Study on the Knowledge and Compliance With Plagiarism Standards Among the Students

Abstract

The ethics and the academic integrity are one of the biggest issues debated over the years in many ways, such as philosophically, historically, pedagogically, socially, and so on. From a pedagogical and didactic point of view, the ethics and the integrity are two important values ​​that are strongly debated in order to determine some changes in the way of life and to model positive social behaviors of people. When carrying out the study, we used the survey method, applying as main tool the questionnaire which included 22 closed questions (with answers already formulated). The questionnaire was applied to a sample of 74 subjects: all of them students at the University of Pitesti, the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Social Sciences and Psychology, from the study programs: Bachelor's degree in Primary and Preschool Pedagogy, Câmpulung branch and Master Early Education and Educational Counseling. The purpose of the questionnaire is to make students aware of the academic and legal consequences of plagiarism. The knowledge of the legislation, of the most useful methods to avoid plagiarism, as well as the plagiarism detection software, stimulates compliance with the ethics of information communication, avoiding this phenomenon in the study and research process.

Keywords:

Introduction

Plagiarism is a current problem in the field of higher education, because there is enormous educational content, accessible due to digital resources, which has facilitated the growth of deviations among students (McGrail & McGrail, 2015, p. 86). Plagiarism is a serious violation of the ethical norms of research, namely good conduct in scientific research, and its seriousness stems from the fact that it calls into question both the result of the research and its author. Moreover, plagiarism seriously affects the credibility and prestige of the institution in which the researcher guilty of such an act carries out his/her activity.

Starting with the 2018-2019 academic year, for all university study programs organized in higher education institutions in the national education system, ethics courses and academic integrity are included in the curricula.

Through this subject of study, Ethics and academic integrity, attempts are made to polish characters and make the right moral and immoral choices. It is important that from the earliest ages or periods of life we implement a healthy way of life, both physically and mentally, religiously, etc. All this being thus closely related to the mentality of the society in which we live, depending on its development. With the 21st century, a specific way of life is required, in which individuals in society coordinate their activities and actions according to positive moral-social rules, in order to develop both in themselves and in those around them positive, moral feelings of understanding, compassion, will, generosity, etc.

Reading the three theories underlying immorality, namely deontological theory, utilitarian theory and theory of virtue, based on great philosophers such as Kant, Aristotle, etc., I deduce the following information: The three essential elements on which our existence is based are the following: truth, justice and love. Through truth, the immoral elements are removed, which cause negative behaviors, distorted information on a fact, event, through love the feeling of solidarity, generosity, compassion and understanding is shown, and through justice, man shows courage, being honest both with themselves and with others around them. In other words, the human condition of rational existence is achieved by combining the three elements without which society would not be a solid one, based on free, integral and harmonious characters.

Of the discussions put on the criticism table of scientists in the field of pedagogy, one of the most necessary disputes imposed is plagiarism. Plagiarism is one of the most serious problems underlying the society in which we live.

Problem Statement

Due to the development of the society in which we live, and due to the changes from all points of view, especially in terms of the media, and the circulation of information, we often forget or cling to convenience and omit the use of libraries in the sense of information, the search for direct materials that bring us concrete information and not lost due to their usage from hand to hand. Thus, appears this “trend”, means, way, by which convenience makes its mark and we use information, sometimes erroneous, worn, eroded, sometimes said correctly in itself, but said by other scientists, etc. This continuous and cyclical circulation, mixes the information in our heads, and we no longer manage to sift, associate or classify it, and we tend to use it as ideas, information, concepts or maybe own hypotheses, the effect then being that we intentionally or unintentionally fail. An important thing is that this can happen voluntarily or involuntarily. Voluntarily happens when the copying action is done deliberately, consciously, sometimes trying to hide certain elements by changing the meaning or order of the elements in the phrase, sentence, but the advantage is that due to special programs, this can be verified simply by entering the text in that program, and it will detect whether the text is plagiarized or not. Involuntarily, plagiarism can be achieved when you read or quantitatively inform yourself a lot, and there is no period of time for storing information, processing and analyzing it, in order to issue judgments, views, opinions, advantages or disadvantages on a fact or a problem. The information so freshly collected can put you in difficulty, because studying and issuing your own reasoning on it can already be issued by someone else, structured similarly or maybe only nuanced in another way. The study of plagiarism and the promotion of a code of ethics for students is essential for the training of professionals who comply with the norms of ethics and professional deontology.

Research Questions

This study aimed to answer the following research questions:

• What types of plagiarism are known by students?
• How aware are students of the long-term effects of plagiarism?
• What are the most common types of plagiarism used by students?

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study was to define plagiarism in the academic community and to explore students’ perceptions of ethics and good conduct in scientific research.

Research Methods

A questionnaire was developed with the aim to identify the knowledge of the students from the bachelor and master programs of the consequences that plagiarism can have from an academic and legal point of view. The questionnaire included 22 closed-ended questions, and the subjects answered anonymously, in order to increase the degree of honest answers. The questionnaire was applied online to students of the Faculty of Sciences of Education, Social Sciences and Psychology within the Programs of study Early Education, Educational Counselling and Pedagogy of Primary and Pre-school Education, Câmpulung Branch. The response rate of the students was 72%, which proves the interest of the students in the issues of ethics and plagiarism.

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In the research sample, 61.1% are students at the first faculty, 38.9% at the second faculty, and 89.5% are students at the first master program and 10.5% at the second master (Figure 1). More than half of the students surveyed at the master’s degree (68.4%) work in education, and in terms of bachelor students, only 25% work in education.

Findings

In order to answer the questions of the research, we interpreted the answers obtained from the application of the Questionnaire regarding the knowledge of the consequences that plagiarism can have from an academic and legal point of view. The students showed interest in the subject of plagiarism, especially because in their activity they have to support and write scientific papers (bachelor and dissertation thesis), having a high response rate (72%). During their bachelor and master programs, students are required to write scientific papers, a challenging process, because of its increased risk of failure (Dumitru, 2021), and pushing students to plagiarize. From the results obtained, to the research question (RQ1): (What are the types of plagiarism known by the students?), the subjects from the bachelor program distinguished the following types of plagiarism: “Copy-paste” (69.4%), “Paraphrasing” (16.7%) and “Copy-mix-paste” (38.9%) (Table 1). Instead, the students from the master degrees have identified the following types of plagiarism: “Copy-paste” (82.2%), “Paraphrasing” (23.7%) and “Copy-mix-paste” (44.7%).

In order to answer the research question (RQ2)?), we analysed the subjects’ answers to item 21, and the results we obtained indicate that most students claim to be familiar with the penalties that can be issued by the Ethics Committee of the University in case of plagiarism (over 60%) (Table 2).

Regarding the knowledge ofwe analyzed the answers of the subjects to item 10, and the results we obtained indicate that 44.4% of the students from PIPP and 55.3% from the master program know the law to a large extent (Table 3).

Also, from the results obtained in item 14, it results that the subjects (over 60%), both from the bachelor’s and from the dissertation thesis, have occasionally practiced plagiarism.

Regarding the types of plagiarism reported by students to be used (RQ3): What are the most common types of plagiarism used by students? we analyzed the subjects’ responses to item 15, and from the results obtained, most of the students (over 50%) plagiarized by “Lack of citation” (Figure 2).

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The present digital age affected tremendously the way knowledge is delivered and the way students learn and interact with the information (Foloștină & Dumitru Tăbăcaru, 2022), affecting at the same the way plagiarism is evolving from simply copy pasting to more complex ways of plagiarising through the use of technological tools paraphrasing, by translating, by manipulating sources etc. The plagiarism has to be studies also in the light of extensive digitalization, as “virtual space can contribute to a wider network for working and learning collaboratively for innovations in pedagogies and for professional development” (Dumitru Tăbăcaru & Bucuroiu, 2021, p.144), which will make it even more difficult to delimite the contribution of a certain person in the collective development of information online.

Conclusions

Avoiding plagiarism in the process of study and scientific research depends on knowing and respecting the legislative framework that condemns plagiarism and urges to avoid this phenomenon.

We can say that, regarding the knowledge ofover 44% of the PIPP students and over 55% of the students at master program are largely familiar with the mentioned law.

In connection with the importance of the subject, over 80% of the students considered it very important.

In connection with the importance of the subject, over 80% of the students considered it very important.

References

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• Foloștină, R., & Dumitru Tăbăcaru, C. (2022). Digital Communication in the Inclusive Classroom. In Basic Communication and Assessment Prerequisites for the New Normal of Education. Trif, V. (Edit). IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8247-3

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• Raibagkar, S. S. (2021). Researchers Do Not fall Prey to Misuse of Plagiarism Regulations. Publishing Research Quarterly. https://doi-org.am.e-nformation.ro/10.1007/s12109-021-09787-9

• Ştefan, E. E. (2018). Ethics and academic integrity. Editura Pro Universitaria.