Google for Education introduces new tool to discourage plagiarism

Google announced on August 14th that its Education program would bring a new feature to combat plagiarism along with a handful of updates.

Google calls the new tool ‘originality reports,’ and it works similarly to anti-plagiarism services like Turnitin.

For instructors, originality reports are a handy tool that cross-references students’ submitted work to existing databases on the internet. When it comes to students, they may also use it to double-check their work to spot issues beforehand.

The feature could also detect missing citations, which helps students to avoid unintentional mistakes that may result in substantial consequences.

Google says it will automatically generate an evaluation report for the instructors on each submission, therefore eliminating the tedious process of using Google Search to check if something is wrong.

In the future, institutions may also link their own servers containing past student work to originality reports, allowing teachers to check for matches.

Google says originality reports will arrive in the new Assignments function, which is a replacement for the Course Kit that the company launched in 2018.

When it finally shows up, schools with an active G Suite Enterprise for Edition subscription may use the feature without restrictions. Those without a paid membership status may only use it for up to three assignments in each course.

But for now, Google says instructors may try it for free by filling out the application form.

Source: Google