News

ISSN Number

2632-6779 (Print)  

2633-6898 (Online)

Abstracting/Indexing/Listing

Scopus

Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory (ProQuest)

MLA International Bibliography

MLA Directory of Periodicals

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

QOAM (Quality Open Access Market)

British National Bibliography

WAC Clearinghouse Journal Listings

EBSCO Education

ICI Journals Master List

ERIH PLUS

CNKI Scholar

Gale-Cengage

WorldCat

Crossref

Baidu Scholar

British Library

J-Gate

ROAD

BASE

Publons

Google Scholar

Semantic Scholar

ORE Directory

TIRF

China National Center for Philosophy and Social Sciences Documentation

 

Home Journal Index 2021-2

Chinese University Students' Perceptions of the Use and Effectiveness of Turnitin in EAP Writing

Download Full PDF

Qiufang Zheng
Shanghai University, China

 

Abstract
Student plagiarism has been prevalent in academic discourse. This paper investigates through a questionnaire and interviews the use and effectiveness of Turnitin, a major plagiarism detection system, in Chinese university students’ EAP writing in a Sino-foreign joint institute in Shanghai. The study finds except for its online marking tool GradeMark, Turnitin has been well-received by most students. Two most welcomed features are the similarity report and its convenience in submitting assignments. Besides, most students perceived Turnitin as an effective tool in reflecting and reducing plagiarism in their writing. However, the study also shows although students’ general understanding of the Western concept of plagiarism has been greatly improved, some students may still have misconceptions, and lack sufficient knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism, which can be a major factor contributing to the high similarity rate in their writing on Turnitin. Based on these findings, the study puts forward suggestions on how to reduce student plagiarism in EAP writing, in particular pointing out the introduction of Turnitin in EAP writing instruction in EFL contexts may help to cut down plagiarism.

 

Keywords
EAP writing, Turnitin, plagiarism