1. Study Synopsis
The Source in Student Writing – Secondary Education
Andree Swanson, EdD, MHR, MAOM
www.edutopia.com

2. Turnitin
A Study
Conducted in 2011-
2012
Purpose
To examine the
secondary sources
that students use in
their written essays
9 million papers
“It is based on an
analysis of over 44
million content matches
from more than 9
million student papers”
(Turnitin, 2013, p. 3).

3. KEY FINDING # 1
“Students are relying on
sources that have weak
academic validity” (p. 3).
Copyright © 2000-2013 Dreamstime.

4. KEY FINDING # 2
“Most troubling, 18% of
content matches come from
paper mills and cheat sites”
(p. 3). In fact, the statistics
showed that there was a 4%
increase in the use of paper
mills and cheat sites (p. 5)
Copyright © 2000-2013 Dreamstime.

5. KEY FINDING # 3
Secondary
Sources
Vary
“Secondary student
sources vary considerably
from the sources higher
education students use in
their writing” (p. 3).

6. KEY FINDING # 4
“Educators should consider
taking time to teach
students how search engines
work and how to evaluate
and judge the quality of
online content” (p. 3).
Copyright © 2000-2013 Dreamstime.

7. Popular Sources

8. Popular Sources
• Wikipedia
• Answers.yahoo.com
• Enotes.com
• Answers.com
• Oppapers.com (a paper mill)
• Scribd.com
• Slideshare.net
• Essaymania.com
• Shmoop.com
• Medialibrary.org

9. OPP Results with My Name
Copyright © 2013 AC Swanson Group

10. “
”
Custom Essay Meister
“All content will be 100% original and there will be no plagiarism. Any outside info will be properly
cited.
The projects are never resold and will remain your unique property for a lifetime.
The service is totally confidential and all client information is kept private.”
http://www.customessaymeister.com/hire_essay_writer

11. Blogs
Many students are citing
blogs, not realizing that
these are mostly filled
with opinions.
www.zachbussey.com

12. Top Cheat Sites
This table represents the top 10 cheat sites and paper mills that appear in student work.
Number Top Cheat Sites Number of Matches in Turnitin
1 Oppapers.com 1,245,097
2 Essaymania.com 932,709
3 Antiessays.com 798,557
4 123helpme 794,807
5 Allfreeessays.com 604,413
6 Bignerds.com 534,955
7 Slashdoc.com 526,152
8 Customessaymeister.com 525.242
9 Novelguide.com 410,964
10 Termpaperslab.com 302,811