How to use Turnitin.com? - Does anybody know? (Feb/20/2011 )

Hi,

I want to check my thesis for plagiarism. There is a famous website called www.turnitin.com that I'm sure many of you already know. But I'm really confused how to use and upload my thesis there as it needs password.

Many people told me not to do it because after upload the thesis will be available for everyone, true?

looks like a strange website, seems more a commercial thing then the real thing.
I cant seem to find any thesis or place to upload a document. Are you sure you dont need to pay for it? or need to register?

BTW you want to check your own thesis for plagiarism? I mean: you wrote it, you must know if you simply copied something or not? Even if you wrote a sentence that can be found in another thesis, its no problem. As long as you made it yourself. I mean: what are the changes someone else will have the exact same sentence?

And if the website is what it claims to be, then yes, people will be able to check your thesis (if they pay or register I suppose).

And there is nothing strange about your thesis being there for everyone: this is always the case (unless it contains vital information that the university wants to keep secret for a few years, but after (I think5y) every thesis has to be made avaible for the public record at the library of your university. Atleast in europe,maybe the rules are different in the usa).

Hi Pito,
I'm not sure you have to pay for it or not, but I just contacted the university library and they told me to get class ID and password from my lecturer. Now, I don't know who to ask as long as I am a finishing PhD student. My supervisor also doesn't have ID. It seems to be a very popular website in the US in all schools and colleges, but not really outside the US. And I'm not sure if you log on with your lecturer ID you can search the whole database or just articles related to a specific class or exam?

I think ProQuest and UMI have a large database of dissertations. I found many new dissertations in their websites, even from 2010, you just have to pay, but if you log on via your university library then it is free. I have downloaded tons of theses.