Plagiarism detection using software tools : a study in a Computer Science degree

Plagiarism of projects submitted by students for evaluation in courses at the undergraduate level is a problem that produces increasing concerns in instructors in universities, since detection of plagiarized documents is becoming harder in continuously assessed courses, where the number of projects delivered by students is huge. Plagiarism presents particular features in Computer Science and related degrees, such as: (i) students must learn distinction between plagiarism and software reutilization as a basis of professional honesty, (ii) project-based assessment is widely extended and cannot be fully based on individual interviews with students, (iii) implementation-related skills are assessed by reviewing the source code of projects and (iv) sharing of knowledge has to be promoted among students.