SLIPPERY ROCK — With the Internet, plagiarism can be just a computer click away for college and high school students.

To help battle the potential problem of cheating, Slippery Rock University has bought a world-renowned computer system that checks student work for plagiarism.

SRU began using it last fall, said history professor John Nichols, who helped pick out the software as part of the Teaching Learning Technology Roundtable.

The computer software, called TurnItIn, is the leading software for this type of work, Nichols said. It works with Blackboard, the computer system SRU has had for several years that allows students to see their grades, check their e-mail and network information from the other 13 state-owned universities.

"This is a huge database," Nichols said. "Every paper ever submitted becomes part of the database."

The database also checks a student's paper against any works on the Internet, he said.

Each time a paper is checked, a report shows if plagiarism is detected and shows what the source is, he said.

"It's a learning tool," he said. "The student may not know about plagiarism."

Nichols wasn't sure what TurnItIn cost because it was bought by the state to serve all 14 state-owned universities. But when his committee researched TurnItIn, it cost $9,000 per year.

Many students using the Internet for research information don't know how to use that information, he said. If they learn that their paper matches other sources of information, they may change it.

"It's not intended to catch cheaters but it's a learning tool," he said of TurnItIn. "They can update (the paper) as many times as they like until they feel satisfied with it."

Nichols only checks papers posted on a certain part of Blackboard. Other SRU professors may have different policies, he said.

How plagiarism is handled at SRU varies for each professor, he said. A professor may fail the paper, may fail the student for the course or may tell the student to rewrite the paper for a second chance.

Professors aren't required to use the software, so a comparison of programs where plagiarism is concerned is difficult, Nichols said.

"It's really just starting here," he said.

Butler County Community College relies on professors to catch potential plagiarism cases.

When a faculty member at BC3 suspects a student of plagiarism, the professor can contact Jean Shumway, the college's reference librarian, who will help the instructor use search engines on the Internet to track down the information's origin.

Shumway said there are some instances when students just haven't properly cited sources because of ignorance, but most of the plagiarism cases she has seen are blatant. Some students buy papers, some create fictitious sources and some just copy wholesale.

"It's so easy," Shumway said. "It's so tempting because it's just cut and paste."

High school teachers and administrators also have to deal with plagiarism by students. But they do not have the aid of sophisticated software and must rely on a teacher's experience when trying to catch cheaters.

Trudy Peterman, superintendent of the Moniteau School District, said most of the plagiarism still occurs in English classes, where the temptation to use old papers or copy the ideas of others remains great.

She said there is no specific training program for teachers, but experience gives teachers an edge in spotting plagiarists' work.

"Teachers have been there for a long time and recognize a paper if it was electronically cut and pasted. Teachers can tell when students' tone and style changes, especially if they are an inconsistent writer and then, brilliant."

Harry Beil, principal at Slippery Rock High School, said he's been in education for 32 years and has never seen such a problem with plagiarism as he's seen recently.

"In the past four to six months, we have had 20 situations," Beil said.

Usually the school just has one or two cases of plagiarism in a year, he said.

Most cases happen in English or social studies classes, but there have been a few in math classes recently, he said.

"There is more writing required now," than ever in all classes, Beil said.

There is no computerized system to catch offenders at the high school, Beil said, but he would like the district to look into it. However, he's concerned a system would be too costly.

Students in the Slippery Rock district receive an F on the assignment and detention time for the first offense of plagiarism and failure of the course for the second offense at the high school.

Michael Strutt, a Butler School District assistant superintendent, said a teacher at Butler High School who finds a student who has plagiarized could use the incident to teach students how to paraphrase or cite sources.

"When in doubt, give credit," he said of students needing to give credit to sources.

In the Karns City School District, the Internet is singled out in the student manual, where it warns that credit must always be given to the author when copying and pasting.

In all cases, a student found guilty of plagiarism will receive a grade of zero on the assignment, at which point it becomes a disciplinary matter. If extreme, a student can be removed from the class.

In that school district, plagiarism is classified as a level two penalty on a scale of three, where the initial punishment is a Friday detention and the maximum is a 10-day, out-of-school suspension, according to school policy.

Eagle staff writer Megan Duncan and Eagle news intern Greg Latshaw contributed to this report.