Academic Plagiarism: Explanatory Factors from Students’ Perspective
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the results of a research, carried out in a medium-sized Spanish university, based on a double-method approach, concerning the factors associated with academic plagiarism from the students' perspective.
Abstract: The study of academic plagiarism among university students is at an embryonic stage in Spain and in the other Spanish-speaking countries. This article reports the results of a research, carried out in a medium-sized Spanish university, based on a double method approach—quantitative and qualitative—concerning the factors associated with academic plagiarism from the students’ perspective. The main explanatory factors of the phenomenon, according to the results obtained, are: a) aspects and behaviour of students (bad time management, personal shortcomings when preparing assignments, the elevated number of assignments to be handed in, etc.); b) the opportunities conferred by information and communication technologies to locate, copy and paste information; and, finally, c) aspects related to professors-lecturers and/or the characteristics of the subject-course (lecturers who show no interest in their work, eminently theoretical subjects and assignments, etc.).
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TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of the information and literature thus far available on the topic, including its definition, the problems it involves, its causal factors, and the ways in which educators might respond.
Abstract: ‘Contract cheating’ has recently emerged as a form of academic dishonesty. It involves students contracting out their coursework to writers in order to submit the purchased assignments as their own work, usually via the internet. This form of cheating involves epistemic and ethical problems that are continuous with older forms of cheating, but which it also casts in a new form. It is a concern to educators because it is very difficult to detect, because it is arguably more fraudulent than some other forms of plagiarism, and because it appears to be connected to a range of systemic problems within modern higher education. This paper provides an overview of the information and literature thus far available on the topic, including its definition, the problems it involves, its causal factors, and the ways in which educators might respond. We argue that while contract cheating is a concern, some of the suggested responses are themselves problematic, and that best practice responses to the issue should avoid moral panic and remain focussed on supporting honest students and good academic practice.
99 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a large scale web-based study examined the responses of between 1359 and 2207 participants from different academic disciplines at four German universities to address the effect of academic procrastination on seven different forms of academic misconduct (using fraudulent excuses, plagiarism, copying from someone else in exams, using forbidden means in exams and carrying forbidden means into exams, copying parts of homework from others, and fabrication or falsification of data) and its variety.
Abstract: In prior studies, academic procrastination has been discussed as an influencing factor of academic misconduct. However, empirical studies were conducted solely cross-sectionally and investigated only a few forms of academic misconduct. This large scale web-based study examined the responses of between 1359 and 2207 participants from different academic disciplines at four German universities to address the effect of academic procrastination on seven different forms of academic misconduct (using fraudulent excuses, plagiarism, copying from someone else in exams, using forbidden means in exams, carrying forbidden means into exams, copying parts of homework from others, and fabrication or falsification of data) and its variety. In measuring academic procrastination six months prior to academic misconduct, we found that academic procrastination affected the frequency of all forms of academic misconduct and its variety. We found the strongest effect of academic procrastination on using fraudulent excuses. Impli...
72 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a relatively new, but rapidly expanding, cause for concern for academics and administrators, that of students plagiarizing by using online auctions, a practice also known as "contract cheating".
Abstract: This paper describes a relatively new, but rapidly expanding, cause for concern for academics and administrators, that of students plagiarizing by using online auctions, a practice also known as “contract cheating”. The prevention and detection of such plagiarism in the context of science education presents particular difficulties. The paper suggests several innovative and possibly controversial methods to minimize the number of occurrences, ensuring that as few students cheat as possible, and describes various techniques to aid in the detection of those that do.
49 citations
Cites background from "Academic Plagiarism: Explanatory Fa..."
...Students’ perceptions of plagiarism have been the subject of much research (Marshall & Garry, 2005; Yeo, 2007; Devlin & Gray, 2007; Comas-Forgas & Sureda-Negre, 2009; Gullifer & Tyson, 2009)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the way teachers deal with plagiarism from the point of view of work engagement and work-related wellbeing and found that teachers must balance both rule-ethical and care-ethical orientations in their reactions and actions, and that the resources teachers draw upon when dealing with these demands are: dialogue and reflection in collegial dialogue, support from superiors and administration, shared protocols, procedures and plagiarism detection software.
Abstract: This article deals with the demands that plagiarism places on academic communities, and with the resources staff possess in dealing with these demands. It is suggested that plagiarism ought to be placed in the context of network of intertwining communities (scholarly, pedagogical and administrative), to which participants are engaged to a different extent. The relationship to the ethical issue of plagiarism is related to the subject’s engagement in these communities. The article examines the way teachers deal with plagiarism from the point of view of work engagement and work-related wellbeing. In particular, we analyse job demands created by episodes of dealing with plagiarism as well as job resources teachers possess that aid them in coping with these demands. We used thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews of teachers in two universities. Our results show that the demands fall on five thematic categories: 1. rupture in the personal pedagogical relationship, 2. challenge on the supervisory “gatekeeping” responsibility; 3. a breach of the “everyday normality”; 4. ambivalence in explaining plagiarism and 5. the strain of performing the act of accusation. A key job demand in dealing with plagiarism is that teachers must balance both rule-ethical and care-ethical orientations in their reactions and actions. The resources teachers draw upon when dealing with these demands are: 1) dialogue and reflection in collegial dialogue 2) support from superiors and administration 3) shared protocols, procedures and plagiarism detection software. Our analysis shows that there are various demands that make dealing with plagiarism a strenuous task, but university environments also provide teachers with resources to cope with them.
47 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a critical review of studies that have been conducted to examine staff's and students' perceptions of and attitudes toward plagiarism, revealing that most of these studies on plagiarism and attitudes towards plagiarism lack an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the perceptions of plagiarism with other contextual, sociocultural and institutional variables.
Abstract: The abundance of information technology and electronic resources for academic materials has contributed to the attention given to research on plagiarism from various perspectives. Among the issues that have attracted researchers’ attention are perceptions of plagiarism and attitudes toward plagiarism. This article presents a critical review of studies that have been conducted to examine staff’s and students’ perceptions of and attitudes toward plagiarism. It also presents a review of studies that have focused on factors contributing to plagiarism. Our review of studies reveals that most of the studies on perceptions of plagiarism and attitudes toward plagiarism lack an in-depth analysis of the relationship between the perceptions of plagiarism and other contextual, sociocultural and institutional variables, or the relationship between attitudes toward plagiarism and students’ perceptions of various forms of plagiarism. Although our review shows that various factors can contribute to plagiarism, there is no taxonomy that can account for all these factors. Some suggestions for future research are provided in this review article.
45 citations
References
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TL;DR: This paper reviewed the literature on plagiarism by students, much of it based on North American experience, to discover what lessons it holds for institutional policy and practice within institutions of higher education in the UK.
Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on plagiarism by students, much of it based on North American experience, to discover what lessons it holds for institutional policy and practice within institutions of higher education in the UK. It explores seven themes: the meaning and context of plagiarism, the nature of plagiarism by students, how do students perceive plagiarism, how big a problem is student plagiarism, why do students cheat, what challenges are posed by digital plagiarism and is there a need to promote academic integrity? It is concluded that plagiarism is doubtless common and getting more so (particularly with increased access to digital sources, including the Internet), that there are multiple reasons why students plagiarise and that students often rationalise their cheating behaviour and downplay the importance of plagiarism by themselves and their peers. It is also concluded that there is a growing need for UK institutions to develop cohesive frameworks for dealing with student plagiarism that a...
803 citations
"Academic Plagiarism: Explanatory Fa..." refers background in this paper
...Park (2003) made an in-depth analysis of the existing literature in the field and listed the main factors associated with academic plagiarism among students....
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TL;DR: This article found that cheating was influenced by a number of characteristics of individuals including age, gender, and grade point average, as well as contextual factors including the level of cheating among peers, peer disapproval of cheating, fraternity/sorority membership, and the perceived severity of penalties for cheating.
Abstract: Students at nine medium to large state universities were surveyed in this comprehensive investigation of the influences of individual and contextual factors on self-reported academic dishonesty. Results suggested that cheating was influenced by a number of characteristics of individuals including age, gender, and grade-point average, as well as a number of contextual factors including the level of cheating among peers, peer disapproval of cheating, fraternity/sorority membership, and the perceived severity of penalties for cheating. Peer disapproval was the strongest influential factor.
800 citations
"Academic Plagiarism: Explanatory Fa..." refers background in this paper
...McCabe and Trevino (1997) analysed how peer behaviour influenced students’ decisions about acting in accordance with or against academic norms....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between lecturers' approaches to teaching and their conceptions of good teaching, and found that lecturers who conceived teaching as transmitting knowledge were more likely to use content-centred approaches to teach, while those who conceivedteaching as facilitative tended to use learning-centered approaches.
Abstract: Previous research has established a close link between students'conceptions of learning, approaches to study and learning outcomes.Until recently, there have been few studies of lecturers' approaches toteaching in higher education and their relationship with conceptions ofteaching. This study aimed to characterise the alternative approaches toteaching of university lecturers, and to examine the relationshipbetween lecturers' approaches to teaching and their conceptions of goodteaching. This study adopted an open naturalistic approach. Seventeenlecturers in three departments in a university were selected forinterview based on their rank, years of teaching and industrial orprofessional experience. Lecturers were interviewed individually abouttheir conceptions of good teaching, motivational strategies andeffective teaching. The interview records were then content analysed bythe two researchers of the study. The study found that (a) it waspossible to characterise lecturers' approaches to teaching with onemotivation and five strategy dimensions; (b) the conceptions of teachingof the lecturers were best described by two main orientations oftransmissive and facilitative teaching; (c) lecturers who conceivedteaching as transmitting knowledge were more likely to usecontent-centred approaches to teaching, while those who conceivedteaching as facilitative tended to use learning-centred approaches. Thestudy concludes by suggesting that fundamental changes to the quality ofteaching and learning are unlikely to happen without changes tolecturers' conception of teaching.
574 citations
"Academic Plagiarism: Explanatory Fa..." refers methods in this paper
...The data from the discussion groups, which comprise part of this study, were analysed according to the procedure for qualitative data analysis used by Kember and Kwan (2000) and Devlin and Gray (2007)....
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TL;DR: This article investigated student cheating on exams, quizzes, and homework assignments and found that more than half the students reported cheating during the academic year on at least one of the above three factors: immaturity, lack of commitment to academics, and neutralization.
Abstract: Through the use of a 49-item questionnaire administered to 380 university students, we investigated student cheating on exams, quizzes, and homework assignments. More than half the students reported cheating during the academic year on at least one of the above. The purpose of this paper was to uncover fundamental factors underlying cheating behavior. Through the use of correlational and factor analysis, three primary factors were identified: student immaturity, lack of commitment to academics, and neutralization. We offer interpretations of these factors and suggestions for testing these and other factors in future research.
473 citations
"Academic Plagiarism: Explanatory Fa..." refers background in this paper
...As Bertram-Gallant (2006) states, empirical analysis in this field has become consolidated since the 1990s, despite the previous existence of singular, noteworthy, empirical approaches such as Bowers (1964), Singhal (1982) and Haines et al. (1986) ....
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors report the use of a qualitative methodology which attempts to discover the student perception of cheating and plagiarism without presupposing that students start from the same premises as academics.
Abstract: The little published work on cheating and plagiarism amongst students in higher education has, almost without exception, used questionnaire techniques which take for granted a shared understanding of the issues involved. The work reports the use of a qualitative methodology which attempts to discover the student perception of cheating and plagiarism without presupposing that students start from the same premises as academics. Prominent among the findings are the following: (a) there is a strong moral basis to students' views, which focus on such values as friendship, interpersonal trust and good learning. This means that some punishable behaviour can be regarded as justifiable and some officially approved behaviour can be felt to be dubious; (b) the notion of plagiarism is regarded as extremely unclear—some students have a fear that they might well plagiarise unwittingly in writing what they genuinely take to be their own ideas; and (c) factors such as alienation from the university due to lack o...
465 citations
Additional excerpts
...This is the case with Ashworth et al. (1997), who claim, as part of the results of their qualitative research, that students excuse themselves for plagiarism because the subject matter of the course was perceived to be as secondary or not very relevant in the curriculum, was badly presented by lecturers, or was superficially assessed....
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