Cultivating undergraduates' plagiarism avoidance knowledge and skills with an online tutorial system

Abstract

With the increased use of digital materials, undergraduate writers in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts have become more susceptible to plagiarism. In this study, the researchers designed a blended English writing course with an online writing tutorial system entitled DWright.The study examined the effectiveness of the online writing tool for helping a group of EFL sophomores in Taiwan develop plagiarism avoidance knowledge, paraphrasing skills, and citation abilities. Mixed-method data included pretest, posttest, and delayed test, a feedback sheet, writing assignments, interviews, and a post-course questionnaire, which reported increased awareness on plagiarism avoidance with evidence such as qualitative paraphrasing improvement and positive feedback on the use of DWright for developing plagiarism avoidance knowledge and citation competence. Pedagogical implications for researchers and instructors interested in blending online writing tutorials into their courses for plagiarism avoidance were also discussed.

Paraphrase Patterns of Expert Academic Writers: Implications for Writing Development, Writing Pedagogy, and Plagiarism Policies

“…If the production of unsuccessful paraphrases, such as those deemed instances of "patchwriting" reflects a student's presence in a given developmental stage (Liu et al, 2018), plagiarism policies oriented toward zero tolerance may stand in the way of student skill development. Detect, deter, and discipline policy orientations may be problematic for several reasons: they may assume that students can immediately accomplish paraphrases on par with expert practice; they may inadvertently close out the possibility of failure at paraphrase as a viable step in the learning process & fear and anxiety, two emotions that likely hinder both intellectual curiosity (Eyler, 2018) and creativity (Bloch, 2012).…”

Effectiveness Study on Online or Blended Language Learning Based on Student Achievement: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies

“…DWright, an online writing tutorial system Positive improvement [59] Graduate students in China EJP-Write, an online writing tutorial system No significant improvements [60] Undergraduates in China Online automated essay evaluation system Significant improvement [61] Undergraduates in Japan Online forums, blogs, and wikis. Positive [62] Undergraduates in Iran Online blogs Effective, satisfaction [63] Postgraduates in Australia Online corpora Mixed [64] English vocabulary…”

Library-Faculty Referencing and Plagiarism Pilot Using Technology-Mediated Feedback for Change

“…A survey of the literature on academic integrity highlights that educational responses rather than punitive ones are more effective in addressing unintentional plagiarism (Dalal, 2015;DeGeeter et al, 2014;Divan et al, 2015;Gunnarsson et al, 2014;Halupa et al, 2016;Henslee et al, 2015;G. Z. Liu et al, 2018;Powel & Singh, 2016;Stagg et al, 2013;Strittmatter & Bratton, 2014).…”

“…Z. Liu et al, 2018;Powel & Singh, 2016;Stagg et al, 2013;Strittmatter & Bratton, 2014). Studies have investigated educational interventions such as information literacy classes (Gunnarsson et al, 2014;Henslee et al, 2015), online tutorials (Gunnarsson et al, 2014;Henslee, et al, 2015), writing development programs (Divan et al, 2015;G. Z. Liu, et al, 2018), student self-reflections (Dalal, 2015;Powell & Singh, 2016), student perceptions of self-plagiarism (Halupa et al, 2016), a screencasting project (Stagg et al, 2013), and plagiarism ethics (Strittmatter & Bratton, 2014) to name a few.…”