I just finished using turnitin.com for my Honors paper. I had not heard of the service before or I would have raised an issue earlier. As it was, this wasn’t a paper that will be part of anything I wish to publish so my use of the site was not that detrimental. I will not, however, be using it again and any Professor who wishes to push the issue will find themselves facing a fight.
Essentially, I post my paper to turnitin.com. They then test the paper for “originality” against their database. A report is generated for the instructor telling them that I have been a good little writer and all is fine. Turnitin then adds my paper to their database. I have no say in the matter. The paper is included. The only way to remove the paper is through a request from the University’s accounts administrator.
I’ll look beyond the guilty til proven innocent routine that turnitin espouses. I’ll even pretend to think that the originality report is actually a guide by which the quality or originality of my work can be measured. I draw the line and providing free work for a for profit corporation. If you want my paper, pay me for it. Ah well, it was an interesting excursion and I now know better. I may actually contact my professor to see how hard it would be to have my paper removed from the database. It may not be an important paper in the grand scheme of my work, but it is my paper. I really don’t want it there.
