Abstract
The focus of this article is university teachers’ and students’ views of plagiarism, plagiarism detection, and the use of plagiarism detection software as learning support. The data were collected from teachers and students who participated in a pilot project to test plagiarism detection software at a major university in Finland. The data were analysed through factor analysis, T-tests and inductive content analysis. Three distinct reasons for plagiarism were identified: intentional, unintentional and contextual. The teachers did not utilise plagiarism detection to support student learning to any great extent. We discuss the pedagogical implications and suggest that the contextual reasons for plagiarism require focus primarily on study strategies, whereas the intentional reasons require profound discussion about attitudes and conceptions of good learning and university-level study habits.
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Acknowledgments
The research has been supported by an Academy of Finland grant (Grant no. 252813). The authors would like to thank the pilot project teachers and students for participation in the survey and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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Löfström, E., Kupila, P. The Instructional Challenges of Student Plagiarism. J Acad Ethics 11, 231–242 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-013-9181-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-013-9181-z