In the digital age, keeping academic work honest is crucial and tools like SafeAssign serve as guardians of originality. Safe Assign, utilized by educational institutions, scrutinizes submitted assignments against an extensive database that includes academic papers, various websites, and other relevant sources for any overlapping text. With the growing concern around academic honesty, the International Center for Academic Integrity discovered that 68% of undergraduate students have participated in dishonest practices like cheating on assignments or exams. As a response, SafeAssign has responded by expanding and now reviews over 100 million student papers, cementing its position as a fundamental resource in battling plagiarism.

Let’s talk about SafeAssign, a tool that helps teachers and students avoid copying work. It works like a detective, checking if writing is original by comparing it to lots of other writing from the internet, big databases like ProQuest ABI/Inform, and papers from schools all over the world. We’re also going to look at how SafeAssign is different from other tools like Turnitin. Knowing how Safe Assign works is super important for keeping school/college work honest and original, and we’re going to explore why it’s a big deal for the future of learning.

What is all about SafeAssign?

SafeAssign is a tool made by Blackboard that helps keep institutions work honest by spotting when something isn’t original. It checks students’ work against a bunch of different places like:

Websites
The ProQuest ABI/Inform database
School papers from the past
A big collection of documents from around the world

It’s pretty smart and can find matches that are exactly the same or just kind of similar. This helps teachers see if any part of the work isn’t original.The cool part is, SafeAssign is part of Blackboard Learn, so it’s super easy for both teachers and students to use. Teachers can set it up for their assignments, including when it’s due and how much it’s worth. Students can also choose to add their papers to a big database, which helps stop copying between institutions. So, in simple terms, Safe Assign is like a helpful assistant that makes sure everyone’s work is their own, making it easier for teachers and students to keep things fair and original.

SafeAssign Supported File Types

SafeAssign supports various file formats, including Microsoft Word documents (.doc, .docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), Plain text files (.txt), Rich Text Format (.rtf), Portable Document Format (.pdf), HTML documents (.html), PowerPoint presentations (.ppt, .pptx) ensuring broad compatibility. The tool is a deterrent against plagiarism and educates students on the importance of proper source attribution, thus fostering a culture of honesty and integrity in academic settings.

How Does SafeAssign Work?

To use SafeAssign for checking plagiarism, teachers need to go to the settings of any assignment, whether it’s new or already exists. There, they can turn on the “Enable Originality Report” option under Safe Assign settings and choose to check the students’ work for plagiarism using SafeAssign. The great thing is, teachers can decide to do this at any time, even if students have already started submitting their work. This makes it really flexible for managing assignments in a course.

When a student submits their work, Safe Assign quickly gets to work and creates an Originality Report. This report shows how much of the student’s work matches content from other sources. It does this by comparing the work to lots of different places like the internet, the ProQuest ABI/Inform database, documents from the school itself, and a Global Reference Database. This helps teachers spot if any part of the work might be plagiarized.

SafeAssign can check a bunch of different file types like .docx, .pdf, .txt, and others, as long as the file isn’t bigger than 10 MB. This means students and teachers can use it for all sorts of assignments and tests. Just keep in mind that when it’s really busy, it might take a day or so (24-36 hours) to get the results back.

Read more about SafeAssign Plagiarism Checker

Understanding SafeAssign Scores

The Originality Report provides a percentage indicating the amount of text matching external sources, along with the sources themselves. Scores below 15% are generally acceptable, while scores between 15-40% may signal extensive quoted or paraphrased material requiring review for proper attribution. Scores over 40% suggest a high likelihood of excessive matching text or potential plagiarism, necessitating a thorough review.

Checking Your Work Before Final Submission

To enhance originality before final submission, students can utilize the ‘Draft Submission – SafeAssign Originality Report’ feature for preliminary feedback. Additionally, instructors should set up assignments by activating ‘Plagiarism Tools’ and allowing students to view their originality reports, fostering transparency and self-assessment. Students should submit assignments in accepted formats like PDF, adhering to file size and word count limits. Reviewing the Originality Report can help identify and address potential plagiarism issues.

SafeAssign and ChatGPT Detection

Currently, Safe Assign faces challenges in detecting content generated by ChatGPT due to the AI’s ability to produce varied texts on the same topic. To address this, Anthology has initiated a beta test with GPTZero, an AI detection tool designed to integrate with SafeAssign’s originality reporting features within Blackboard Learn. This test aims to evaluate the effectiveness and ethical implications of employing an algorithm-based tool to spotlight academic integrity concerns related to AI-generated content.

Read more about Does SafeAssign Detect ChatGPT?

Safe Assign vs. Other Free Plagiarism Checkers

In comparing Safe Assign with free plagiarism checkers like Grammarly and Plagscan, it’s essential to recognize the distinct algorithms each utilizes, leading to differences in effectiveness. While Grammarly offers comprehensive writing assistance, Plagscan and SafeAssign focus more on academic integrity, often finding their use within educational settings.

SafeAssign vs. Turnitin

SafeAssign and Turnitin are prominent plagiarism prevention tools adopted across educational institutions. While Safe Assign is seamlessly integrated with Blackboard, Turnitin requires a separate registration process and offers a more extensive range of online periodical databases. Turnitin accommodates both file uploads and cut-and-paste submissions, providing enhanced flexibility. It also offers additional feedback tools like a drawing tool and spellchecker, facilitating a more interactive learning experience.

The Future of SafeAssign

SafeAssign is a powerful tool that helps keep cheating in check and teaches students the right way to use sources in their work. It’s like a two-in-one: it stops plagiarism before it happens and shows students how to give proper credit for the ideas they use. The company behind SafeAssign, called Anthology, is always looking into how to make this tool even better. They’re digging into the tech behind it to make sure it can keep up with new ways of cheating and stay helpful for teachers and students.

Anthology is really committed to making sure their tools, like Safe Assign, are top-notch now and in the future. They’ve even set up a special group, the Anthology Education and Research Center, to think about how AI and technology will change education. This group’s work is super important because it helps make sure that tools for keeping school work honest can keep up with the times and the new challenges that come with them.

FAQs

Here are the few frequently asked questions about SafeAssign.

What is considered an acceptable Safe Assign score?

An okay score on SafeAssign is usually between 20% and 35%. This means that the paper does have some quotes or paraphrased bits from other sources, but they’re properly given credit, and there’s a good mix of the student’s own work and these cited parts.

How does SafeAssign work to prevent plagiarism?

Safe Assign helps stop plagiarism by being a part of Blackboard, a tool many schools use. It checks the papers students turn in against a big collection of other works to spot any parts that aren’t original. It then points out where the student’s work is too similar to something that’s already out there.

What does it mean if I have an overall match of 100% on Safe Assign?

An overall match of 100% on SafeAssign for a specific text passage suggests that the text aligns completely with an existing source. If cited correctly, this could be a proper quotation. However, if the text was used without appropriate attribution, it could indicate plagiarism through copy-pasting.

How can I view my SafeAssign originality score before my paper is graded?

You can check your SafeAssign originality score before your paper is graded by accessing the Originality Report. This is done through the Details & Information panel, where you can select “View Originality Report.” SafeAssign will analyze and report each attempt individually if you can make multiple submissions.