"How can I avoid plagiarism, as I don't know how to paraphrase and cite sources properly?": An exploration of Thai students' understanding of plagiarism Background and Statement of the Problem (original) (raw)
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Undergraduate students’ understanding on plagiarism in academic writing
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Plagiarism in the Perception of Thai Students and Teachers
Plagiarism has become a critical issue in the academic context around the world including Thailand. Plagiarism is generally considered a form of cheating, and some studies of Thai students suggested that this problem is rooted in Thai cultural patterns, which accept cheating as a common practice (Young 2013). Generally, three plagiarism avoidance approaches have been taught: techniques for direct quotation, paraphrasing and summarizing. However, especially paraphrasing and summarizing are subtle skills, mastery of which requires excellent literacy skills and extended practice, but in actual classes, these techniques are always presented as an abridged part of an EAP course. Apparently, such courses do not prevent plagiarism; students always continue to be penalized for copying phrases from sources because they still cannot paraphrase and summarize properly. Some plagiarism detection software packages are also used as punitive tools, which has the effect of blaming students for the problem instead of helping them learn to avoid it (William 2002). In fact, it is unreasonable to expect control of such demanding techniques after a brief lecture and limited practice. Moreover, plagiarism by EFL students may actually be unintended, and the cause may go beyond deliberate dishonesty (Sivell 2013). It could involve other related cognitive factors such as a limited level of language proficiency, lack of clear instruction, insufficient practice, and unawareness of the regulations around correct techniques for writing from sources. This study examines how Thai students and teachers perceived plagiarism, what characteristics of each group hinder plagiarism avoidance, and how being reproached for academic dishonesty affects students’ motivation for language learning.
Malaysian Students' Understanding of Plagiarism
Malay, 2011
Academic institutions around the world have been plagued with the issue of plagiarism. In tertiary learning institutions in Malaysia, students are taught to write academic papers using correct referencing and citation rules. Yet, many of them still face difficulties in applying the rules. This paper investigates the extent of Malaysian students' understanding on plagiarism, referencing and citation rules. Questionnaires consisting of 3 sections were distributed by email to students studying in various institutions locally and abroad. Forty-eight Malaysian students responded via email and they come from different semesters taking different courses. The data collected reveals that students do have some basic understanding of plagiarism. However, their understanding on plagiarism and referencing rules can be categorized as weak. The results imply that educators may need to do more classes and give more info on plagiarism and referencing rules so as to reduce the number of students committing plagiarism.
Students' Understanding of Plagiarism in Academic Writing: Indonesian Context
IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature
Extensive studies identify plagiarism as a grave problem in Indonesian university students’ academic writing (Adiningrum, 2015; Sulaiman, 2015; Zalnur, 2012).Plagiarism is the most severe problem found in students’ theses in the context investigated in this study (Tangkelangi & Widyasari, 2015).However, no study explicitly examines the extent that students understand plagiarism, including both its concept and its practices in the focused context. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by investigating students’ understanding of plagiarism. Considering the results of previous studies related to the potential factors involved in students’ understanding of plagiarism, this study also aims to determine whether gender and academic achievement are considerable factors in students’ plagiarism understanding in the focused context. To investigate these issues, survey research using an adapted questionnaire was conducted to gather data from seventy participants out of a total population ...
Australian and Indonesian University Students'Understanding of Plagiarism
JELT
This article is part of a larger report of research which explored and compared Australian and Indonesian university students' attitudes toward plagiarism, understanding of plagiarism, and understanding of university policy on plagiarism. It focuses on whether or not Australian and Indonesian students differed in their understanding of the notion of plagiarism and its various forms. Data of the Australian and Indonesian subjects' understanding of plagiarism were gained using a questionnaire and focus group interviews. The results showed that the Australian students were more knowledgeable of the notion of plagiarism and its various forms than the Indonesian students. The differences may be attributed to the academic context of the study. The Indonesian students were not familiar with the Western norm in academic writing, the norm which is regularly practiced in the Australian context. This study strongly recommends that the Indonesian students' awareness of plagiarism be increased in order to avoid plagiarism.
The study examined university students' awareness and practices of academic writing which may border on plagiarism. The specific aspects examined were: (1) perceptions of university requirements on inclusion of citations in assignments, (2) practices of academic writing dealing with acknowledgement of intellectual property; and (3) rating of appropriateness of penalties for plagiarism. A survey of university students was conducted. The results indicated uncertainty with regards to their lecturers' expectations of citations and inadequate knowledge of citation conventions. The students were also uncertain as to whether they had to acknowledge information they paraphrased from Internet sources. There were mixed views on the acceptability of writing practices bordering on plagiarism as well as the appropriateness of penalties for plagiarism in assignments. The findings suggest that the lack of awareness on plagiarism could contribute to unintentional acts of plagiarism, and this is an important area which cannot be neglected in the education of post-secondary school students who have to deal with intertextuality in their academic studies.
Jurnal Smart, 2020
This study tries to answer two questions, namely 1) What do the lecturers and the students perceive about the practice of plagiarism in L2 writing? 2) What strategies did the lecturers and the students apply to writing L2 to avoid plagiarism? This study aimed at investigating the views of lecturers and students on plagiarism and its implications for teaching and learning at one of the EMI universities in Indonesia. The findings showed that both lecturers and students had negative views towards plagiarism. However, even though plagiarism was considered as an unacceptable behavior, the students would be likely to commit plagiarism under certain circumstances. Back translation was also found to be the most common strategy that the students used to avoid plagiarism. The study finally recommended higher education institutions to equip students with necessary language and writing skills needed in academic settings as early as possible in order for them to avoid plagiarism.
Students’ Perspective on Reference and Writing Strategies in Avoiding Plagiarism
2020
Abstract: In academic writing, incorporating source from previous research and expert is essential to support an article. However, improper use of other’s works might cause plagiarism. it is important to understand what is plagiarism and strategies to avoid it. This study aims to identify students’ perception about source incorporation, plagiarism and unintentional plagiarism due to error in writing as well as the strategies that they use to avoid plagiarism. This study use narrative qualitative framework and semi structural interview as instrument of data collection. Research data collected from 10 late-semester students of English department from University of Islam Malang. The result shows that most students understands about plagiarism and incorporation of other’s idea, but participants only mention problems related to textual plagiarism, and none mention about plagiarism of idea or self-plagiarism. To avoid plagiarism, each participant use directquotation technique properly, bu...
An Overview of Theories Explaining Plagiaristic Behavior of Students
Journal of Education and Practice, 2019
In academic writing, creating own text integrating appropriate sources is one of the troublesome areas for both L1 (for whom English is the first language) and L2 (for whom English is the second language) writers. As a result, to meet the writing demand of the academia an inexperienced writer adopts the technique of using other peoples' language and concepts without acknowledging the source-which is known as "plagiarism", a kind of academic dishonesty. However, there has been an outstanding dichotomy among the researchers regarding the reasons for plagiarism in academic writing committed by students. One group of researchers consider students as solely responsible for committing plagiarism. By this cohort of researchers, students'-lack of knowledge and skill in source acknowledgement, poor time management, busy schedule, procrastination, deficiency in academic writing, absence of ethical reasoning, attaining recognition-are mentioned as primary reasons of plagiarism. On the other hand, the other group of scholars brings forth the issue of responsibility of the educational institutions and academics as well. In this review, standpoints of scholars of both the schools explaining reasons of plagiarism are presented in a brief.
A Student Perspective of Plagiarism
Problems and Solutions
This paper reports on an Australian study of undergraduate students’ engagement in plagiarism-related behaviours, their knowledge of plagiarism and their academic writing skills. Students were surveyed to: (i) estimate the incidence of plagiarism behaviours; (ii) examine students’ self-reported academic writing skills; (iii) their knowledge of plagiarism; and (iv) their ability to identify plagiarised work. Across all three undergraduate years, approximately 90% of students believed that direct copying of text or ideas without acknowledgement constituted plagiarism, whilst around 5% were unsure if it constituted plagiarism. The majority of students (80% or more) claimed never to have plagiarized. About 80% of undergraduate students said they possessed the skills of note-taking, paraphrasing, citing and referencing etc., but barely half of students in each year group reported confidence with these skills. Students were able to distinguish between clear-cut cases of plagiarism and par...