Plagiarism and the Reduction Efforts by Authorities - Essay Example

Most of the students were women and full-time, with the participation of a few men and part-time students. Questions asked of the students determined their understanding of plagiarism, the hardships they had to undergo to avoid plagiarism, and how they learned to write without plagiarizing.

Phase two concerned the development of learning materials. The materials developed were evaluated with undergraduate psychology students, some of whom had participated in Phase One. Much like the focus groups in Phase One, the number of sessions was determined by the data.v The latter phase then incorporated the student feedback into the design of the learning materials.

The research design included several processes whereby feedback was ascertained from students and teaching staff, to ensure the applicability and usefulness of the materials and their responsiveness to students’ needs.

The results of the study stated in Phase One represented the students' understandings of plagiarism particularly on defining plagiarism, difficulties in writing to avoid plagiarism, strategies to avoid plagiarism, and student suggestions for course improvement. The results in Phase Two represented the development and evaluation of the learning materials. Based on the findings three tutorials and a ‘tip sheet’ were developed. The Tip sheet provided students with a practical guide on the definition of plagiarism and suggestions for its avoidance when writing [for this particular subject, psychology]. Information is outlined in the following six areas: time management, note-taking, critical reading, paraphrasing, referencing, and practice.

The researchers finally proposed learning materials that see several advantages over alternate methods of plagiarism reduction: 1) The inclusion of the materials into an introductory unit is preventive rather than reactive; 2) Providing all students with materials as a component of the course is a universal rather than selective approach; 3) The materials can be easily adapted to alternative teaching modes of delivery such as print-based external and online modes; 4) The materials can be incorporated into units without changing the assessment, official unit outlines, and so on;  5) Although the materials were developed for psychology students, the materials could be adapted to meet the needs of students in other schools and departments; and 6) Once the materials have been implemented into the course, their advantages can be sustained without further staff time commitment.

The researchers said the same cannot be said for the provision of additional tutorials, workshops, and programs outside of class time.

Storch, J. B; Storch, E. A; & Clark, P. (2002, Nov/Dec). Academic dishonesty and neutralization theory: A comparison of intercollegiate athletes and non-athletes. Journal of College Student Development. Retrieved February 9, 2006

The purposes of this study were: (1) to examine the self-reported frequency of academic dishonesty in a sample of student-athletes and non-athletes; (2) to describe the extent to which neutralization techniques are utilized by student-athletes and non-athletes.