Academic Integrity and Turnitin

On June 8-12, a series of informational and practical meetings on plagiarism and the Turnitin program were held online for graduating students at the university who are currently working on bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral theses.

The training was multi-part and was conducted in stages for different program groups on days specially allocated for them. With the help of the remote platform, all students had the opportunity to receive the necessary support in a comfortable environment and get acquainted with the academic standards that will help them create quality papers.

The online meetings were led by the head of the library, Tamar Kavtaradze, who is the administrator of the Turnitin program and a specialist in plagiarism prevention.

The first part of each webinar was devoted entirely to discussing the nature of plagiarism and its various types. The trainer, together with the students, analyzed in detail what is considered academic misconduct and how to avoid it in the process of working on a paper. The theoretical material became even more visible through the discussion of real cases taken from modern life, which clearly showed the students how important it is to follow the rules of citation and separate one’s own ideas from other sources.

The next stage of the meetings was devoted to practical work, which was held in a virtual space, in the screen sharing mode. With the help of the trainer, the students went through the step-by-step registration in the Turnitin program, which is an international platform for checking academic papers. They studied in detail how to upload papers, how to correctly interpret the results obtained and what specific features this system is distinguished by. In addition, the trainer gave each group practical recommendations on how to use the program effectively to improve their papers.

It is noteworthy that such online trainings are systematic at the university. They are periodically conducted for all graduating students who are working on bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral theses, which once again emphasizes the aspiration of the university to maximally contribute to the establishment of high standards of academic integrity, even through remote access.