Assigned a group project? Check your classmates' work for plagiarism!

We are approaching the end of the semester and many students are working on completing various group projects for our classes.

My advice: Check all your group members' work for plagiarism before you turn in your final project.  Do this even if you aren't the person responsible for the final draft!  I've heard of at least two (possibly three) instances of plagiarism on group project contributions by students in UNLV's MBA program this year[1].  Fortunately in each of the cases I know of, the person responsible for compiling, editing, and submitting the final paper was able to recognize and rewrite/cite (or require the guilty party to rewrite/cite) the plagiarized parts before they turned it in to the professor.  If they had been more trusting (or the plagiarizer less obvious) and just turned it in, chances are that the professor (much more experienced in recognizing and verifying plagiarism) would have caught it and the whole group would have received failing grades.

OK, so now that you know you should check, how do you do it?  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of advice beyond the obvious strategy of entering suspicious phrases into Google and seeing what comes up.  There are paid plagiarism-checking tools, but I doubt that very many students would be willing to invest in those.

I know a few professors read this blog -- do you have any suggestions for free tools and strategies students can use to check their classmates' work for plagiarism?

[1] Futher evidence that MBA students really are the most unethical group of students.  See "Survey Finds Widespread Cheating in MBA Programs", "Wily MBA students lead the cheating pack", and "MBA: The devil's degree?"

Update: So, the possible third instance of plagiarism I mentioned was someone in one of my own group projects and it turns out that she did indeed plagiarize everything.

Comments

[jeff]

Who the hell lies and cheats once there in a MBA program? You're supposed to lie and cheat to get into the program. The coursework is a piece of cake, a formality, I think 98% or so of people entering MBA programs end up with the degree.

The whole deal is getting in to the best program you can, by hook or crook.

And as far as the links about MBA students cheating the most - yes, they're on top, but not by a whole lot.

[jeff]

once there in

once they're in - oops

[Jacqueline]

Well at least we can tell that you probably didn't plagiarize that comment. :)

[Philip Welch]

Well at least we can tell that you probably didn't plagiarize that comment. :)

[Bill T]

Well at least can tell we that probably you didn't plagiarize that comment. :)

[Peter]

Futher evidence that MBA students really are the most unethical group of students.

More so than law students?

[Jacqueline]

Well, MBA students self-report cheating more than law students do. I suppose that law students could just lie more, including on anonymous surveys.