We all know that plagiarism, which comes in all sorts of types, is something that won’t go away anytime soon.
It’s still a growing concern among academics that affects the very foundation of educational integrity.
It doesn’t help that more than eight out of ten students believe that plagiarizing an assignment can help them achieve better scores.
But at what cost? This is a truly deceptive practice that affects a student’s personal development and also tarnishes the reputation of educational institutions.
When students decide to copy instead of creating an original work, they could miss out on learning opportunities that are essential for their future success.
While AI for school work has been helpful for both institutions and students, this powerful tool has become a double-edged sword that’s also used as an excuse for plagiarism (more on that later).
Teachers today need to keep up with the times. Here are the best plagiarism checkers for teachers to use, no matter the type, to be ready for whatever comes their way.
This is about upholding academic integrity and making sure that students are really earning their achievements – equipped for the modern day.
Best Plagiarism Checkers for Teachers
Plagiarism basically happens when someone presents another person’s work as their own without giving proper credit.
This can be copying text, paraphrasing without permission, or using someone else’s research data.
Teachers are usually very skilled at spotting plagiarized work. However, doing so manually – especially when there are hundreds of student assignments – can be overwhelming and time-consuming.
Thankfully, modern-day tech comes to save the day.
While looking for the right tools, you might suddenly be faced with different options.
From plagiarism checkers to AI detectors and paraphrasers, each tool has their unique purpose to enhance the evaluation of a written work.
But for educators, plagiarism detectors are especially important.
Plagiarism checkers are effective because they are designed with advanced algorithms to scan the submitted work and compare it through their large database.
This database contains legitimate sources, so once the tool detects the work having similarities with an original work, it gets flagged for potential plagiarism.
This eases the process for teachers, who only have to verify the content that has been flagged instead of having to sift through everything.
Some of these tools even highlight the matched text and include source links, so work is done more quickly and accurately.
Ready to jump in? Ease your worries with the best plagiarism checkers for teachers.
1. Undetectable.ai
AI has become more common. It’s in nearly everything we do, so it’s highly likely that AI-generated content can also be found within institutions.
While AI work in itself is not bad, not being transparent about it may be considered plagiarism. It’s a new challenge that teachers have to face.
AI tools like ChatGPT have been used to generate text that mimics human writing using large datasets.
These tools can do nearly all types of content, making it harder to tell if a piece of work is actually written by a student or created with a machine.
This is where AI plagiarism detectors come in. But with so many detectors out there, some can be quite unreliable, with a student even being falsely accused by AI detectors.
What you need is a reliable detector like Undetectable AI.
This is the AI plagiarism detector ranked best by Forbes because, unlike many other detectors that just say if a text is AI or human, Undetectable analyzes the texts on a deeper level – right down to the sentence syntax and structure.
Using Undetectable is easy. Just paste the content into its interface to check for AI. The tool’s advanced algorithms then analyze the text – identifying patterns from GPT-3, GPT-4, Bard, and Claude.
This makes Undetectable a powerful resource for teachers.
Undetectable AI Cost and Accessibility
Undetectable AI is available to everyone with a free version that offers basic functionality and limited use.
For more extensive access, personal plans start at just $5 monthly. This allows for analyses of up to 10,000 words. There are also enterprise solutions for larger needs.
This is perfect for teachers, writers, researchers, and content creators who need to detect AI-generated text.
With Undetectable, educators can be sure that their students’ works are truly their own.
2. Turnitin
If you’re a teacher, you are most likely already familiar with Turnitin. It’s considered the most popular plagiarism detector for teachers available today.
Founded in 1998 by four Berkeley students, Turnitin started out as an online peer-review system that evolved into the leading plagiarism detection software worldwide.
The software works by scanning student submissions and comparing them to a very extensive database of current and archived web pages from the major search engines.
What makes it a fantastic tool is that it also collects content from scholarly databases that are not usually found on Google.
That includes periodicals, biographies, brochures, encyclopedias, magazines, journals, books, abstracts, and medical journals. It’s a super vast collection of resources that makes Turnitin so effective.
There’s also an instant archive capability that flags submissions with a significant overlap.
This means that educators can quickly identify copied content if two or more students hand in papers using the same content.
Turnitin Cost and Accessibility
While there’s no doubt that Turnitin is highly effective, it doesn’t offer individual licenses. This makes the tool only accessible through institutional subscriptions.
So if your school subscribes to Turnitin, you can then access its services.
Individuals can’t sign up on their own. You will need to schedule a call with Turnitin’s sales team to get the partnership approved.
This exclusivity is both good and bad: it gives legitimate users private access and can’t be abused, but it is prohibitive for many potential users, like independent students and educators, who would have benefitted from checking their work for originality.
But if you could overcome this limitation and gain access, Turnitin is still a great choice with its comprehensive detection capabilities.
Educators can more effectively and quickly ensure their students’ work stays authentic and original.
3. PapersOwl
PapersOwl is mainly known as a writing service. Named after wise owls, which are known for their sharp vision and hearing, PapersOwl is all about uncovering truths and ensuring originality in students’ work.
This versatile platform offers a wide range of academic services, and that includes a plagiarism checker.
PapersOwl combines top-quality work at an affordable price. It basically operates on a bidding system where students can choose a writer from a pool of skilled professionals.
They can also use an automated matching algorithm to find the best fit for their needs.
PapersOwl is also the sister company of EduBirdie, so users familiar with that platform will enjoy a similar user-friendly design and functionality.
You can’t go wrong by choosing PapersOwl as your plagiarism checker.
It’s free, easy to use, and has no word limit. After scanning the document, the plagiarism checker will show a percentage of plagiarized content and highlight what needs to be fixed.
Users can also download a detailed report to review.
PapersOwl Cost and Accessibility
One of PapersOwl’s standout features is that it’s a completely free plagiarism checker for teachers.
If you’re a student, for $8 per page, their experts can rewrite up to 75% of your content. They will edit and proofread your paper to make it plagiarism-free and ready for submission.
If you need a quick and basic plagiarism checker with extensive features for more in-depth editing and rewriting, PapersOwl is the way to go.
4. Plagium
Plagium is a web-based tool that’s convenient for both students and teachers.
This platform’s main features include a deep search that offers a more in-depth check, including extra levels of plagiarism search with additional result information.
You can also integrate Plagium easily with your Google Drive and Google Docs.
These features are especially beneficial for educators who need to make sure the originality and citation of their students’ work have been done correctly.
Plagium also offers support for multiple languages – English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese – making it a good choice for international use.
Plagium Cost and Accessibility
Those who are curious can try Plagium for free for up to 1,000 characters.
You can also choose the pay-as-you-go option that starts at $0.04 per 1,000 characters for quick searches, $0.08 for a deep search, and $0.005 to compare uploaded files.
Monthly subscriptions are also available that start at $9.99 per month, offering higher volume searches with additional features.
While Plagium is a pricier option, its robust features, flexible pricing, and language support make it stand out as an excellent plagiarism detector.
5. Scribbr
Perhaps the best all-around academic services provider that we have here is Scribbr.
They provide high-quality proofreading and editing services, plagiarism checkers, citation generators, and even a knowledge base of resources.
Their writers can handle all types of projects like essays, research papers, theses, and dissertations.
Scribbr’s plagiarism checker is another standout feature because it’s powered by the authorized partner Turnitin.
It detects similarities between submitted papers and has a vast database of web and publication content that covers 99 billion web pages and eight million publications – all in over 20 languages.
Scribbr Cost and Accessibility
Despite its power, Scribbr’s biggest downside is its cost. Although Scribbr offers a free version of its plagiarism checker, it’s very limited.
Pricing depends on the document length, level of service required, and also turnaround time.
So a small document of up to 7,499 words starts at $19.95, while larger documents of 50,000+ words can cost up to $39.95.
You will need to look at Scribbr not just as a plagiarism tool but as the ultimate service provider for academics.
Scribbr is a great choice for those in need of thorough and reliable assistance with their academic work.
What are the Consequences of Plagiarism?
You might trust that your students will never copy any original work. Or you might be a student who fully believes you’ll conduct genuinely trustworthy research and paraphrase your content correctly.
But what’s scary about plagiarism is that it can be done accidentally, too.
The consequence of plagiarism, whether done intentionally or unintentionally, goes far and wide.
For students, it can result in academic penalties – failing grades, suspension, or even expulsion.
Beyond the obvious, plagiarism can also tarnish a student’s reputation and will make it much harder for them to succeed academically.
Within the academe, plagiarism destroys trust. It essentially violates ethical standards and damages the value of original research and creative work.
Plagiarism can also lead to legal consequences, especially in cases of copyright infringement.
Individuals, institutions, and the broader academic and professional communities should take plagiarism very seriously and always take proactive measures to prevent it.
Conclusion
What’s great is that plagiarism detection tools continue to evolve. This gives educators a range of options to maintain academic integrity.
As technology advances and plagiarism detection methods become more sophisticated, educators should stay informed and take advantage of the best tools available.
But no matter which tool you choose, don’t forget to include a robust AI plagiarism detector like Undetectable AI in your toolkit.
It’s time to future-proof your plagiarism detection methods with the help of AI.
We can give educators like you even more confidence in the authenticity of your students’ work.