Plagiarism and academic integrity

When one hears the terms plagiarism and academic integrity most people think of students, not staff. As a member of academic staff, it is your role is to promote academic integrity to your students as well as follow these rules in your own development. Often, plagiarism is the result of poor academic practice rather than a deliberate attempt to deceive1. You should be aware of your own institution’s policies for plagiarism and academic integrity so that you can carry out student assessment effectively.

What is the definition of plagiarism and academic integrity?

• Cheating?
• Unfair advantage?
• Deceit?
• Enhancing student performance?
• Academic misconduct?
• Academic dishonesty?

There are many terms used in this context. A common definition applied by many institutions is:

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work, whether intentionally or unintentionally, as your own for your own benefit.2

Plagiarism and the internet and prevention

Plagiarism is not a new problem, but thanks to advances in technology, copying the work of others is now even easier to achieve. This provides particular challenges to academic staff attempting to ensure validity in their student’s work. US universities chose to use honour codes, but so far, there is little evidence to support its usage in the UK, see the Northumbria University article3 referenced below.

• The honour code model does provide suggestions for implementation of an ethos of academic integrity; you may find it beneficial to explore this.
• Make sure your ‘discipline is clear on guidelines before seeking to inform students… academics need opportunities to discuss conventions in their discipline’4. Make sure these guidelines are then publicised to the student community.
• Engage your students in the definition, reasoning and pitfalls behind plagiarism and academic integrity and the penalties that will be applied. This issue is always more complex as it is the job of universities and students to write about other’s works. Involving them from the beginning of the year and stressing the need to reference and attribute their work correctly will help them produce correctly referenced work.
• Students need access to support; if they are supported they are less likely to resort to plagiarism and more likely to report instances of plagiarism. You may find this instruction works best integrated into discipline-specific contexts 5.
• Be sure to understand your institutions policies and procedures in order to support you if you suspect plagiarism or academic misconduct.
• Remember that plagiarism is not only confined to the written word. Digital technology could also potentially allow re-purposing of non-textual material such as images and photographs.

Lack of citation

• Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided by citing sources.
• Check if your institution has particular software available for yourself and the students to cite sources/referencing easily, e.g. EndNote - see the links at the end of this document.
• Be aware of your institution’s preferred method of referencing e.g. Harvard, Vancouver, British Standard and inform your students.
• If you are not sure how to cite sources, seek assistance before marking your students work.
• Encourage students to keep accurate records of their sources of information while researching/preparing their work, including the title, author, date of publication, publisher, page numbers and URLs if necessary. Remind them that the material they referenced must be easily traceable.

References

1. Harvey J, Robson S, (2006) The Accidental Plagiarist: An institutional approach to distinguishing between a deliberate attempt to deceive and poor, 2nd International Plagiarism Conference. The Sage, Gateshead 19-21 June. Newcastle: Northumbria University Press
2. Carroll, J. (2007), 2nd edition, A Handbook for Deterring Plagiarism in Higher Education. Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University
3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2007/mar/20/highereducation.students
4. Stephani & Carroll, 2001, p5
5. Carroll, J. & Appleton, J. (2001) Plagiarism A Good Practice Guide http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/brookes.pdf

Author: Any questions or comments can be sent to: gillian@medev.ac.uk