An Instructional Approach to Practical Solutions for Plagiarism

Abstract

Plagiarism is an academic misconduct commonly found in the educational institutions nowadays. This paper first defines the types of plagiarism and explains the typical reasons for university students to engage in plagiarism. Then, the factors influencing plagiarism are discussed, including the access of materials on the Internet, the social norm of students and the academic policies in universities. This paper suggests an educational approach with the emphasis on the formative assessment to alleviate the problem of plagiarism. Formative assessments are more helpful when students do not need to hide their mistakes and are open about their limitations. This can provide more support for students developing their learning skills, compared with summative assessments in which students do all to suggest competence and conceal ignorance. A survey was performed to collect data about university students' attitudes to the final year project that is a kind of formative assessments. According to the result, the formative assessment is practical for students to understand plagiarism and avoid it. In addition, the learning experience from formative assessments is perceived to be beneficial in completing summative assessments.

Exploring plagiarism

“…22,23 Evidencesupported training sessions that target plagiarism, including patchwork and paraphrasing plagiarism, may increase confidence and referencing skills in first-year undergraduate students. 24,25 Various online writing resources are available to help authors with appropriate referencing and citation, thereby decreasing instances of plagiarism. One example is the Purdue University Online Writing Lab, known as the "OWL," which provides resources on writing concerns, style guides, and example papers.…”

“…Universities should support students and professionals in the educational process by identifying writing resources and antiplagiarism detection programs 22,23. Evidence-supported training sessions that target plagiarism, including patchwork and paraphrasing plagiarism, may increase confidence and referencing skills in first-year undergraduate students 24,25…”

Teachers’ Obstacles and Solutions on Integrating Ict in English Language Teaching

“…It can also be done by educating students on how to quote others' works, ideas, concepts, and words. Another way to cope with this problem is using electronic plagiarism detection (Leung et al 2017). This is a kind of software that can detect plagiarism in writing such as, Plagiarism X, Turnitin, etc.…”

Exploring the Causes of Plagiarism among Post Graduate Research Students- A Phenomenological Case Study Approach

“…One of the studies highlighted assignment strategies and structures such as collaborative work, collecting field notes, and reflection as an effective approach to deter plagiarism (Heckler et al, 2013). Whereas, another study proposed an instructional approach towards formative assessment as beneficial for students learning (Leung & Cheng, 2017).…”