Faculty Teaching Toolbox: Tools for Plagiarism Prevention

SafeAssign, one of a suite of tools in ACC's course management system, Blackboard, is available for faculty to use in deterring and detecting plagiarism. 

SafeAssign compares submitted manuscripts against the Internet Archive of over 8 billion documents, scholastic and news databases with over 9 million articles and an intra-institutional archive of previously submitted papers. 

After this comparison, the resource generates convenient and easy-to-read reports, where all unoriginal material is highlighted and linked to its online or database sources.

Blackboard Updates:

• Please note there is a bug in Blackboard that is removing the designation of Safe Assignments to assignments that have been course copied. If you use the Safe Assignment feature you will need to reassign that status to those assignments. 

  Steps to designate an Assignment as SafeAssign:

  1. Go to the content area where the assignment has been placed.
  2. Select the grey drop down arrow to the right of the assignment name and select ‘edit’
  3. Under the Grading details of the assignment select “Submission Details”. Once that menu opens check the box next to “Plagiarism Tools’ that states “Check submissions for plagiarism using SafeAssign
  4. Click Submit

• Log in to your Blackboard account.
• Select the course for which you wish to create your assignment.  
• Find the Control Panel on the left sidebar,
• Click Tools,
• Select the SafeAssign link.

Need help? Contact TLED for assistance.

• Citing Sources and Plagiarism Guide
• Citation Resources including various styles and citation generators
• Citation Styles
• Academic Honesty and Citing Tutorial for students

Explore the SafeAssign site for HowTos and FAQs.

Access ACC's Quick Start Guide.

Configure SafeAssign to:   

• Scan student assignments for plagiarism   
• Allow students to submit a draft, helping them to avoid unintentional plagiarism   
• Allow students to submit an unlimited number of drafts before their due date

• Tell your students that you will be using SafeAssign and that any plagiarism, intentional or not, will be have serious consequences.
• Stress the serious nature of academic dishonesty and the ACC policies that govern this issue.
• Remind your students that there are many resources that can help them understand this issue including librarians, a Library Guide on the topic, and a tutorial that helps students avoid accidental and intentional plagiarism. It can also be very helpful for students if you configure SafeAssign to allow them to submit a draft of their paper to help them identify unintentional plagiarism before they turn their paper in to you. 

The ACC Copyright & Fair Use Web site provides ACC faculty, staff, and students with information to help them understand and comply with the United States copyright laws.

While this site provides information about copyright laws, it should not be intended or construed as legal advice.

We recommend you consult an attorney if you want professional assurance that the information on this site and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation.

Assign the ACC Library Tutorial:

Student Affairs Assistance for Academic Integrity:

Course syllabi allow faculty to determine their own policies regarding academic integrity, but if a student violates policy or Academic Standards of Conduct, you may choose to share that with Student Affairs. There is now an easy, online way to do this. Use the link below: