A free Plagiarism Checker can be of great service to students and teachers. PlagiarismChecker.com is another option that uses Google Search for you. It is as simple as pasting your text into a text box and it will search for similar wording on Google. The site has a specific link for teachers to get assistance using the software with student work and how it can benefit you. Remember, it is only doing an Internet search though.
If you find yourself really needing to find cheaters you can even sign up for a Google Alert and you will receive an email from Google whenever the text appears somewhere on the Internet. You can click on the preferences to setup an email account for the Google Alerts.
There are some other options on the page. You can insert a web page URL and check it for plagiarism as well, but this aspect is still a work in progress. There are also several handouts you can use to assist you with using PlagiarismChecker.com and find information about plagiarism in general. The site also provides an area for authors to report plagiarism for those that are publishers.
