SafeAssign FAQ
General
1) What is anti-plagiarism software?
2) What is SafeAssign?
3) Is anti-plagiarism software new?
4) What is Colorado State University’s position on plagiarism?
5) Who owns the intellectual property rights for each submitted paper?
Using SafeAssign
6) How do instructors use SafeAssign in RamCT?
7) Do all assignments in RamCT use SafeAssign?
8) Can students be required to use SafeAssign?
9) How are papers submitted?
10) Can a paper be removed from SafeAssign?
11) What file formats does SafeAssign support?
12) What sources of information does SafeAssign use to compare against for potential plagiarism?
The Originality Report
13) What is the Originality Report?
14) How do I interpret the ‘Matching Index’ in the Originality Report?
15) Can I see a sample report?
16) Can students see the Originality Report of an assignment they have submitted?
17) How long does it take to generate an Originality Report?
18) Can instructors remove (choose to ignore) matching sources from the Originality Report?
19) What is the Global Reference Database?
20) Are students required to submit their papers to the Global Reference Database?
21) Can a student remove a paper from the Global Reference Database?
22) Will SafeAssign be effective if students choose not to submit their papers to the Global Reference Database?
Support
23) Where can I get help with SafeAssign at Colorado State University?
General
1) What is anti-plagiarism software?
Anti-plagiarism software is designed as a tool to help educators and students identify areas of overlap between submitted papers and existing works, and to help students learn to properly attribute sources.
2) What is SafeAssign?
SafeAssign™ is an anti-plagiarism service that is included in the Blackboard suite. Colorado State University uses the Blackboard products for the campus online learning system, RamCT.
3) Is anti-plagiarism software new?
No, SafeAssign is based on a mature and proven technology. Blackboard acquired SafeAssign from Sciworth Inc., then enhanced and included it with the Blackboard versions 8.0 and beyond.
4) What is Colorado State University’s position on plagiarism?
Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty. “Instructors are expected to use reasonably practical means of preventing and detecting academic dishonesty. Any student found responsible for having engaged in academic dishonesty will be subject to academic penalty and/or University disciplinary action.” http://www.catalog.colostate.edu/front/policies.aspx
5) Who owns the intellectual property rights for each submitted paper?
Blackboard does not claim any ownership rights on the content submitted to SafeAssign. SafeAssign is only authorized to store copies of student papers that were volunteered and use them for plagiarism education purposes. Using SafeAssign
6) How do instructors use SafeAssign in RamCT?
See our How-To’s at: (future links)
• How-To create SafeAssignments for Instructors
• How-To use Direct Submit for Instructors
• How-To submit papers to SafeAssign for Students
• Blackboard SafeAssign PowerLinks Instructor Manual (pdf)
7) Do all assignments in RamCT use SafeAssign?
No. SafeAssignments must be specifically configured by the instructor at the time the assignment is created.
8) Can students be required to use SafeAssign? Just as instructors can require that students use RamCT, instructors can require that students submit papers using SafeAssign. It should be clear in the syllabus/class requirements that SafeAssign will be used in a course.
9) How are papers submitted?
A ‘SafeAssignment’ is set up by the instructor through which papers are submitted and evaluated for matching content. Content may be submitted by either the student or the instructor.
10) Can a paper be removed from SafeAssign?
No, once a paper has been submitted to SafeAssign it remains in the SafeAssign Institutional Database.
11) What file formats does SafeAssign support? SafeAssign supports Word (DOCX, DOC), plain text (TXT), rich text format (RTF), PDF, OpenOffice (odt) and HTML formats.
12) What sources of information does SafeAssign use to compare content?” SafeAssign checks all submitted papers against publically-available databases as well as local content that will continue to build over time as SafeAssign is used.
Specifically:
• Internet - comprehensive index of documents available for public access on the Internet via Microsoft Windows Live search engine
• ProQuest ABI/Inform database with over 1,100 publication titles and about 2.6 million articles from '90s to present time, updated weekly (exclusive access)
• Institutional document archives containing all papers submitted through SafeAssign in RamCT at CSU.
• Global Reference Database containing papers volunteered by students from other Blackboard client institutions to help prevent cross-institutional plagiarism
The Originality Report
13) What is the Originality Report? An Originality
Report reports the percentage of a submitted paper that matches source documents, lists the original sources, and highlights the corresponding text. This score is a warning indicator only and papers should be reviewed to see if the matches are properly attributed!
14) How do I interpret the ‘Matching Index’ in the Originality Report?
The ‘Matching Index’ is an indicator of what percentage of the submitted paper matches existing sources. In general; - Scores below 15 percent: These papers typical include some quotes and a few common phrases or blocks of text that match other documents. These papers typically do not require further analysis, the possibility of plagiarism is low. - Scores between 15 percent and 40 percent: These papers include extensive quoted or paraphrased material or they may include plagiarism. These papers should be reviewed to determine if the matching content is properly attributed. - Scores over 40 percent: There is a very high probability that text in this paper was copied from other sources. These papers include quoted or paraphrased text in excess and should be reviewed for plagiarism.
15) Can I see a sample report?
A sample report and explanation may be found at: http://kb.blackboard.com/display/SAFE/Interpret+Reports
16) Can students see the Originality Report of an assignment they have submitted?
An instructor can choose to setup SafeAssignments that enable their students to see the Originality Report.
17) How long does it take to generate an Originality Report?
Black Board's SafeAssign service is shared by a number of universities. During busy times It can take a few hours or longer to receive a report, depending on the length of the papers and the load on the service.
18) Can instructors remove (choose to ignore) matching sources from the Originality Report?
Yes, instructors can remove matching sources and process again which is useful if the paper is a continuation of a previously submitted work by the same student.
The Global Reference Database
19) What is the Global Reference Database?
The Global Reference Database is a collection of papers volunteered by students from Blackboard client institutions for matching content across institutions.
20) Are students required to submit their papers to the Global Reference Database?
No, submitting papers to the Global Reference Database is voluntary.
21) Can a student remove a paper from the Global Reference Database?
No. When students voluntarily submit their papers to the database they agree not to remove papers in the future.
22) Will SafeAssign be effective if students choose not to submit their papers to the Global Reference Database?
Yes. SafeAssign builds an Institutional Document Archive for each institution and checks papers against two additional databases.
Support
23) Where can I get help with SafeAssign at Colorado State University?
A. SafeAssign website: http://wiki.safeassign.com/display/SAFE/Home
B. College RamCT Coordinators list: http://help.ramct.colostate.edu/ramctsupport_faculty.aspx
C. Email to Central RamCT Support: ramctsupport@colostate.edu
