Online Academic-Integrity Mastery Training May Improve Students' Awareness of, and Attitudes Toward, Plagiarism

Some evidence has emerged in recent years that plagiarism can be reduced through the use of online mastery tests that are designed to train introductory psychology students in awareness of academic integrity and referencing conventions. Although these studies demonstrated a reduction in incidents of plagiarism they did not directly examine whether the use of mastery tests influenced students' attitudes toward or understanding of plagiarism. Consequently, the authors examined students' awareness of plagiarism and their perception of the seriousness of plagiarism before and after completing an online academic-integrity mastery module in a psychology course. Both students' awareness of plagiarism and their perception of the seriousness of plagiarism increased significantly from before to after completing the online academic-integrity training. Additionally, first-year students who completed the mastery modules showed better awareness of plagiarism and perceived plagiarism to be more serious as compared with a group of second-year students who had not completed the mastery modules in their first year. These results suggest that the use of academic-integrity mastery tests may improve students' awareness of, and attitudes toward, plagiarism.

[1]  F. White,et al.  A 5‐year systematic strategy to reduce plagiarism among first‐year psychology university students , 2013 .

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

[3]  Fatemeh Khoshroo,et al.  An investigation of Iranian EFL Masters students' perceptions of plagiarism , 2012 .

[4]  Guy J. Curtis,et al.  An examination of factors related to plagiarism and a five-year follow-up of plagiarism at an Australian university , 2011 .

[5]  Stephen E. Newstead,et al.  Undergraduate Cheating: Who Does What and Why?. , 1995 .

[6]  Chris J. Park,et al.  In Other (People's) Words: Plagiarism by university students--literature and lessons , 2003 .

[7]  John Walker,et al.  Student Plagiarism in Universities: What are we Doing About it? , 1998 .

[8]  S. Fiske,et al.  Social Psychology , 2019, Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.

[9]  Verity J. Brown,et al.  The Efficacy of Policy Statements on Plagiarism: Do They Change Students' Views? , 2001 .

[10]  Kathleen Gray,et al.  In their own words: a qualitative study of the reasons Australian university students plagiarize , 2007 .

[11]  R. W. Belter,et al.  A Strategy to Reduce Plagiarism in an Undergraduate Course , 2009 .

[12]  G. Macdonald,et al.  Attitude change and the public-private attitude distinction. , 2005, The British journal of social psychology.

[13]  A. Maxwell,et al.  Does culture influence understanding and perceived seriousness of plagiarism , 2008 .

[14]  M. Paull,et al.  Reducing the prevalence of plagiarism: A model for staff, students and universities , 2013 .

[15]  A. Maxwell,et al.  Plagiarism among local and Asian students in Australia , 2006 .

[16]  A. Jordan,et al.  College Student Cheating: The Role of Motivation, Perceived Norms, Attitudes, and Knowledge of Institutional Policy , 2001 .