diff --git a/org.eclipse.rephraserengine.core/src/org/eclipse/rephraserengine/core/util/TestUtil.java b/org.eclipse.rephraserengine.core/src/org/eclipse/rephraserengine/core/util/TestUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77c639e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.eclipse.rephraserengine.core/src/org/eclipse/rephraserengine/core/util/TestUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2011 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and others.
+ * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
+ * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
+ * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *    UIUC - Initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.eclipse.rephraserengine.core.util;
+
+/**
+ * Utility methods for JUnit/testing.
+ * 
+ * @author Jeff Overbey
+ * 
+ * @since 3.0
+ */
+public final class TestUtil
+{
+    private TestUtil() {;}
+    
+    /** @return true if Eclipse is being run via the JUnit Plug-in Test runner */
+    public static boolean runningJUnitPluginTests()
+    {
+        String app = System.getProperty("eclipse.application"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+        return app != null && app.toLowerCase().contains("junit"); //$NON-NLS-1$
+    }
+}