Why students plagiarise from the internet: The views and practices in three Norwegian upper secondary classrooms

Abstract

In a two-part mixed methods study, internet-based plagiarism amongst Norwegian upper secondary students was measured and related to performance level and knowledge of source use. Subsequently, interviews were conducted to explore these students' views on internet access and plagiarism during essay writing. The quantitative part of the study showed that 75% of the 67 students in the study plagiarised from the online sources and that plagiarism accounted for 25% of the total amount of text. Students with a higher grade in written Norwegian plagiarised less than those with a lower grade. Further, students more familiar with the correct use of sources did not plagiarise as much as students with less awareness. In the qualitative part of the study, individual interviews with 29 of the students indicated that the students wanted to spend as little time and effort as possible on the task and a great majority of the students wanted internet access whether they judged this an obstacle to their learning or not. They also preferred to have free access to internet content regardless of its relevance to the essay, and plagiarism was chosen as a writing strategy regardless of whether or not it was acknowledged to be a moral problem. More proficient writers explained their use of the internet in a more sophisticated way than less proficient writers. With these findings in mind, the different potential consequences of internet access for proficient and less proficient writers are discussed. Finally, some suggestions for further research are put forward.

Sources and citizens: An essay in applied epistemology

“…A 2013 study from Norway found that 75% of final semester humanities students could be easily enticed into serious plagiarism by cunning researchers planting ideal sources online and then correlating them with pupil essays on a given day (Skaar and Hammer, 2013). They found that as many as 75% break the law, that they are articulate in explaining their behaviour, and that the worse their mark in other subjects, the more likely pupils are to plagiarise.…”

När blir det plagiat? – En tvärsnittsstudie av studenters färdigheter och förmågor gällande fusk i form av plagiat

“…Howard & Davies, 2009). Andra menar att initialt bristande språkkunskaper kan skapa situationer där studenterna plagierar (möjligen omedvetet) eftersom de saknar en djupare kunskap om det språk som studierna bedrivs på (Skaar & Hammer, 2013;Song-Turner, 2008). Att plagiat alls uppstår kan alltså handla om ett bedrägligt beteende (som diskuterats ovan), men också om att studenterna inte fått tillräcklig tid för att utveckla sina färdigheter och förmågor gällande just de här situationerna.…”

“…Expansionen av den högre utbildningen genom t.ex. internationalisering skapar också utmaningar i form av att studenter med sämre språkfärdigheter börjar studera (Song-Turner, 2008;Skaar & Hammer, 2013).…”

“…I arbetet med att öka det pedagogiska arbetet med akademisk integritet kan det också finnas skäl att adressera förekomsten av tidsrationalitet som kan prägla vissa studentgrupper. Plagiat bör aldrig vara en strategi (Skaar & Hammer, 2013) eller genväg (Luke, 2014) för att bli klar snabbt med ett akademiskt arbete. Här kan den ökade digitaliseringen i samhället vara en utmaning.…”

Plagiarism and the Internet: Fears, Facts, and Pedagogies

“…Ukpebor and Ogbebor (2013) report that 26.6 % of the 1,000 Nigerian secondary school students they surveyed "use the Internet for plagiarizing" (p. 264). In mixed-method research with 67 Norwegian upper secondary students, Skaar and Hammer (2013) discover that 75 % plagiarized when writing essays while working online. On the basis of his meta-analysis of other research studies, Bennett concludes, "a substantial rise in university student plagiarism has in fact taken place" (2010, p. 139).…”