'Thou shalt not plagiarise': from self-reported views to recognition and avoidance of plagiarism

Throughout much of the literature on plagiarism in higher education, there is an implicit assumption that students who understand plagiarism, who have high ethical views and declare not to engage in plagiaristic behaviour are able to recognise it and avoid it in practice. Challenging this suppositio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Assessment and evaluation in higher education 2013-02, Vol.38 (1), p.34-43
Main Authors: Risquez, Angelica, O'Dwyer, Michele, Ledwith, Ann
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
academic honesty
academic writing
Cheating
Citations (References)
College students
Comprehension
Data integrity
Ethics
Experiential Learning
Foreign Countries
Higher education
Hypothesis Testing
Ireland
Learning
Plagiarism
Predictor Variables
Questionnaires
Student Behavior
Undergraduate Students
university student
Values
Vignettes
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Summary:Throughout much of the literature on plagiarism in higher education, there is an implicit assumption that students who understand plagiarism, who have high ethical views and declare not to engage in plagiaristic behaviour are able to recognise it and avoid it in practice. Challenging this supposition, this paper contrasts students' self-reported data with their ability to recognise and avoid plagiarism in a proposed case scenario. A questionnaire was adapted from previous literature and administered to a sample of undergraduate first- and second-year students in an Irish university. Results show that self-reported measures are not a powerful predictor of the students' ability to recognise the practical case as an academic breach, nor to avoid the breach through referencing. This suggests that students' understanding and awareness of academic breaches would benefit from experiential learning and that higher education institutions should not merely rely on providing statements and definitions of academic misconduct. Also, the results highlight the potential unsuitability of using self-reported measures to study plagiarism, despite their widespread use.
ISSN:0260-2938
1469-297X
DOI:10.1080/02602938.2011.596926