Plagiarism and Second Language Writing in an Electronic Age

Abstract

It has been observed that plagiarism is a problem across specialities and professions, and it is probably becoming more rampant than ever in this electronic age. Based on a body of literature primarily in applied linguistics, this review focuses on textual plagiarism and antiplagiarism in second language academic writing. Following a conceptualization of plagiarism and an examination of some terminology employed in the literature to address the complexity of the issue, a number of perspectives taken upon plagiarism in the literature are examined. These include a cultural interpretation, a developmental perspective, a disciplinary perspective, student beliefs and practices, faculty perceptions, and a focus upon antiplagiarism pedagogy. The challenge and opportunity involved in dealing with plagiarism is then highlighted by reviewing work that has analyzed the problem in connection with the Internet, by exemplifying some antiplagiarism detection devices, and by relating these to John Sinclair's "idiom principle" of linguistic structure. The article ends by suggesting a few lines of future research on plagiarism. Voices are being raised across the disciplines concerning the increasing prevalence of plagiarism and how to deal with it. Apart from the numerous books, articles, reports, and institutional handbooks concerned with plagiarism, an extremely large number of Web sites, often hosted by institutions of higher learning, provide guidance about plagiarism and how to avoid it. Plagiarism functions at different levels. On one level there are the so-called paper mills, online services that provide academic term papers for a fee. On another level there is what this article is more concerned with, namely, textual plagiarism, or the copying of sections of one text in the composition of another. To combat these practices, at both levels, an increasing number of plagiarism detection software applications are being developed and put into use. Ironically, however, in some cases, the same companies are both operating paper mills and offering antiplagiarism services. Together with the antiplagiarism movement there has developed what might be called a widespread antiplagiarism discourse. At the same time, alternative voices are also to be heard, especially among applied linguistics and language teachers, arguing for a more sympathetic approach to the issue.

Apprenticeship in Scholarly Publishing: A Student Perspective on Doctoral Supervisors’ Roles

“…Second, with more experience and greater expertise, supervisors can help doctoral students navigate through the complex, challenging and lengthy process of scholarly publishing, from choosing and conceptualizing publishable research topics [12,20,35] through collecting/analyzing data and writing up manuscripts, to negotiating the review process [20,22] and dealing with rejections and harsh criticisms [19,33]. Third, for EAL doctoral students, supervisors may also provide support to alleviate language difficulties that they may encounter in writing up and revising their manuscripts [20,36,37]. Fourth, supervisors can help doctoral students manage their scholarly publishing strategically, both in itself and in relation to their thesis projects [12,20].…”

Plagiarism policies in Iranian university TEFL teachers’ syllabuses: an exploratory study

“…Firstly, it might be thought that it is acceptable to copy from other texts to some degree; secondly, the linguistic and cognitive burden of the task can be so heavy that the writer/student is forced to plagiarize; the third factor that might affect plagiarizing is the pressure of completing the task on time, and the fear of being penalized for not having done so. Last but not least, unfamiliarity with the topic and the discourse of the target community can provide the foundation of plagiarism (Flowerdew and Li, 2007;Pecorari, 2003). The findings above can be a seal of approval for the causes of intentional plagiarism, meaning that students are aware of what they are doing as they search for a detour to finish the task.…”

“…Adam, 2015;Childers and Bruton, 2016;Greenberger, Holbeck, Steele and Dyer, 2016;Krishan, Kanchan, Baryah, Mukhra, 2016;McGrail1 and McGrail, 2015;Pecorari, 2015;Tauginienė, 2016) and in the realm of second language (L2) medium higher education (e.g. Abasi and Akbari, 2008;Abasi and Graves, 2008;Adam, 2015;Ahmadi, 2014;Flowerdew and Li, 2007;Joyce, 2007;Pecorari 2015;Pecorari and Petrić 2014). That is not surprising in this electronic age when access to various online sources is quick and copyright law can be infringed upon quite easily (e.g.…”

“…That is not surprising in this electronic age when access to various online sources is quick and copyright law can be infringed upon quite easily (e.g. Flowerdew and Li, 2007;Gunnarsson, Kulesza and Pettersson, 2014;Helgesson, 2015;Kauffman and Young, 2015;Sutherland-Smith, 2008). Research suggests that the quantity of digital plagiarism, namely copying and pasting from the Internet without crediting the source, has exceeded the traditional forms of plagiarism (Stephens, Young and Calabrese, 2007).…”

Conceptual Review of Literature on Student Plagiarism: Focusing on Nigerian Higher Education Institutions

“…She expressed the view that such measures may not lead to sustainable management practices for plagiarism and academic integrity. She explained in agreement with Macdonald and Carroll (2006) that "sustainable" reform refers not just to engaging the student in ethically sustainable academic practices, but also enabling the institution to engage in discussions about its overall plagiarism management philosophy and practices (Hayes & Introna, 2005;Flowerdew & Li, 2007). Sutherland-Smith (2010) suggested a holistic approach to the management of plagiarism, through the adoption of proper dialogue about the association between academics, universities and students.…”