Knowledge, perception and attitude of Nigerian students to plagiarism

Abstract

This study investigated the knowledge, perception and attitude of Nigerian students to plagiarism. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire which was self administered by the researchers to the respondents. The respondents were 282 first year students in the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. The collected data was analyzed with frequency counts and percentage. The major findings show that the knowledge of plagiarism among the students prior to their being taught the subject was very low. However, after being exposed to the subject through teaching, their knowledge increased significantly. The respondents perceived some reasons as significant to the incidence of plagiarism among students. These included: fear of being scored poorly, awareness that other students were doing it, the opportunities for copying offered by the Internet, and the absence of punishment for plagiarism-related offences. The attitude of respondents to strategies for curbing plagiarism showed that respondents favoured corrective measures over punitive measures. The study concluded that university administrations should pay close attention to this problem by developing strategies that can help resolve it.

Graduate Students’ Knowledge about Plagiarism in Academic Writing

“…If the students had high knowledge about plagiarism, it can be made them avoiding plagiarism. This study showed that most students came into the university with average skills in research and writing, and it still possible that students can commit plagiarism intentionally or unintentionally (Onuoha & Ikonne, 2013;Ibegbulam, I. J., & Eze, 2015).…”

“…They were also asked to write down their own opinion if they thought their reason was not on the list. Both of the questionnaires were adapted from (Ibegbulam & Eze, 2015) and (Lei & Hu, 2015) for knowledge of plagiarism. While for questionnaire for the reason why graduate students committing plagiarism, the statements were adapted from Razera (2011).…”

“…Many studies conducted in order to know how knowledgeable students and academic staff about plagiarism in academic writing. First, Ibegbulam & Eze (2015) who examined about Nigerian students' knowledge, perceptions, and attitude to plagiarism. The result showed that the subject of this study had a low understanding of plagiarism because they never thought about how to avoid the plagiarism.…”

Graduate Students’ Knowledge about Plagiarism in Academic Writing

“…If the students had high knowledge about plagiarism, it can be made them avoiding plagiarism. This study showed that most students came into the university with average skills in research and writing, and it still possible that students can commit plagiarism intentionally or unintentionally (Onuoha & Ikonne, 2013;Ibegbulam & Eze, 2015).…”

Conceptual Review of Literature on Student Plagiarism: Focusing on Nigerian Higher Education Institutions

“…Findings from studies carried out by several researchers (Agu et al, 2009;Orim, 2011;Orim, 2014;Ibegbulam & Eze, 2015;Olutola, 2016) in Nigerian Higher Institutions of learning suggest that there are occurrences of student plagiarism. As reviewed in several other sources earlier, this finding is not peculiar to the Nigerian Higher Institutions of Learning.…”