How to use Google Search to check for plagiarized content

Technology is surely helping our students to get the latest information freely. However, because of Wikipedia and other online resources, the temptation for them to resort to academic dishonesty is also present all the more.

If you suspect that a student of yours has (copied and pasted, perhaps)

Here is how you can simply use Google Search to check for plagiarized content.

1. Access the Google Search webpage (http://www.google.com)
2. Enter the suspicious line of text (can be a phrase or even a whole sentence) in the search field enclosing the line in quotes.
3. Click search button.
4. What the quotation marks do is to make Google search for exact matches to the search terms that you have placed inside quotes. If it finds an exact match, then it is most likely that your student has indeed, copied and pasted from articles online.