Controlling Plagiarism: A Study of Lecturer Attitudes

Abstract

Plagiarism is viewed as increasing problem in the academy. When plagiarism is discussed it is often in personal negative terms that refer to the ‘lazy’ modern student. Previous studies have suggested that the largest cause of plagiarism is ignorance on the part of the student. This paper examines lecturers’ knowledge of, and attitude to, plagiarism, how they pass their knowledge on to students and the lecturers’ knowledge of disciplinary procedures. This examination teases out the lecturers’ responsibility for continuing student plagiarism. It was found that academics are unsure of their definitions of plagiarism, have varied attitudes towards different types of plagiarism and do not effectively teach how to work with a text to avoid plagiarism. We suggest a wider discussion of plagiarism in the academy, extending beyond how to deter and catch plagiarists, and the writing of policy statements, to preventing plagiarism though education of both student and academic