite your sources appropriately! (Even if it is yourself.)
3. (To all of us) Context matters! Good history, writing, and analysis requires nuance. 7/7 #Twitterstorians
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