Is There an Effective Approach to Deterring Students from Plagiarizing?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of plagiarism detection software and penalty for plagiarizing in detecting and deterring plagiarism among medical students. The study was a continuation of previously published research in which second-year medical students from 2001/2002 and 2002/2003 school years were required to write an essay based on one of the four scientific articles offered by the instructor. Students from 2004/2005 (N = 92) included in present study were given the same task. Topics of two of the four articles were considered less complex, and two were more complex. One less and one more complex articles were available only as hardcopies, whereas the other two were available in electronic format. The students from 2001/2002 (N = 111) were only told to write an original essay, whereas the students from 2002/2003 (N = 87) were additionally warned against plagiarism, explained what plagiarism was, and how to avoid it. The students from 2004/2005 were warned that their essays would be examined by plagiarism detection software and that those who had plagiarized would be penalized. Students from 2004/2005 plagiarized significantly less of their essays than students from the previous two groups (2% vs. 17% vs. 21%, respectively, P < 0.001). Over time, students more frequently choose articles with more complex subjects (P < 0.001) and articles in electronic format (P < 0.001) as a source for their essays, but it did not influence the rate of plagiarism. Use of plagiarism detection software in evaluation of essays and consequent penalties had effectively deterred students from plagiarizing.

Attitudes toward plagiarism among pharmacy and medical biochemistry students – cross-sectional survey study

“…Such attitude might cause behaviours that can obstruct the development of respectable scienti c community (2,16,17). Pupovac V. et al Attitudes toward plagiarism among students moral reasoning (26).…”

“…Unprofessional behaviour such as scientic misconduct can directly provoke mistakes and seriously damage people's health and even life (1,2). Knowing the importance of scienti c work and the possible repercussions it could have on people's lives, one can presume that all researchers have high moral values and strong scienti c integrity and that occurrence of scienti c misconduct is very rare (3).…”

“…Occurrence of academic plagiarism is, among other elements, a ected by students' lack of knowledge on academic integrity and neglecting intellectual property (7,19,22). Previous studies indicate that lack of knowledge about plagiarism, students' propensity toward such behaviour and not understanding the seriousness of such violations increase plagiarism frequency (2,19,22,23) especially when the Internet is the source of plagiarism (21). Recognizing attitudes towards plagiarism is an important basis for educating and deterring students from plagiarizing (19,21,22).…”

Pharmacy Students’ Interpretation of Academic Integrity

“…30 The overall paucity of published research on the psychological aspects of breaching academic integrity implies a need for further study, and this should begin by exploring students' interpretation of academic integrity. Two studies of the plagiaristic behaviors of medical students in Croatia, 31,32 which compared groups of students who were not warned about plagiarism, those issued a minor warning, and those issued a strong message about plagiaristic activity, produced inconsistent findings. These studies focused on particular behaviors rather than on the students' ability to discern appropriate and inappropriate conduct.…”

Responsible writing in science

“…Plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct are present among students (8,9). Inadequate education in academic and scienti c integrity opens "behavioural grey zone" in which students make they own "code of conduct" what is acceptable and justi able behaviour.…”