How did Turnitin.com become the subject of a copyright lawsuit?
Turnitin.com is a teaching aid and plagiarism detection program. A university (or high school) can subscribe
to it to help their students learn to write correctly, and to help catch habitual plagiarists. (Turn It In 2011)
Turnitin.com owns a large database of student and professional writing. A student's paper is submitted to
Turnitin.com and then compared with its database. The student (or instructor) receives the paper with
potentially infringing phrases and paragraphs highlighted. If this program is used during the creation
stages of an assignment, it can be very helpful for teaching students how to use outside sources properly.