Exploring junior secondary students’ plagiarism behavior

Inquiry project-based learning is a contemporary focus area in curriculum development around the world. This new learning approach requires students to locate appropriate information from various sources in order to satisfy their information needs under strict anti-plagiarism requirements. However, technological advancement inadvertently allows convenient plagiarism opportunities. Students must learn how to enhance their academic integrity and not to copy information directly from readily available sources like the Internet. This study investigated junior secondary students’ standard of academic integrity. Data was collected through information literacy tests, plagiarism checks on student group projects and structured interviews. Poor information literacy and language abilities were found to be potential factors behind poor academic practice, and academic integrity teaching proved to be largely effective. Therefore, related teaching should be further included in the school curriculum starting at the junior secondary level. Including a statement of academic honesty as part of school policy could also heighten students’ awareness of academic integrity and bring about plagiarism-free learning to actualize genuine education.

[1]  Shek Kam Tse,et al.  Collaborative inquiry project-based learning: Effects on reading ability and interests , 2011 .

[2]  Scott A. Courtney,et al.  Investigating the Impact of Field Trips on Teachers’ Mathematical Problem Posing , 2014 .

[3]  Mohammad Javad Riasati,et al.  Why Do Iranian Postgraduate Students Plagiarize? A Qualitative Investigation , 2013 .

[4]  Esra Eret,et al.  Plagiarism in higher education: A case study with prospective academicians , 2010 .

[5]  Geoff Hayward,et al.  HONG KONG DIPLOMA OF SECONDARY EDUCATION , 2009 .

[6]  Carol K. K. Chan,et al.  Using blogs to support learning during internship , 2012, Comput. Educ..

[7]  Guido Schwerdt,et al.  Is Traditional Teaching Really All That Bad? A Within-Student Between-Subject Approach , 2009, SSRN Electronic Journal.

[8]  D. Sisti,et al.  How Do High School Students Justify Internet Plagiarism? , 2007 .

[9]  Diane Pecorari,et al.  Teaching To Avoid Plagiarism:: How To Promote Good Source Use , 2013 .

[10]  Gabrielle K.W. Wong,et al.  Facilitating students' intellectual growth in information literacy teaching , 2010 .

[11]  K. Williamson,et al.  Appropriate use of information at the secondary school level: Understanding and avoiding plagiarism , 2005 .

[12]  William J. Wilhelm,et al.  A Study of Electronic Detection and Pedagogical Approaches for Reducing Plagiarism. , 2009 .

[13]  Peter Nagy,et al.  The content analysis of advergames in Hungary , 2011 .

[14]  Tibor Koltay,et al.  Abstracting: information literacy on a professional level , 2009, J. Documentation.

[15]  Violet H. Harada,et al.  Moving from Rote to Inquiry: Creating Learning That Counts. , 2004 .

[16]  Ahmed Patel,et al.  Evaluation of Cheating Detection Methods in Academic Writings , 2011, Libr. Hi Tech.

[17]  David Holdford,et al.  Content analysis methods for conducting research in social and administrative pharmacy. , 2008, Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP.

[18]  Tina Hurley,et al.  Learning by Doing: Re-designing the First Year Information Literacy Programme at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) Libraries , 2009 .

[19]  Martin Zimerman.  Plagiarism and international students in academic libraries , 2012 .

[20]  Leanne Bowler,et al.  A taxonomy of adolescent metacognitive knowledge during the information search process , 2010 .

[21]  M HarrisonTeresa,et al.  Geographic information technologies, structuration theory, and the world trade center crisis , 2007 .

[22]  Noel A. Card.  Applied Meta-Analysis for Social Science Research , 2011 .

[23]  Mark R. Leary,et al.  Introduction to behavioral research methods , 1990 .

[24]  S. Chu,et al.  Using collaborative teaching and inquiry project-based learning to help primary school students develop information literacy and information skills , 2011 .

[25]  A. Ledwith,et al.  Technology Enhanced Learning and Plagiarism in Entrepreneurship Education. , 2011 .

[26]  G. McMahon,et al.  Can we reliably determine intent in cases of plagiarism , 2009 .

[27]  Shelley Yeo,et al.  Evaluation of a Process and Proforma for making Consistent Decisions about the Seriousness of Plagiarism Incidents , 2007 .

[28]  Frans Meijers,et al.  Competencies as Building Blocks for Integrating Assessment with Instruction in Vocational Education: A case from The Netherlands , 2000 .

[29]  Carmen Pozo-Muñoz,et al.  The 'Ideal Teacher'. Implications for student evaluation of teacher effectiveness , 2000 .

[30]  Elaine M. Reeves,et al.  Relationship building with students and instructors of ESL , 2012 .

[31]  Xianggui Qu,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis , 2007, Technometrics.

[32]  James Elander,et al.  Evaluation of an intervention to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by improving their authorial identity , 2010 .

[33]  Deborah S. Garson,et al.  Get the cite right: Design and evaluation of a high-quality online citation tutorial , 2010 .

[34]  Mercer Jennifer Ann,et al.  PUBLICATION manual of the American Psychological Association. , 1952, Psychological bulletin.

[35]  Nancy Snyder Gibson,et al.  The librarian's role in combating plagiarism , 2011 .

[36]  I. Ajzen.  The theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[37]  Diane Pecorari,et al.  Good and Original: Plagiarism and Patchwriting in Academic Second-Language Writing. , 2003 .

[38]  Geraldine J. Newlon.  Plagiarism in high schools: A case study of how teachers address a perpetual dilemma , 2009 .

[39]  G. Tyson,et al.  Exploring university students' perceptions of plagiarism: a focus group study , 2010 .

[40]  Theresa A. Pardo,et al.  Geographic information technologies, structuration theory, and the world trade center crisis , 2007, J. Assoc. Inf. Sci. Technol..

[41]  Mark R. Leary,et al.  Introduction to behavioral research methods, 4th ed. , 2004 .

[42]  K. Jehn,et al.  Using triangulation to validate themes in qualitative studies , 2009 .

[43]  Kalayanee Jitgarun,et al.  The influence of achievement goal orientation on plagiarism , 2009 .

[44]  Stuart Boon,et al.  A phenomenographic study of English faculty's conceptions of information literacy , 2007, J. Documentation.

[45]  Jennifer L. Kisamore,et al.  Using the theory of planned behavior and cheating justifications to predict academic misconduct , 2009 .

[46]  M. Tarrant,et al.  A curricular approach to improve the information literacy and academic writing skills of part-time post-registration nursing students in Hong Kong. , 2008, Nurse education today.

[47]  E. Owusu-Ansah.  Information Literacy and Higher Education: Placing the Academic Library in the Center of a Comprehensive Solution , 2004 .

[48]  Paul Solomon,et al.  Looking for Information—A Survey of Research on Information Seeking, Needs, and Behavior , 2003, Information Retrieval.

[49]  Xin Guo,et al.  Understanding Student Plagiarism: An Empirical Study in Accounting Education , 2011 .

[50]  Dickinson Scholar,et al.  Using Audience Response Technology to Teach Academic Integrity: The S even Deadly Sins of Plagiarism at Dickinson College , 2007 .

[51]  Schubert Foo,et al.  Information literacy education: Applications of mediated learning and multiple intelligences , 2008 .

[52]  Varun Gauria,et al.  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 2019 .

[53]  R. Mushtaq,et al.  Multi campus investigation of academic dishonesty in higher education of Pakistan , 2013 .

[54]  Noorlaila Ghazali,et al.  Attitudes towards plagiarism among undergraduate accounting students: Malaysian evidence , 2007 .

[55]  Suzie Boss,et al.  Thinking Through Project-Based Learning: Guiding Deeper Inquiry , 2013 .

[56]  C. Sino.  Nurse Education Today , 2007 .

[57]  Peter Westwood,et al.  Learning and Learning Difficulties: A Handbook for Teachers , 2004 .

[58]  Yonjoo Cho,et al.  Project-based learning in education: integrating business needs and student learning , 2013 .

[59]  Greg Wheeler,et al.  Plagiarism in the Japanese universities: Truly a cultural matter? , 2009 .