Pharmacy College Apps To Be Scrutinized for Plagiarism

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 05/17/11

The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) will be using a plagiarism checking service to assess admission essays going forward. The organization, which comprises 120 accredited colleges and schools of pharmacy, has adopted Turnitin for Admissions from iParadigms to check essays submitted through its Pharmacy College Application Service (PharmCAS). PharmCAS provides a centralized application service for applicants applying to participating schools. The association's member institutions have 5,900 faculty; 54,700 students enrolled in professional programs; and 5,400 people pursuing graduate study.

PharmCAS' service provider, Liaison International, will handle integration of the Turnitin application. In turn, that integration will enable admissions offices at member schools to review reports about applicant essays assessing authenticity and similarity.

"After surveying AACP's member pharmacy schools and hearing that the majority were supportive of incorporating plagiarism detection software into [PharmCAS], we knew we had to move forward with the addition of plagiarism detection software," said Jennifer Athay, director of student affairs for the association. "We are looking forward to increasing the honesty and integrity of the pharmacy school application process through the use of Turnitin for Admissions."

The Turnitin service compares content from submitted documents to a database of existing content to generate a "similarity report," which highlights and provides links to any significant matches found within the text. By pinpointing potential unoriginal content, the service can help admissions' staff decide whether plagiarism, duplication, collusion, or other problems exist with the application.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • interconnected cloud icons with glowing lines on a gradient blue backdrop

    Report: Cloud Certifications Bring Biggest Salary Payoff

    It pays to be conversant in cloud, according to a new study from Skillsoft The company's annual IT skills and salary survey report found that the top three certifications resulting in the highest payoffs salarywise are for skills in the cloud, specifically related to Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Nutanix.

  • AI-inspired background pattern with geometric shapes and fine lines in muted blue and gray on a dark background

    IBM Releases Granite 3.0 Family of Advanced AI Models

    IBM has introduced its most advanced family of AI models to date, Granite 3.0, at its annual TechXchange event. The new models were developed to provide a combination of performance, flexibility, and autonomy that outperforms or matches similarly sized models from leading providers on a range of benchmarks.

  • landscape photo with an AI rubber stamp on top

    California AI Watermarking Bill Garners OpenAI Support

    ChatGPT creator OpenAI is backing a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content in the form of a digital "watermark." The proposed legislation, known as the "California Digital Content Provenance Standards" (AB 3211), aims to ensure transparency in digital media by identifying content created through artificial intelligence. This requirement would apply to a broad range of AI-generated material, from harmless memes to deepfakes that could be used to spread misinformation about political candidates.

  • happy woman sitting in front of computer

    Delightful Progress: Kuali's Legacy of Community and Leadership

    CEO Joel Dehlin updates us on Kuali today, and how it has thrived as a software company that succeeds in the tech marketplace while maintaining the community values envisioned in higher education years ago.