More Than 35% of Students Regard Plagiarism as Ethical Survey Finding

More Than 35% of Students Regard Plagiarism as Ethical: Survey Finding Plagiarism is defined as an act of presenting someone else’s ideas or work as your own with or without their consent by including it in your assignment without any acknowledgments. This type of behavior always existed in high schools and universities, but the evolution of the internet and technology made it more prevalent. Nowadays, students don’t have to go to a library to get the information they need for some assignment, they just Google it and start working. The problem occurs when most of the work they submit to their professor is plagiarized. Even bigger issue is the fact that students regard plagiarism as an ethical act. Plagiarism among students: how frequent is it? The Journal of Applied Sciences published a study which surveyed students about their perception of plagiarism, is that something they’d do, why they do it, and so on. The aim of this study was to highlight one of the most common actions in college students to find a way for faculty staff to put it under control. Survey findings show that 72.17% undergraduate students knew what plagiarism means while 11.30% confessed they copied someone else’s entire work or just a portion and then submitted it as they own without mentioning references, acknowledgments, or any other indicator to testify their action. Moreover, 32.17% students admit replacing the words of someone else’s work with their own words without citing the source. Even more shocking is the discovery that 40% students used the same words someone else used without any acknowledgments. As you can see, plagiarism is quite frequent among undergraduate students who usually opt not to include acknowledgments to the sources they used. They primarily use electronic resources as a source of plagiarism. In fact, 83.48% of them use the perks of the internet for this action. Furthermore, the survey also showed that 62.61% students used printed sources while 51.31% used works that belong to people they knew such as parents and colleagues. For most professors and other faculty staff, it’s quite alarming to see that increasing number of students aren’t reluctant to copy someone else’s work completely or use certain portions without citing the author. The rise of plagiarism can be explained by the fact that about 35% students consider this act as ethical. Students don’t understand plagiarism Students don’t understand what plagiarism really is or why they have to avoid it, according to a study whose findings were published in the Journal Higher Education. Although they understand the overall concept of plagiarism, the research showed they weren’t aware of potential implications of unintentional plagiarism. The lack of understanding could be due to two scenarios: students aren’t accessing information that professors provide on plagiarism or teachers don’t explain the problem properly. In most cases, it’s the latter. Students don’t understand what counts as plagiarism and what doesn’t, but they show a willingness to learn more about it. That’s why students feel it’s unfair to be penalized for something they don’t understand. Researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand, call for universities to consider their plagiarism policies and how they might confuse students i.e. it is necessary to provide a practical and straightforward explanation of intentional and unintentional plagiarism to avoid confusion. Forms of plagiarism The University of Oxford defines different types of plagiarism, such as: Verbatim (word for word) – using quotations without acknowledgments Copy-paste action when using the internet without naming the source Paraphrasing – using someone else’s work and changing a few words or sentences to avoid any suspicion Collusion – refers to the unauthorized collaboration between students, avoiding to attribute assistance you received, or avoiding to follow certain regulations when working in groups Inaccurate citation – incorrect citing or naming references that you didn’t use Now acknowledging assistance – failure to acknowledge assistance you received when working on your project, e.g., colleagues, external sources, etc. Using material written by professional agencies or other people Auto-plagiarism – submitting work you have already written and presented before i.e. when the topic is similar it’s not okay to just change a few words and send the assignment.