THE IMPACT OF THE USE OF PLAGIARISM DETECTION TECHNOLOGY (TURNITIN) ON STUDENTS' ASSIGNMENTS SUBMITTED ONLINE, A CASE STUDY OF BOTHO COLLEGE FRANCISTOWN, BOTSWANA

This paper seeks to assess the impact of the plagiarism detection technology (Turnitin) on students at Botho College Francistown. The College recently adopted a Zero tolerance to plagiarism, which may include copying and pasting, collusion, patchwork copying (certain keywords and phrases altered from the original) and submission of a particular document by more than one student. This has been done to promote academic honesty in all rights and at the same time promote originality on student's work. The introduction of the use of Turnitin as a tool to detect plagiarism has brought about mixed feelings amongst students. This paper tends to assess the impact of Turnitin on the students' writing skills. A survey will be conducted by the researchers on both degree and diploma students. The researchers' experiences will used in the research since the researchers are actively involved in Academic Honesty Unit. The research will be conducted on one of the 3 centres of Botho College. The research will focus on two different groups of students, those doing their Diploma courses and those in their final year for the Open University Top up Degree.