Turnitin.com = Crap

Thankfully I haven't had to use Turnitin.com since first year, but I did decide to take an first year American Studies class this year. And guess what? I had to use it again. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this site, you submit an essay or term paper onto its online database which checks it against other essays on its database to see if you've plaigarised. Why this is stupid is because when I checked the results of my essay, apparently I have stuff in common with 11% of the other essays on the site. I checked what parts I had in common and it was stuff I had quoted from sources. Utterly ridiculous.

The majority of my professors hate this site and refuse to use it because it stores your essay, which is your own personal work. After you submit to the site though, it is available for the world to see....basically stealing your work. That is the argument that my professors have made. It's plaigarising your own work so it can catch plaigarism. Quite a paradox of stupidity if you ask me.