The illusory dichotomy of plagiarism

Plagiarism has been characterised as a ‘major problem’ for universities. While tensions between students and universities are inevitable, the problem with the existing system of plagiarism management and prevention is that it operates to problematise the relationship between the university and the student, rather than address the core academic issues. As a result, a dichotomy is created where the student interest is constructed as adverse to that of the institution. This article argues that de-dichotomisation of the current polarity of plagiarism will open space for alternative thoughtful considerations in dealing with plagiarism positively in an institutional context.     

浅析现代艺术中的文化剽窃

通过对当代艺术个案的分析，展开文化现象中对“剽窃”概念的讨论，力图澄清某些误读和混同，进而揭示当代文化与本土文化之间的互动方向。     

浅谈大学生著作权法意识的培养

学术抄袭会导致严重的后果,在高校教学中通过教师的示范讲义、示范论文和对学生作业、论文的指导等具体教学活动使学生在具体的学术活动中养成良好规范的学术行为方式,有助于从根本上解决学术抄袭问题。     

The ethics and politics of policing plagiarism: a qualitative study of faculty views on student plagiarism and Turnitin®

Recently, the usage of plagiarism detection software such as Turnitin^® has increased dramatically among university instructors. At the same time, academic criticism of this software’s employment has also increased. We interviewed 23 faculty members from various departments at a medium-sized, public university in the southeastern US to determine their perspectives on Turnitin^® and student plagiarism. We wanted to discern if there are important disciplinary differences in how instructors define and handle plagiarism; how instructors use Turnitin^®; and if instructors’ thinking aligns with ethical and political concerns commonly expressed in the academic literature. Despite varying attitudes towards Turnitin^®, those interviewed did not differ significantly in their views as to what student plagiarism is or its seriousness, and typical objections to ‘policing’ plagiarism and Turnitin^® had little resonance with interviewees. The majority viewed a substantial amount of plagiarism they encountered as unintentional and penalised only what they considered to be extreme versions of intentional plagiarism. However, often this contradicted the way they presented the concept of plagiarism in their syllabi and their classrooms. Surprisingly, these patterns were consistent among those who employed the software frequently and those who did not.     

Evaluation of intervention on Chinese graduate students’ understanding of textual plagiarism and skills at source referencing

Abstract

Textual plagiarism is a serious violation of established academic protocols, but it requires considerable writing experience and care to avoid as well. Although student understanding of textual plagiarism and their plagiaristic behaviour in English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts have been quite well researched, few studies have sought to evaluate instructional interventions specifically designed to reduce plagiarism by empowering student writers with a better knowledge of plagiarism and skills at source referencing. To the best of our knowledge, no study to date has ever systematically assessed students’ understanding of plagiarism and their source referencing performance in response to intervention. This classroom-based research, at a university in Beijing, aimed to discover whether a 6-hour block of instruction could facilitate better understanding of plagiarism and appropriate source referencing skills. The results showed that the intervention did generally give students a better appreciation of how textual plagiarism looks and significantly reduced blatant and subtle plagiarism in their writing. However, students’ heavy reliance on original source language did frequently reoccur in student writing if in less clear-cut ways. Some helpful lessons were drawn from this study.     

Is plagiarism changing over time? A 10-year time-lag study with three points of measurement

Are more students cheating on assessment tasks in higher education? Despite ongoing media speculation concerning increased ‘copying and pasting’ and ghostwritten assignments produced by ‘paper mills’, few studies have charted historical trends in rates and types of plagiarism. Additionally, there has been little comment from researchers as to the best way to assess changes in plagiarism over time. In this paper, we discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of research designs for assessing changes in plagiarism over time, namely cross-sectional, longitudinal, and time-lag. We also report the results of our own time-lag study of plagiarism. We assessed self-reported engagement in, awareness of, and attitudes towards plagiarism in three comparable groups of students at the same university on three occasions, each separated by five years (2004, 2009, and 2014). The data from our study paint an encouraging picture of increased understanding and reduced occurrence of several forms of plagiarism, with no upward trend in verbatim copying or ghostwriting. We suggest that technological and educational initiatives are counteracting the potential for increased plagiarism from online sources.     

大学生毕业论文（设计）抄袭现象的原因及对策

毕业论文（设计）是大学生4年学业的总结,是学生学习过程中十分重要的环节。但是近年来,在全国各大高校中都存在毕业论文（设计）抄袭的现象。究其原因,与学校的管理、教师队伍建设及学生自身的素质等有着直接的关系。全文试图通过对大学生毕业论文（设计）抄袭现象原因的分析,提出一些解决的对策,以求从根本上减少和杜绝毕业论文抄袭现象的发生。     

Student Attitudes on Software Piracy and Related Issues of Computer Ethics

Software piracy is older than the PC and has been the subject of several studies, which have found it to be a widespread phenomenon in general, and among university students in particular. An earlier study by Cohen and Cornwell from a decade ago is replicated, adding questions about downloading music from the Internet. The survey includes responses from 224 students in entry-level courses at two schools, a nondenominational suburban university and a Catholic urban college with similar student profiles. The study found that there has been few if any changes in student opinions regarding the unauthorized duplication of copy- righted materials. Students generally felt that copying commercial software and downloading music from the Internet was acceptable and found that there was no significant correlation between student attitudes and their school’s religious affiliation or lack thereof. Additionally, the study found that a small but significant percentage of respondents considered the other questionable behaviors as ethically acceptable. Finally, the reasons for these attitudes are discussed as well as what colleges can do to correct the situation.     

An empirical analysis of differences in plagiarism among world cultures

Academic integrity issues, e.g. plagiarism, continue to plague higher education across the globe. Research has noted that the identification and tolerance of cheating behaviors varies dependent upon local culture. This quantitative, comparative study investigated the potential differences among actual rates of incidence of plagiarism among predominant countries and regions in which the literature identified as having academic integrity problems. This study gathered doctoral dissertations and master's theses from institutions in the selected locations and analyzed them with Turnitin® originality assessment software. Regions and countries evaluated were based on guidance from exigent literature. A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to evaluate any differences in the prevalence of plagiarism among these locations. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference among groups, χ2 (6, N = 266) = 19.545, p = 0.003, η2 = 0.074. Further analysis determined a mix of findings that both support and deny conceptions in other literature.     

法国倡导科研诚信和反对学术不端行为的举措

在倡导科研诚信和反对学术不端行为方面,与大多数西方发达国家一样,法国在国家层面没有制定有关专门的法律法规.但是,自20世纪90年代中期以来,政府、科技界、教育学术界及公众逐步予以重视,认识到其重要性和必要性.目前,法国依靠良好的科技计划管理制度、完善的科技评价体系、规范的评价方法等途径,防止科研舞弊和抵制学术不端行为.与此同时,一些科研机构和高等教育主管部门通过建立相关的规章制度,如制定科研人员行为准则和科研成果评价机制,规范科研和学术工作.这些经验和措施是值得借鉴和学习的.