Improvements to the Tutorials and Tests
Newly designed Plagiarism Tutorials were first introduced on January 2, 2016. Instruction is now organized by levels of difficulty (basic, novice, intermediate, advanced, and expert). Mastery of all levels is now required to pass a current Certification Test.
What's New?
Short answer: Instruction is more dynamic and now addresses simple to complex forms of plagiarism.
- Instruction is now organized by levels of difficulty (basic, novice, intermediate, advanced, and expert).
- You can view 10 video cases which illustrate consequences of student plagiarism, as students interact with their instructors or peers.
- You can view 12 dynamic screencasts of examples that show plagiarism while a scholarly paper is being written, and what to do to fix the problems.
- You can reflect on how you might use what you have been learning.
- You can take practice tests at each level of difficulty, with detailed feedback on questions missed.
- Certification Test item inventories have been greatly expanded.
- Certificates earned for passing a test in 2016 or later can be retrieved, validated, and e-mailed by both students and their instructors.
- The web page layout is easier to use on devices with smaller displays (smartphones and tablets).
What's the Same?
- The goal has not changed. We expect you to learn to recognize the difference between plagiarism (word-for word and paraphrasing) and non-plagiarism.
- The online tutorial and tests are still freely available to anyone, and can be used for any non-profit educational purpose.
- You are required to register and login before you can take a test.
- Test questions are randomly selected from very large inventories of items each time you take a test. See FAQs, especially this one.
- Patterns of plagiarism are unchanged, used primarily for illustrating types of errors made if you do not pass a test.
Where's the Old, Original Tutorial?
The legacy tutorial is no longer available, as of July, 2019.