What is SafeAssign?

SafeAssign is an advanced plagiarism prevention system integrated with Blackboard that compares student papers submitted to Blackboard against a wide range of sources and provides instructors with detailed Originality Reports. Because of SafeAssign's flexibility, its use is not limited to catching cheaters - this product is also an effective way to help instructors raise student awareness about plagiarism and to educate students about the ways to avoid plagiarizing. SafeAssign searches a wide range of databases, covering virtually all potential sources of electronic plagiarism. For more information, see the SafeAssign Web site.

How do I create a SafeAssignment?

1. Go to your course Control Panel.
   
2. Locate the content area in which you want to place the assignment (for example: My Documents or Assignments).
   
3. From the drop-down menu at the right hand side of your screen, select the SafeAssignment option and click Go.
   
   
4. Enter the Assignment Name and Points Possible. Add any instructions into the Text field. Choose the dates of availability if desired.
   
5. Select the appropriate settings:
   Drafts - Allows students to validate their paper without submitting it to the institutional database.
   Students Viewable - Determines whether or not Students can see the report generated when their papers are submitted.
   Urgent Checking - Sets papers to a high priority in the queue.
   
6. If you would like to create an optional announcement (to notify the students that a new assignment has been posted), enter it in to the Optional Announcement area.
   
7. Click Submit. You will receive a receipt saying that the assignment was successfully added.

How do I view the papers that my students have submitted?

1. Go to your course Control Panel.
   
2. Click on the SafeAssign option under Course Tools.
   
   Note: If the SafeAssign option is not visible under Course Tools, you will need to turn it on.
   
3. Locate the assignment that you wish to view.
   
4. Click the link to View.
   
5. You will be able to see the following information for this assignment.
   
   • Student Name and ID Number - A list of all students enrolled in your Blackboard course.
     
   • Matching - This score is very highly correlated with a) the probability that there is some text matching other documents in the paper; b) the amount of matching text in the document. In general, this score should be treated as a warning indicator. We strongly recommend reviewing all reports with high Matching Scores.
     • Scores below 15% - usually papers with such scores contain some quotes and a few "typical" phrases that match other documents. In most cases, they do not require any further analysis, and there is no evidence of plagiarism in the report.
     • Scores between 15% and 40% - papers with such scores can contain plagiarism or can have just too much quoted material. We usually recommend reviewing the reports with such scores before making any judgments about the papers.
     • Scores over 40% - with such scores, there is almost 100% probability that the paper contains some text copied from elsewhere, and even if this text is properly cited, such amount of cited material is considered excessive in most cases. Therefore, such scores give a clear warning to instructors. However, there are few cases when such scores can be given to authentic papers, for example, when the paper was legitimately published online before it was sent for processing, or when the same student has already submitted this paper or a similar paper to another class.
       
   • File - A link to the student's paper.
     
   • Text - A link to the text that was extracted from the student's paper. This text is the content that was actually checked against the plagiarism database.
     
   • SA Report - Contains links to matching sources on the internet.

   Note: Once a student has submitted a paper to Blackboard, it may take anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes before it's score appears.
   

What do the results mean?

• Scores below 15% - usually papers with such scores contain some quotes and a few "typical" phrases that match other documents. In most cases, they do not require any further analysis, and there is no evidence of plagiarism in the report.
  
• Scores between 15% and 40% - papers with such scores can contain plagiarism or can have just too much quoted material. We usually recommend reviewing the reports with such scores before making any judgments about the papers.
  
• Scores over 40% - with such scores, there is almost 100% probability that the paper contains some text copied from elsewhere, and even if this text is properly cited, such amount of cited material is considered excessive in most cases. Therefore, such scores give a clear warning to instructors. However, there are few cases when such scores can be given to authentic papers, for example, when the paper was legitimately published online before it was sent for processing, or when the same student has already submitted this paper or a similar paper to another class.

Why can't I see the SafeAssign link under Course Tools?

If your Blackboard course was created prior to the installation of the SafeAssign Building Block, the SafeAssign link will not be visible under Course Tools by default. You will need to go and turn it on as follows:

1. Go to your course Control Panel.
   
2. Click the Manage Tools link under Course Options.
   
   
   
3. Click the Building Block Tool Availability link.
   
4. Place a check mark in the Available box next to SafeAssign and click Submit.

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Last Modified: Wednesday, 23-Jan-2008 9:27 AM .