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You are probably aware of it already, but a lot of universities (mine included) use MOSS (Measure Of Software Similarity) to detect plagiarism in CS classes. Li

You are probably aware of it already, but a lot of universities (mine included) use MOSS (Measure Of Software Similarity) to detect plagiarism in CS classes. Link: http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/ http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/

Zak 16y ago
I am. There are also a large number of services that detect plagiarism in essays, but most (all?) only detect direct copying from published sources and sometimes re-use of an essay previously turned in by another student. I'm targeting the custom essay - services like http://essaymill.com http://essaymill.com ("our writing, your success"), as well as students paying other students to write their papers.
- cabalamat 16y ago
  Detecting and punishing cheating in those circumstances sounds like a Hard Problem. In particular, when your software says 2 essays were probably written by the same student, but both students deny it, how can they reasonably be punished, since there is no proof?
  - Zak 16y ago
    Questions like "why did you say X?" usually reveal whether a person is actually familiar with what they claim to have written. It's imperfect, certainly, and I would never recommend punishing a student based entirely on an algorithm's result, but I think I can provide a tool to drastically cut down on this sort of academic fraud. I intend to make it very clear to customers that they should not punish students based only on information provided by my software.
    - cabalamat 16y ago
      > Questions like "why did you say X?" usually reveal whether a person is actually familiar with what they claim to have written. That's true. If an algorithm flags someone as a possible cheat multiple times, it may be worth inspecting that person further. > I intend to make it very clear to customers that they should not punish students based only on information provided by my software. Good idea. Customers should however publicise that anti-cheating software is in use.

Zak 16y ago

I am. There are also a large number of services that detect plagiarism in essays, but most (all?) only detect direct copying from published sources and sometimes re-use of an essay previously turned in by another student. I'm targeting the custom essay - services like http://essaymill.com http://essaymill.com ("our writing, your success"), as well as students paying other students to write their papers.

cabalamat 16y ago
Detecting and punishing cheating in those circumstances sounds like a Hard Problem. In particular, when your software says 2 essays were probably written by the same student, but both students deny it, how can they reasonably be punished, since there is no proof?
- Zak 16y ago
  Questions like "why did you say X?" usually reveal whether a person is actually familiar with what they claim to have written. It's imperfect, certainly, and I would never recommend punishing a student based entirely on an algorithm's result, but I think I can provide a tool to drastically cut down on this sort of academic fraud. I intend to make it very clear to customers that they should not punish students based only on information provided by my software.
  - cabalamat 16y ago
    > Questions like "why did you say X?" usually reveal whether a person is actually familiar with what they claim to have written. That's true. If an algorithm flags someone as a possible cheat multiple times, it may be worth inspecting that person further. > I intend to make it very clear to customers that they should not punish students based only on information provided by my software. Good idea. Customers should however publicise that anti-cheating software is in use.