On Plagiarism
~ The Plagiarism Sleuth ~
Make 2Learn.ca's Plagiarism Sleuth Work For You!
Enter/Paste a unique phrase. Place it "in quotation marks":
Search with:  
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"Once again, I have found a student's plagiarized essay due to the amazing tool offered by 2Learn.ca. Thanks again for saving me so much time searching."
Alberta Teacher

How to Use 2Learn.ca's
Plagiarism Sleuth

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"Sleuth Tour"
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Choose a search string of three or more words from a suspect essay.

  • Even if you suspect that the whole essay is plagiarized, only search short phrases at a time.  These search engines are searching for exact text matches.
  • Make sure the phrase you choose is one that will discriminate this essay from others--don't include a phrase that might occur in someone else's essay as this will just clutter up the search results.  
    • Don't use:  "To be, or not to be" -- you will be overloaded with false results
    • Do use: "Hamlet's masterful manipulation of Rosencrantz" -- concise and unique
Insert those words in the search box above, enclosing them in quotation marks:  "Just like this!"  For the phrase to be searched as a complete phrase it must be pasted "in quotation marks"--or else all pages that contain even just one of the words will turn up in your search results (messy!).  Don't include any actual quoted material in your phrase, as the search engine will stop reading the phrase as soon as it meets the second quotation mark, wherever it may be. Check that the text is exactly what you want to search:
  • make sure you haven't added any extra spaces: " like this"
  • make sure you haven't truncated any words: "ike this"
  • make sure you haven't included any other quotation marks: "like "this""

Scroll the scroll box to choose a search engine.  Each search engine works differently--every search engine in this box has passed 2Learn.ca's scrutiny in locating text strings on the web. Now press the Search button.If you did not find the text you are looking for, simply scroll to another search engine and press the Search button again. If you have tested your search string in all search engines with no positive hits on the text you are looking for, try testing another phrase from the same essay.

Read the Small Print

The search engines above have been tested by the 2Learn team, and shown to be highly effective at identifying the source strings of exact test phrases submitted, when submitted in quotations marks, when the phrase comes from a search-engine accessible webpage.

Please remember that when using this tool, a negative search result does not mean that the work in question is definitely not plagiarized.  It simply means that it is likely not plagiarized from a search-engine accessible webpage.  The work may be plagiarized from an electronic database accessible on the web, or from printed material--or it might not be plagiarized.

Despite its less than 100% reliability, however, this tool, in conjunction with proactive teaching of responsible resource use and the research and writing processes, will serve you well in creating and maintaining an environment that encourages appropriate resource use.

Please note:  This guide (including the links it contains) is for general information and discussion purposes only.  It is not promoting a specific course of action to be taken in dealing with the issue of plagiarism in your classes so much as it provides a way a teacher might choose to proceed--another approach may be more acceptable in your classroom situation.  Understanding the issues associated with responsible and irresponsible use of web resources is one step towards building a culture of learners who use resources appropriately.

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