Rationale
“It’s just so easy You see something interesting on the Web; you drag your mouse over it, click on ‘copy’, open your word processor, and paste it in A matter of moments Why not just incorporate it into what you are writing? Who is to know?”
(Eastment, 2005: 183) Such of act is considered as plagiarizing Plagiarism is regarded as a serious and growing problem which significantly diminishes the academic integrity of university education In today’s digital age with breathtaking advancements in the electronic storage, search and dissemination of information, plagiarism is rapidly becoming a crisis The jaw-dropping amount of documents available on the Internet makes plagiarism so easy that students find it difficult to resist the temptation They tend to work late at night, do some “copy-and-paste” on a paper due the next morning Unfortunately, even when this apparent student ‘cut-and-paste’ mindset is acknowledged, the extent of plagiarism and academic misconduct is likely much worse than it appears Recently, numerous studies have shown that plagiarism and other types of academic fraud are increasing among undergraduate students In a study conducted in 2001, McCabe posits, based on students’ self-reported attitudes that high school students may not consider cutting-and-pasting from the Internet to be cheating With the same result, Kraus (2002:84) expands this notion by being
“convinced that a rapidly growing number [of students] simply do not see plagiarism as wrong.’ It is students’ unawareness that leads to the number of plagiarists in universities is growing dramatically In a recent article published by the Center for Academic Integrity (CAI), Professor Don McCabe claims that “On most campuses, 70% of students admit to some cheating” while “Internet plagiarism is a growing concern” because although only “10% of students admitted to engage in such behavior in 1999”, almost “40% admitted to it in 2005” (Mc Cabe, 2005)
In Vietnam, the number of plagiarist coming to light has increased dramatically recently In a recent study, QT789 Groups (2013) state that 58% students consider plagiarism as normal, up to 75% students has plagiarized at least once at university
Plagiarism among Vietnamese students is so popular that a foreign scholar has claimed “[students in] Vietnam has a cheating cultural” (cited in Ngo Tu Lap,
2013) In the talk show ‘copy-paste’ (SIB, 2014), Hoang Minh Luong shares the fact that in Vietnam, it is not surprising to find numerous assignments or even graduated papers ready to be used in photocopy shops Students just buy some and make some changes and hand in as their own For him “plagiarism is the intellectual corruption or intellectual thief.”
Being a high school teacher, the author hardly has any chance to access the academic settings to give a large point of view on plagiarism in professional writing Due to her desire of investigating the real situation in higher educational environment, she managed to carry the minor research, entitled “An investigation into the state of plagiarism in writing assignments among third-year students majored in English in one of Vietnamese Universities and some preventive teaching strategies” In the light of this significant students’ viewpoint, and the acknowledgement of how serious a problem academic plagiarism is, the writer mentions to do a scrutinizing research on state of plagiarism as well as students and teachers’ awareness of plagiarism with the hope of providing additional insight.
Purpose of the study
The study aims at providing additional insight about plagiarism among students NEU By doing so, the writer attempts to suggest some of preventative teaching strategies in order to limit this academic misconduct In order to achieve this aim, the study has to fulfill the following objectives:
- obtaining students’ awareness at one of Vietnamese Universities regarding plagiarism
- investigating the state of plagiarism at university in terms of forms and seriousness
- identifying some preventative teaching strategies for raising awareness of students and improving academic practice
Research questions
In order to find out whether the students have a fulfill understanding about plagiarism, especially in academic writing, and the state of plagiarism among Vietnamese students This study was designed to highlight the following research questions:
- What is students’ awareness of plagiarism at the university?
- What are some common forms of plagiarism committed by university students?
- What are some ways to raise awareness of plagiarism among students?
- What are some preventative teaching strategies in order to reduce plagiarism among students?
Scope of the study
The study was limited to the area of teaching and learning academic writing skills among 60 third –year students majored in English and 12 teachers in FLF of NEU
Significance of the study
As one of the uninvestigated issues in teaching to write academically for university students in Vietnam, the present study on students’ plagiarism in writing assignments will make certain contributions to the development of Vietnamese academic settings The study is at the same time hoped to benefit teachers, educationists and researchers of related fields
• For students, the results of the study will give impact to the improvement of their academic writing skills Student knows how to make full use of critical reading and reference citation skills to avoid plagiarism
• For teachers, the findings of this study will give valuable and useful information on teaching academic writing Some suggestions on preventive teaching strategies may help students overcome this serious academic dishonesty
• The educationists may base on the facts provided in the study to make necessary changes in terms of curriculum, facilities to limit academic misconduct and to improve Vietnamese academic environment
• The research will serve as the foundation for further related researches Other researchers may also take the strengths and weaknesses of the study into account to better theirs.
Design of the study
Part A: Introduction This part presents the rationale, the aim and objectives of the study, scope of the study, method of the study and design of the study
Part B: Development It is divided into 4 chapters:
Chapter 1: Theoretical background This chapter discusses the theoretical background and previous studies relevant to the study
Chapter 2: Research methodology It discusses the research questions, the approach adopted, the methods of collecting data, the data collection procedure (timeline), and data analysis methods
Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion It shows the detailed results of the surveys and covers a comprehensive analysis on the data collected from questionnaires and discourse analysis
Chapter 4: Findings and recommendations This part shows the findings and suggests some preventive teaching strategies
Part C: Conclusion This part includes an overview of the study, suggestions for further research and limitations of the study.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Theoretical background
“Plagiarism” is a controversial concept among educators and scholars over the world It is rather difficult to define exactly what it is In this part, the writer attempts to make it clear by representing some previous studies
Derived from the Latin word “plagiarius” (“kidnapper”), plagiarism refers to a form of cheating that has been defined as “the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own” (Lindey, 1952 cited in Gibaldi, 2003:66) For this definition, plagiarist commits two faults: intellectual theft and fraud since using and passing off other’s ideas, information, or expressions on purpose but failing acknowledge the sources
Plagiarism then is morally and ethically wrong, or is regarded exactly as literary stealing Sharing the same viewpoint, Ragen (1987 cited in Pecorari, 2008:27) with his words: “to take a piece of writing without acknowledging the creator is plain theft” was the verdict of an academic commenting on a case of plagiarism that attracted public attention Since then, the immorality of it has been proclaimed frequently, and in scathing terms
Although many researchers are concerned about the themes of plagiarism in their studies, the phenomenon of plagiarism among students is still increasing To minimize it, many universities have put explicit penalties against this misconduct behavior However, they may not be aware that most students commit plagiarism because of their misunderstanding this concept Therefore, developing a clear definition and showing students clearly what are allowed, what are not allowed to do will provide big help in fighting plagiarism Indiana University Bloomington
(2005) has documented the term plagiarism clearly as using other’s ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source of that information or just simple like
“taking credit for work that is not really theirs[writers] (Wilhoit, 2009:225)
Learning Support Network Curtin University of Technology (2005:4) states that
“plagiarism means presenting the work or property of another personas one’s own, without appropriate acknowledgement or referencing.”
To sum up, plagiarism is a hard defined concept However, Harris (2001: 133) may offer the most easily understandable definition of plagiarism when he states that:
“Plagiarism is the failure to cite sources properly Plagiarism is pretending that an idea is yours when in fact you found it in a source You can therefore be guilty of plagiarism even you thoroughly rewrite the source’s words One of the goals of education is to help you work with and credit the ideas of others When you use another’s idea, and whether from a book, a lecture, a web page, a friend’s paper, or any other sources, and whether you quote the words or restate the idea in your own words, you must give that person credit with a citation No source may elect not to be cited”
Plagiarism is sometimes a moral and ethical offense rather than a legal one since some instances of plagiarism fall outside the scope of copyright infringement, a legal offense (Gibaldi, 2003: 66)
1.1.2 Text plagiarism The term text [textual] plagiarism, for Pecorari (2008: 4), actually refers to the act of reusing “words and/or ideas from another source, without appropriate attribution” He also classifies this term into two categories: prototypical plagiarism and patch-writing (distinguished by the presence or absence of intentional deception) For him, “prototypical plagiarism” is defined as the use of words and/or ideas from another source, without appropriate attribution, and with the intention to deceive (p4) “Patch-writing”, on the other hand, is characterized by the lack of deceptive intent Rebecca Howard (1999, cited in Pecorari, 2008:5) defines this term as ‘copying from a source text and then deleting some words, altering grammatical structures, or plugging in one synonym for another’ In this way, patch-writing is virtually inevitable as writers learn to produce texts within a new discourse community, and is a beneficial part of the learning process, a primary means of understanding difficult texts, of expanding one’s lexical, stylistic, and conceptual repertoires, of finding and trying out new voices in which to speak
Patch-writing gives writers the chance to flex their muscles under controlled and guided circumstances—guided by the linguistic choices of the source authors
Patch-writing comes about as a result of novice writers’ need for support as they develop, and not because the writer intends to deceive the reader Patch-writing and prototypical plagiarism can therefore be seen as subcategories of textual plagiarism, distinguished by the presence or absence of intention to deceive (Figure 1.1)
Figure 1.1 Types of plagiarism (Pecorari, 2008: 5)
To make it clear, some scholars define textual plagiarism into two types: unintentional plagiarism and intentional plagiarism in term of with and without intention of plagiarizing
Unintentional plagiarism occurs when students use the words or ideas of others but fail to quote or give credit, usually because they do not know how Examples of unintentional plagiarism include omitting a citation or citing inaccurately, paraphrasing by only changing the sentence structure of the original text or by changing the sentence structure but not the words, and putting quotation marks around only a part of a quotation (Pecorari 2003: 318) It sometimes is the result of the writer’s inability to decide or remember where the idea came from He may have read it long ago, heard it in a lecture since forgotten or acquired it secondhand or third-hand with colleagues
The most serious case of academic thievery is plagiarizing intentionally It happens when writer or researcher intends to copy the thoughts or language of others and claims them for his own Student commits plagiarism intentionally when he asks the essay of another student and copies out parts of it or downloads sections of Internet sources with no references for the reader These are clearly deliberate actions by the student, and often are designed to deceive the teacher, although occasionally there are situations where student may be unaware that these actions are not sanctioned (Wendy, 2008: 30-31)
1.1.3 Forms of plagiarism According to Gibaldi (2003:70-71), the most conspicuous form of plagiarism is to obtain and submit as your own a paper written by someone else Other forms of plagiarism occur when the writer fails to acknowledge the sources, including of repeating and paraphrasing another’s wording, taking particularly apt phrase, and paraphrasing another’s argument or presenting another’s line of thinking
Wilhoit (2009: 225-228) makes it clear by identifying seven forms of plagiarism that covers both the presence and absence of intention to deceive as followed:
- Purchasing a paper: buying a paper from other and turning it in as if it were one’s own
- Turning in a paper someone else has written for you: letting one take credit for work the other has actually completed
- Turning in another student’s work without that student’s knowledge: searching another student’s file or paper on computer and turning it in as if it were your own
- Copying a paper from a source text without proper acknowledgement: copying directly the whole or part of an essay from electronic materials without proper quotation and documentation
- Copying material from a source text, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out the quotation marks
- Paraphrasing material from a reading without proper documentation: using your own words to paraphrase the source text without documenting the passage properly is a kind of stealing the other’s ideas
In conclusion, acts of plagiarism may vary from the most blatant (intentional copying of a whole paper and pretending that one has originally produced it) to unintentional (or getting to place quotation marks around a quote) or even unconscious (unconsciously repeating a memorable line from one’s reading)
Deliberate plagiarism is a matter of dishonesty while unintentional plagiarism is usually a matter of laziness or carelessness However, even if a writer has made an honest mistake, it appears equally grievous to the readers
1.1.4 Why students tend to plagiarize?
Plagiarism is prevalent among students in academic integrity Numerous studies have shown that many factors have been proposed for why students cheat or plagiarize To make it clear, the factors causing plagiarism among students can be clarified into five following categories (Sentleng, 2010: 58-59):
- School instruction: the roots of plagiarism can be traced to high school instruction as learners have earned good grades (Walker 1998: 93)
- Subjective and objective factors: Subjective causes include attitudinal and individual circumstances, ambition and competitive energies of participants of academic life and ignoring the rules and conventions that represent what is right and what is acceptable Objective causes; however, include pressures and expectation directed at individuals by society, family and other external sources It also includes society’s demands for skilled and educated workers and professionals For these, lack of adequate subject knowledge can force students to rewrite exactly from sources
- Referencing skills: Lloyd (2007: 52) stated that many students do not posses academic writing skills Students need to be constantly reminded why referencing is important Referencing methods, referencing techniques and acknowledging all forms of intellectual material must be taught
Review previous studies
However, recent studies also claim that this misconduct behaviour is becoming a serious problem among universities and that students plagiarized their work in a substantial amount McCabe (2005), in a study of 50,000 undergraduate students on more than 60 US campuses, found that 70 percent admitted to cheating in some form Other recent studies have noted the incidence of cheating at university ranging from 50 percent of students to around 75 percent (Park 2003)
This continuing of student plagiarism is blamed for some factors both subjective and objective causes Some western reseachers have implied Asians students tend to plagiarize more often than their western counterparts Besides, cultural factors, for them, play as the key role in contributing plagiarism in these Asian countries To support, Yamada (2003: 252) emphasizes differences in cultural perceptions of the importance of acknowledging sources of information when taking a written assignment as the root causing international student to involve into plagiarism
However, Ha (2006: 77), Thao Doan (2012: 30) and Liu (2005: 235) fought against this viewpoint by saying that “Western academics may rush to accuse overseas students” They then gave some examples to illustrate their arguments that copying from other’s work is punished heavily in their countries However, they also state that it is different in educational upbringing that causes the significant rates of accidential plagiarists in those countries It is not surprising to catch Vietnamese students making mistakes in referencing when taking a written assignment in western academic settings Because in Vietnam, students just acknowledge the the research by adding the name of the author, not providing the year of publication and the publishers Furthermore, in Vietnamese education, students are not taught critical thinking, and how to acknowledge others’ ideas; therefore, they often copy others’ ideas without knowing that is plagiarism Besides, Vietnamese students do not aware the danger of plagiarism
So, how can we solve this problem? To address this Dujsik (2002: 24) recommended four practical approaches which include setting up a serious penalty so that students will have to follow the right procedure and obey the rules, raising students’ awareness of plagiarism by discussing the issue in details, monitoring students’ writing process by assigning them to do the writing task at various steps, and equipping students with citation skills by teaching them to quote, paraphrase and summarize Sherman (1991: 194 – 195), on the other hand, offers a very interesting method – a cultural syllabus, in which “students will not have to eradicate their own habits of thought and expression, but will be adding new patterns to their intellectual repertoire and producing the kind of speech appropriate to the immediate environment.”
To sum up, the issue of plagiarism is interestingly discussed many studies and among researchers around the world Students plagiarize in different ways varying from unintentional type such as giving verbatim answer, rote-learning for exams, borrowing others’ words and ideas without acknowledging the source, to intentionally stealing others’ papers and treat them as their own The causes for this phenomenon also vary from country to country Asian students plagiarize because they lack awareness of the notion of plagiarism, citation skills and teacher monitoring during the writing process, whereas Italian students (Sherman, 1991:
192 – 193) do so because they fail to distinguish fact from opinion, to develop argument or just because they want to maintain their “bella figura”
However, the problem of plagiarism, to some extent, is grey theory in Vietnam
There are not many researches or studies taken to explore this misconduct academic Some studies just focused on the students’ awareness, perception or attitude towards plagiarism or the results contributing this phenomenon What’s more, most of these studies are carried out among oversea Vietnamese Students where students are more or less affected by Western culture in writing academic So these theories or results are quite general and difficult to adapt effectively in Vietnamese university settings Attempting to paint a small picture related to this phenomenon in Vietnam, I would like to carry the minor study, namely “An investigation into the state of plagiarism in writing assignments among third-year students majored in English in one of Vietnamese Universities and some preventive teaching strategies”, hoping that it can contribute some useful information for EFL teachers in general, and my teaching profession in particular.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research questions
The present study attempts to investigate the awareness of students and teachers of plagiarism, the state of plagiarism among students majoring in English In the light of literature, this study aimed to highlight the following research questions:
1 What is students’ awareness of plagiarism at the university?
2 What are some common forms of plagiarism committed by university students?
3 What are some ways to raise awareness of plagiarism among students?
4 What are some preventative teaching strategies in order to reduce plagiarism among students?
Research methodology
of human behavior and experience Thus we are better able to … achieve our research goals more quickly.” Such a mixed method provides a detailed and comprehensive picture about what is being investigated Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected with discourse analysis and questionnaires correspondingly
Survey questionnaires and discourse analysis are the two main instruments to collect the data The data from the discourse analysis are of great assistance to ensure the validity of the information gathered from the survey questionnaire The discourse analysis was done through analyzing students’ essays The criteria judging the seriousness of plagiarism was bases on the policies towards plagiarism of Birmingham University cited in Wendy’s (2008: 64-65) Thanks to these, the result is more reliable and helps the researcher investigate the state of student plagiarism clearly and suggest some preventative teaching methods more easily
2.2.1 Questionnaires Questionnaires are considered to be useful for exploration and confirmation One of the strengths of questionnaires is measuring attitudes and eliciting participants’ ways of thinking “Questionnaire was opted with consideration for its apparent multi-advantage and particular suitability for quantitative research” (Dửrnyei,
2003) In this study, questionnaires were designed to investigate students’ awareness of plagiarism and factors hind students’ misbehavior
2.2.1.1 The questionnaire for the students
All questions were written in English The questionnaires were also piloted with the help of five students before delivering to the large number The questionnaires are included 12 closed questions At the end of the questionnaire, students have a chance to mention their own ideas and viewpoints on plagiarism through an open question These are focused on discovering factors that hinder students’ performance in their writing assignments (question no 1, 2), their awareness of plagiarism (question no 3, 4, 5), the main forms of plagiarism committed by students (question no 7), level of seriousness of student plagiarism (question no 8), the reasons for their plagiarism (question no 9,), their comments on ways to limit plagiarism among students (question no 10, 11, 12)
2.2.1.2 The questionnaire for the teachers
With the help of three teachers for doing piloted questionnaire, the researcher could fully complete the questions The questionnaire for teachers is written in English
There are 12 closed questions in this questionnaire The last question is an open question Teachers can share their different ideas and views on plagiarism In general, all questions are aimed at finding out the teachers’ comments on students’ difficulties in writing assignments (question no 1, 2), students’ awareness of plagiarism (question no 3, 4, 5, 6), the main forms of plagiarism committed by students (question no 7), level of seriousness of student plagiarism (question no 8), reasons for student plagiarism (question no 9), and suggestions to limit plagiarism among students (question no 10, 11, 12)
2.2.2 Discourse analysis: analysis of students’ essays
In order to check the reliability of data collected from the questionnaire and hopefully to find out what has not been done through the questionnaire, the researcher attempted to test the extent of plagiarism among students through analyzing their essays The researcher chose the samples randomly among the students given questionnaires 10 students were asked to finish their small assignments about the topic they were free to choose They were encouraged to write with their own words as many as possible Their essays would be finished in electronic form Google search was used as the main tool for checking the sources related to plagiarized works The sources and the submitted works were compared through the application of Microsoft Office Word 2007 software The degree of seriousness of plagiarism was based on Birmingham University’s policies related to plagiarism: serious, moderate and slight plagiarisms (as mentioned in part 1.5).
Data collection procedure
Living and studying in one of the national key universities of Vietnam, teachers and students of FLF have great chances of accessing advanced technology, and international cooperation training programs It means that students and teachers have opportunities to express their knowledge, their potential modern methods and educational environment They, from the first time to enter the university, are clearly warned that academic integrity, especially plagiarism, is forbidden
The NEU Student Handbook specifically delineates what constitutes academic integrity Students’ “activities and attitudes should be consistent with high academic standards, and should be in keeping with the philosophy and mission of the university They must be willing to observe high standards of intellectual integrity, respecting knowledge and practice academic honesty” (NEU, 2012) Values violations are subdivided into five major areas: cheating in the exam, asking someone to take the exam, take the exam for someone else, copying other’s assignment, thesis paper, organizing taking the exam, assignment, thesis paper for someone else (NEU, 2012) In each written syllabus, plagiarism is re-stated as a cheat action to void On orientation meetings, the teachers remind students of plagiarism and warn them of the violation of this action
2.3.2 Participants’ background information The study was carried out with the participation of 12 teachers and 60 third – year students who major in English
12 teachers of FLF of NEU were selected to be informants Most of them graduated from the English Department of the top universities in Vietnam Some of them got their MA and PhD from universities abroad The oldest teacher has got more than
20 years of experience of teaching English The youngest teacher has been teaching English for 5 years Most of them have had experience in teaching English
60 third – year students majoring in English were chosen for the study They have at least three years of training in university environment They; therefore, have quite good knowledge of writing in English They were also taught about academic writing in their second year and had done some writing assignments by that time
However, their levels of English proficiency vary from individual to individual
2.3.3 Procedure The process of collecting data was carried out in the following phases
First, 60 copies of questionnaires written in English were distributed to 60 third – year students of Foreign Language Faculty and received back The students were all willing to cooperate with the researcher and complete all the questions in the questionnaire 100% of students gave their answered questionnaire back
Second, 12 soft copies of questionnaires written in English were sent to 12 teachers of the faculty via email and they were all completed and replied
To ensure full concentration, adequate time to complete the questionnaires and effective response, permission to use lecture time to administer questionnaires was gained from the lecturers in the FLF
The survey was conducted in September 2013 A brief introduction to the study was given to students outlining the objectives of the study and assuring anonymity
Consent of students was obtained verbally To increase the validity of the study, students were asked not to mention their names, student identification numbers or the name of the higher education institution All the students participated voluntarily
Third, in order to investigate the forms of plagiarism among students, with the big help of teachers from the university, the researcher has 10 students (chosen randomly among 60 students in the survey) write a small study with a topic they are free to choose within two month The study was conducted from the early June to the end of July.
Data analytical units
The findings of this research are presented in tables and graphical forms as bar and tables present data in an easy to understand format Based on the collected data, some factors related to students’ awareness of plagiarism, forms of plagiarism committed by students, reasons for student plagiarism Thanks to these findings, some recommendations for preventative teaching strategies are given.
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
The difficulties students encounter when taking a writing assignment
3.1.1 Difficulties in doing a writing assignment 3.1.1.1 Too many written assignments
When being asked to state the frequency of students’ doing writing assignments, both students and teachers share that written assignments are used quite often for evaluating students’ writing progress at the university Among them, forty – five percent of students indicate that they often have to write assignments on their courses, whereas 28.33% students say they do the task very often Sixteen students accounting for 26.67% sometimes have their assignments finished in written form
These figures match with teachers’ answers All teachers say their students have to finish several writing assignments during their courses More than half of them claim that students do this task frequently Other 25 % teachers considered written forms of assignments being so effective a method that they use it very often Only 16.67% teachers sometimes use writing assignments as tools of evaluating their
Figure 1: Frequency of students having an assignment students’ progress From the facts above, it can be inferred that, students have experienced in writing assignments many times They; therefore, have certain difficulty in completing all these assignments
As can be seen from the chart, among four listed issue, lack of resources seems to be students’ most difficulty in writing assignments Up to 69% teachers and students blame it as the core factor preventing students from successfully performing their writing This so high percentage may be resulted from the fact that traditionally, for Vietnamese students, writing an assignment, in fact, is to gather what have written by others before Therefore, having poor manipulating supporting information skills, they find it difficult to decide what information should be included or excluded in their assignment Besides, lack of ideas is another major difficulty of most students (60%) For them, their limited ability in expressing their thinking in English might keep them from working out their best assignments
With a little lower percentage, nearly half of the participants (48%) state that students often meet problems about the content of the assignment These students might be confused about how to outline their assignment or how to develop it, what should be added into their assignment and so on Lastly, task challenges seem to be not students’ main difficulty, because up to 65% respondents consider it as low or not a difficulty From this fact, it can infer that writing tasks are often well-prepared by teachers They meet students’ levels of language development, so they do not
Figure 2: Students’ difficulties in writing an assignment bother them Moreover, 5 students (8.33%) admit that the inadequate time is also their other main difficulty Because the time dues short, it is a challenge for them to finish their writing in their most perfect way
3.1.2 Students’ awareness of plagiarism 3.1.2.1 Plagiarism policy
More than half of students with the percentage of 52 % say that they know about plagiarism through oral policy Twenty percent of students indicate that there is an existence of a written policy for dealing with plagiarism These figures fit to teachers’ answers that all of them have ever informed their students about plagiarism policy in either oral or written forms 58.33% teachers said that they included the policy against plagiarism into their syllabi This seems to be the best way that students can easily follow and practice the rules For other 41.67% teachers, orally informing students about plagiarism will help them quickly be accustomed to its definition, notions and penalty
However, there are still more than a quarter of students (28%) who know nothing about plagiarism at their university or are uncertain of whether they plagiarize or not Sadly, this policy is clearly stated in the website of the university and in students’ handbooks delivered for the students on their first day entering the university This illustrates the point that many students do not take enough care of teachers’ instructions in class as well as of what they are allowed and not allowed to do at university Or the policy on how to deal with plagiarism is not entirely clear to
Figure 3: Awareness of plagiarism policy the students As a result, this ignorant attitude of students may contribute to their misbehaviors in writing academically
3.1.2.2 Penalty for act of plagiarism
According to the chart, most of plagiarized works (45% for students and 50% for teachers) will receive a zero The other 31.67% students and 25% teachers agree that warning will be given to a plagiarist for the first time and if the offence is not really serious Nearly ten percent of students and other 25% teachers maintain that failing grade will be given in the subject where plagiarism occurs More seriously, for 6.67% students, suspension in one year is the highest punishment for plagiarists
Expulsion will not be applied for plagiarism engagement in the university In contrast, some teachers say that one year of suspension will be awarded for students who plagiarize in two or more times with serious quantity or quality Especially, they further state that student will be suspended in one year if he/she copies or has other do his/her final assignment, thesis paper for the first time, and expelled for the second time
From the results above, it can be concluded that plagiarism policy is still unclear to students Their vague awareness of university penalty may lead them to commit the fraud to some extent The better way to improve the situation is that penalty needs
Figure 4: Plagiarism penalty to be openly discussed among colleagues and forced rigorously with sound judgments
3.1.2.3 Attitude towards plagiarism at the university
As shown in the figure, a half of students admit that plagiarism is somewhat common at their university 17 other students say that it is not very common here
Only 10 respondents vote for rarely having an act of plagiarizing at the university
Making up the smallest percentage (5 %), only 3 students vote for the answer “very common”
Interestingly, these findings do not support the results from teachers’ answers No comments are given by the teachers to the issues of very common or somewhat common Up to 58.33% teachers share that plagiarism rarely occurred at their university whereas other 33.33% state that it was not common in their university environment It appears the conclusion that plagiarism is under good control here
As can be seen from the chart, all teachers have seen signs of plagiarism into their students’ writing Among them, 41.67% respondents have witnessed different forms of plagiarism among students for 6 to 10 times 33.33% teachers have caught students plagiarize for more than 10 times Other teachers have experienced to one to five plagiarists These findings are closely related to students’ viewpoints Nearly half of students (46.67%) have caught six to ten plagiarists, 22 others (36.67%) have seen one to five of their classmates plagiarize in their writing assignment, and
Figure 5: Attitude towards plagiarism at the university ten percent of students admit that they have ever seen more than 10 plagiarizing performances in their class Only 6.67 % students point out that they know none students who might have plagiarized
From the figures above, it can be said that, temptation of plagiarism is so big that students cannot let it pass by They may intentionally borrow others’ works without giving any credits for the sources with the hope of overcoming their difficulties in writing Here also comes up a possibility that misunderstanding of what plagiarism is and lack of plagiarism policy forces students to cheat Therefore, lectures should pay more attention to students’ performance through their writings in hand with raising students’ awareness of plagiarism
3.1.3 Forms of plagiarism committed by students According to the chart, nearly 99.5% respondents agree that students have engaged in plagiarism as they use paraphrased texts without showing the original sources
Summary
Figure 12: What university should do to limit plagiarism opinions on difficulties students encounter while writing an assignment Students here have some certain knowledge about plagiarism, but not enough They are still confused about its definition and university policy against this misconduct behavior
Both teachers and students agree some main forms of plagiarism that students often unintentionally committed, namely, paraphrasing, summarizing or quoting without acknowledge the sources, or copying partly or entire of a work in the internet then submitting as one’s own, inventing a reference list or bibliography These frauds, according to the study, are mainly caused by some objective or subjective factors
Sometimes students with their lack of skills in manipulating supporting information or poor understanding of plagiarism become the unintentional plagiarists Besides, students’ laziness or poor time management skills, pressure from family and their friends force them to plagiarize with intention Intentional plagiarists also include those who concern about high marks in their assignments
The chapter also provides the general ideals of students and teachers on the ways to limit plagiarism at university Most of them strongly support that teachers should equip students with academic writing skills, monitoring their writing process in order to provide help when necessary Moreover, students should improve their writing skills themselves through taking note carefully from the sources, practicing writing academic and planning their assignments carefully in terms of the content or time It is responsibility of university that establish a severe punishment for plagiarists and have students’ essays checked for plagiarism electrically
Further implications and recommendations will be given basing on the findings from this chapter as well as the literature reviewed in Chapter 1.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Students’ awareness of the notion of plagiarism and its penalty
Moreover, the results of the survey also indicate that there is no explicit definition of plagiarism as well as its penalty at the university Students may not be clear of what they are allowed or not allowed to do in terms of plagiarism They do not fully understand what will happen to them if they plagiarize Some inconsistencies regarding the existence of policy for dealing with plagiarism among students and teachers refer the fact that the issue of plagiarism seems not to be an open-discussed topic May be the differences between the Western and Eastern cultures again cause this attitude In fact, “new” meaning, originality, and individual creativity have been emphasized and are very much an aspect of western modernity
On the other hand, in Vietnamese culture, rote-learning style is comparatively popular.
Main forms of plagiarism caused by students
It can be seen from the results of the survey that students tend to commit plagiarism in certain forms Firstly, students tend to use paraphrased, summarized text from the source without properly acknowledging it This fact has supported to the findings of the previous studies As stated in the findings of Thao Doan’s (2012:29) that in Vietnam, it is acceptable for students just to indicate the name of the author, not the year of publication or the page of the source text when using other’s sentences, words or ideas
Secondly, students may not feel guilty to copy some sentences here and there then put into their essays, pretending it as their own Perry (2001 cited in Jan and Katerina, 2005:20) suggests that for international students, copying from different sources, then combining them is not actually plagiarism but ‘research’
Moreover, students in the survey also commit plagiarism because of their inventing list of reference or bibliography in their writing assignments The reason for this action is that many students simply do not understand proper acknowledgement in practice
Finally, students might have a thought that everything written in the internet is public and free So it is not necessary to give credits to this source
In general, it is worthwhile remembering that plagiarism takes many forms, and as Piety (2002: 1) theories, "plagiarism is subjective….what is plagiarism to one person is not necessarily plagiarism to another”.
Reasons for student plagiarism
Reasons students plagiarize intentionally are to gain better marks, to save time because of laziness and bad time management and because everybody else is doing it Moreover, students are under pressure from family and friends to pass To gain better marks they will opt to plagiarize instead of trying to do their own work
Students plagiarize unintentionally because of poor writing skills, lack of referencing skills, the teaching and learning methods used by lecturers as well as poor understanding of the concept of plagiarism In assignment writing, students experienced difficulties with limited resources, lack of ideas, challenges of the task, problem with contents and de-motivating aspects of tasks.
Recommendations
In order to reduce plagiarism, students themselves have to make enough effort first
They should plan their assignments carefully in terms of the content and the time
By scheduling their writing process in various steps such as selecting topic, preparing an outline, making note, having first, second drafts before the final paper will provide much help in students’ writing improvement as well as reducing time pressure Students will no longer fear the deadline or be under pressure of the content problems
Moreover, students also need to take notes properly from the source text with the purpose that they will no longer lose track of where the information come from
Having first draft of the assignment completed, it is time for them to search information supporting to their topic from variety of sources
It is also good for students to equip themselves with academic skills In order to do that, students need to practice paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting as much as possible when writing assignment A critical reading note including the topic, the name of the author, the title of the work, year of publication and page of the information, quotation, paraphrase, summary, response, comment, question, and cross-reference will provide great help for student when accessing a book, journal or others
In general, according to Wilhoit (2009), students need to follow some steps below when writing an assignment or doing a research:
- Skimming for main points or important ideas,
- Taking notes of these: 1 - Facts that are not common knowledge 2- Quotes from experts that state a concept, in a unique, unusual, or startling way 3 - Summaries of longer explanations
- Learn the difference between a direct quote, paraphrase, and summary
- Be sure to mark exactly where the notes came from in your source, noting down exact location: author, title, location and year of publication, publisher, types of source such as magazine, book, and internet page URL, volume, number, etc
- Arranging your notes into groups according to their content, for later organization into sections of your paper
- Maintaining, developing and controlling your sources
- Using properly in-text citations for your paraphrase, summary, direct quotes
- Making list of references in appropriate style, APA for example
As mentioned above, most of plagiarism acts are caused by students’ unawareness of plagiarism In order to raising their awareness of this matter, an explicit definition of plagiarism should be provided and openly discussed among students, faculty members and academics of the university Plagiarism is a broad concept and can be interpreted differently by different people To make it help in the university, definition of plagiarism needs to be simple and direct (Wendy, 2008: 5)
The definition should include both printed and online sources and must also address intentional and unintentional plagiarism Issues related to plagiarism should be informed via school website or department Moreover, teachers should also develop clear key policy document containing questions related to plagiarism such as “What is plagiarism?”, “How is plagiarism detected?”, “What steps should be taken?”,
“What is the penalty if students plagiarize?” etc
This definition should be discussed as part of the contents of academic courses – especially on first year level Academic staff must ask students to explore their own understanding of and experiences with plagiarism
Moreover, students will be clearer when teachers explain the definition of plagiarism with examples to illustrate It is also better if teachers provide some models of plagiarizing acts from students’ writing Thanks to this, students will be aware of what plagiarism actually is, and why it is wrong When students fully understand the concept of plagiarism and its seriousness, the rate of plagiarism should be minimized
4.6.2.2 Equipping students with manipulating supporting information skills
After students find information they want to use in their essays, to avoid plagiarism, they must use quotations, paraphrases and summaries to process the information they need It is the responsibility of a teacher to encourage students to use variety of these skills that fit the students’ purposes, not just quotation (because it is easy)
EFL students have a tendency to just change a word here and there and call it paraphrasing; again teacher needs to point out to them that this action is unacceptable Examples of acceptable versions and plagiarism should be provided as well In addition, teachers should also regularly check a paraphrase or a summary version against the original version to see whether students have successfully maintained the same meaning of the source text Teachers should have students clearly show which part they themselves have written, and which part they are taken from others It is good to present students properly and improperly paraphrased, summarized, quoted, or cited statements and has them evaluate whether and why the sources are properly acknowledged In doing that, students have a deep understanding about what they need do and how to do it
Assignments must be designed to encourage students to investigate the problem by retrieving enough information and analyzing resources Teachers should clarify assignments to students so that they know what is expected of them Educators should help students to discuss the topic in depth, narrow the focus, personalize their assignment, provide correct references in the text and acknowledge sources consulted (Wendy, 2008: 7)
Moreover, large assignments should be broken down into set of smaller ones In this way the teacher could assist more closely the student and easily notice if discrepancies in the language exist
Teachers must avoid giving assignment topics that are general or common Topics related to the course objectives or contents and the avoidance of recycling of assignment topics should limit the chances of students buying or copying assignments
The process approach to writing is beneficial when teaching academic writing to EFL students
Firstly, students need to engage in the process of research and academic writing
Evidence of original work can be proven by producing notes, drafts and photocopies or printouts of resources (Wendy, 2008: 7 and Wilhoit, 1994:163)
Writing skills such as paraphrasing, summarizing and quoting must be taught and practiced Students must also be encouraged to practice time management to ensure that they have enough time for research, retrieving enough information, evaluating retrieved information, developing ideas and arguments, extracting information using their own words, synthesizing information from various sources and citing these sources to support their arguments
In order to do that teachers should give a schedule of due dates for each writing project This includes various steps such as selecting topic, preparing an outline, taking notes, and writing first, second, and final drafts More important, students should hand in their final papers enclosed with their drafts on which their peers have commented on strong and weak points
In addition, before completing the first draft, it is time for students to begin searching for sources Again they are encouraged to review the information from different sources This helps students have an in-depth view on the issue Once they have their source text in hand, teachers should instruct them to include relevant supporting information and in-text citations
4.6.2.5 Teaching citation and reference skills
Recapitulation
The findings from the study show that most students at FLF in NEU have poor awareness of plagiarism in terms of its definition For them, committing plagiarism is only when they repeat exactly words from others’ work without acknowledging the sources or submit a complete work from the internet then hand in as their own
Surprisingly, for many students, using un-cited copied, paraphrased, and summarized text no longer is considered as act of plagiarism That’s why these forms of plagiarism occur in most students’ assignments
The study also comes up a conclusion that students commit almost forms of plagiarism with different levels of seriousness However, they may commit some certain forms more often than others Outstandingly, students tend to reuse copied, paraphrased, or summarized texts without indication the sources A significant point is that most students copy different paragraphs in different sources and rearrange in their writings with no fear of committing plagiarism Leaving in-text citation and inventing list of reference also happens quite often among students’ assignments
Dangerously, many students think that information on the internet is free, and they do not have to cite when they use it The result is that mostly they use internet as main tool to aid their assignments They copy different sources on the internet to enrich their writing The cases may vary from copying some words or phrases, un- continuous sentences to entire of their assignments
Fortunately, what gained from the survey also indicates that most of students plagiarize accidentally This unintentional plagiarism happened because the students had limited awareness of plagiarism, lack of emphasis on proper citation in Vietnamese essays or reports It was also caused by students’ poor writing academic skills like paraphrasing, summarizing or quoting inappropriately Besides these unintentional plagiarists, some students plagiarized on purpose The reasons for this were blamed for students’ laziness, desire of high grade, pressure from their family and friends or bad time management.
Pedagogical implication
As mentioned above, most of students misunderstand about plagiarism in terms of definition and its notions So, raising student awareness on plagiarism needs to be stressed on first They need to be educated about it to ensure that they understand why it is not acceptable, what is allowed or not allowed to do A clear policy on plagiarism in terms of its definition, its forms, as well as what students are allowed or not allowed to do, penalty and so on should be presented through both online and printed sources Moreover, teaching students writing academically, equipping them with manipulating supporting information skills also provides a great help In addition, the recycling of assignments every time the course is given is a sign of teacher´s lack of involvement in the education as well as a temptation for students to commit plagiarism by for example getting a copy of the solution from previous course students So, teachers should put more enforce on design the courses or assignments that is difficult to find on the internet The teachers should not just rely on detection tools but guide the student during the whole learning and more important always give feedback on students’ work Finally, it is also better that there should be training on plagiarism and referencing at high school, because the way plagiarism is handled in high school might affect students seriously at higher education institutions The students need to be engaged in understanding what plagiarism is, and why they should be penalized for it If students are taught to understand the function and purpose of writing and the unreliability of especially internet information, they will become thoughtful, careful and critical writers.
Limitations
Therefore, the results collected were not really convincible Finally, regarding of time, the thesis was carried out within 5 weeks which was not enough to have an incentive overview of the real problem To conduct this study and apply the expected findings to the whole school population demands much greater time and efforts of both teachers and students.
Suggestions for further research
in the first-year students than in other students, is correct In addition, a comparison among two courses where one of them divide the assessment into stages, for instance, the production of each part of a scientific report is based on drafts in combination with close teacher and student interaction and the other course’s assessment is not divided into stages
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APPENDICES APPENDIX 1a: SURVEY ON PLAGIARISM IN WRITING
The present survey belongs to a research project called “Plagiarism” conducted at the department of foreign language, at one of the Universities in Vietnam
In particular, the goal of this project is to investigate the issue of plagiarism from a developmental perspective so as to
- Identify how plagiarism is perceived and understood by students
- Provide teachers with guidelines for dealing with plagiarism from a learning point of view
In a second step, the idea is to also identify other preventive measures of more technical and organizational nature
The survey is composed by mostly alternative questions The only person, who will handle the submitted surveys, is working on her M.A thesis and the results will be presented after they are compiled so that your individual survey information will not be identifiable
Any question or comments on the survey should be addressed to Hoang Thi Hong at the email address: anhhong.htp@gmail.com
1 Have you ever finished any writing assignments or research papers?
Never Sometimes Often Very often
2 Please mark the level of difficulties when you take a writing assignment Difficulties in writing
Task challenges Lack of ideas Lack of resources
3 In your institute, plagiarism is
Very common somewhat common Not very common Rare
4 Do you know any of your classmates who you think might have plagiarized?
Yes, more than 10 Yes, 6 - 10 Yes, 1 - 5 No, none
5 Have you ever read or warned about plagiarism officially from your University?
Yes, a written policy Yes, an oral policy No Do not know
6 At your University, what are the penalties for the incidents of plagiarism
teachers usually ignore it the student will be given a warning
the submitted work will be rejected the submitted work will be marked zero
the student will fail the subject where plagiarism occurs
the student will be suspended from study in one year
the student will be expelled from university
7 Please indicate which of following plagiarism act you committed when doing assignments
Activities Always Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never Paraphrased without acknowledging the source Summarizing a text without acknowledgement
Using quotation marks without proper acknowledgement Invented references or bibliography Copy a work from the internet & submit as one's own
8 How much did you copy from online or printed sources?
Completed copy More than half of the assignment
One or some paragraphs and put them together
Just some words or phrases then put them together with some changes
9 For what reasons, do you think students tend to violate plagiarism?
10 Which of the options below do you consider the best ways students should do to avoid plagiarism?
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Have better knowledge about academic writing, for example, by attending a course in academic writing Take notes carefully from the sources
Practice more on writing academic skills Get better training in the type of assignments where plagiarism usually occurs to receive better self- esteem
Receive proper instructions on writing assignments in time so that time pressure is avoided Plan the assignments carefully: time, content…
11 Which of the options below do you think the teachers should do avoid plagiarism?
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Create assignments that reduce the temptation to plagiarize Teach students the skills they need in order to complete assignments successfully
Break large assignments down into a set of smaller assignments
Have students write their drafts or portions of their drafts in class, bring drafts or notes to class for peer evaluation, or require that drafts be turned in with the
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Poor writing skills
Lack of referencing skills Laziness/bad time management Don’t understand assignments Pressure from family & friends
To obtain better marks Poor understanding of plagiarism Everybody is doing it final paper
Have students download a paper from a paper-mill site and evaluate its weaknesses
Present properly and improperly paraphrased, quoted, and cited statements and have students evaluate whether and why the sources are properly acknowledged
Openly discuss plagiarism with students Inform students that their work will be checked for plagiarism
12 Which of the options below do you think the University should do to reduce students’ plagiarism?
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Include a statement about plagiarism
Have students sign a statement, affirming that they have read and understand the College's policy and agree to abide by them
The penalty for those who committed should be severe Electronic plagiarism detection tools should be used
Information about plagiarism via the school's website or department
Please feel free to mention other ideas and views on plagiarism below:
Thank you for your cooperation
APPENDIX 1b: SURVEY ON PLAGIARISM IN WRITING
The present survey belongs to a research project called “Plagiarism” conducted at the department of foreign language in a university in Vietnam
In particular, the goal of this project is to investigate the issue of plagiarism from a developmental perspective so as to:
- Identify how plagiarism is perceived and understood by students
- Provide teachers with guidelines for dealing with plagiarism from a learning point of view
In a second step, the idea is to also identify other preventive measures of more technical and organizational nature
The survey is composed by mostly alternative questions The only person, who will handle the submitted surveys, is working on her M.A thesis and the results will be presented after they are compiled so that your individual survey information will not be identifiable
Any question or comments on the survey should be addressed to Hoang Thi Hong at the email address: anhhong.htp@gmail.com
1 How often do you give assignment to your students?
Never Sometimes Often Very often
2 Please mark the level of difficulties when your students take a writing assignment Difficulties in writing Major difficulty Medium
Task challenges Lack of ideas Lack of resources
3 Have you ever read or warn about plagiarism officially from your University?
4 In your institute, plagiarism is
Very common somewhat common Not very common Rare
5 Have you, as a teacher, seen signs of plagiarism in a student’s work?
Yes, more than 10 times Yes, 6 – 10 times Yes, 1 – 5 times No, never
6 At your University, what are the penalties for the incidences of plagiarism
teachers usually ignore it the student will be given a warning
the submitted work will be rejected
the submitted work will be marked zero
the student will fail the subject where plagiarism occurs
the student will be suspended from study in one year
the student will be expelled from university
7 Please indicate which of following plagiarism act your students committed when doing assignments
Activities Always Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never Paraphrased without acknowledging the source
Copy a text without acknowledgement Submitted someone’s work without their permission Using quotation marks without proper acknowledgement Invented references or bibliography
Copy a work from the internet & submit as one's own
8 How much did they plagiarize or copy from online or printed sources?
Completed copy More than half of the assignment
One or some paragraphs and put them together
Just some words or phrases then put them together with some changes
9 For what reasons, do you think students tend to violate plagiarism?
10 Which of the options below do you consider the best ways students should do to avoid plagiarism?
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Have better knowledge about academic writing, for example, by attending a course in academic writing Take notes carefully from the sources
Practice more on writing academic skills
Get better training in the type of assignments where plagiarism usually occurs to receive better self- esteem
Receive proper instructions on writing assignments in time so that time pressure is avoided Plan the assignments carefully: time, content…
11 Which of the options below do you think the teachers should do avoid plagiarism?
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Poor writing skills
Lack of referencing skills Teaching and learning methods Laziness/bad time management Don’t understand assignments Education costs
To obtain better marks Poor understanding of plagiarism Everybody is doing it
Create assignments that reduce the temptation to plagiarize
Teach students the skills they need in order to complete assignments successfully
Break large assignments down into a set of smaller assignments
Have students write their drafts or portions of their drafts in class, bring drafts or notes to class for peer evaluation, or require that drafts be turned in with the final paper
Have students download a paper from a paper-mill site and evaluate its weaknesses
Present properly and improperly paraphrased, quoted, and cited statements and have students evaluate whether and why the sources are properly acknowledged
Openly discuss plagiarism with students Inform students that their work will be checked for plagiarism
12 Which of the options below do you think the University should do to reduce students’ plagiarism?
Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Information about plagiarism via the school's website or department Have students sign the university’s statement related to plagiarism
Establish a severe penalty for plagiarists Use electronic plagiarism detection tools
Developing clear key policy documents containing answers to questions related to plagiarism
Please feel free to mention other ideas and views on plagiarism below:
Thank you for your cooperation!
Table 1: Frequency of having students do assignment never sometimes often Very often
Table 2: Difficulties students encounter when doing assignment Difficulties in Major difficulty
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss
Table 3: Existence of a plagiarism policy
Table 4: Penalty for acts of plagiarism ignore warn mark zero fail grade suspend in one year expel from university students 5 19 27 5 4 0 teachers 0 3 5 3 1 0
Table 6: Experience of plagiarism incidences
Table 7: Seriousness of student plagiarism
How much students copy from the source complete copy more than half one or more paraghraphs just some words or phrases
Activities Always Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Paraphrased without acknowledging the source
Using quotation marks without proper acknowledgement
Invented references or bibliography 1 4 4 9 4 13 2 23 1 11 Copy a work from the internet & submit as one's own
Table 9: Reasons for student plagiarism
Reasons for student plagiarism Strongly agree
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss
Lack of referencing skills 3 22 7 18 1 6 1 8 0 6 Laziness/bad time management 2 31 4 9 4 10 2 2 0 8 Don’t understand assignments 1 8 3 14 6 23 2 8 0 7 Pressure from family & friends 2 14 2 17 5 17 3 9 0 5
Table 10: What students should do to avoid plagiarism?
Student should strongly agree agree disagree strongly disagree
Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Ts Ss Better knowledge about academic writing 2 9 3 13 4 21 3 17 Take notes carefully from the sources 4 32 7 16 1 7 0 5 Practice more on writing academic skills 2 9 5 15 3 26 2 10
Get better training in the type of assignments where plagiarism occurs
Receive proper instructions on writing assignments in time
Plan the assignments carefully: time, content… 6 27 6 15 0 13 0 5