Student Survey of Attitudes to Plagiarism Detection
In a 2005 survey of NP students, many felt that it is unfair when some students plagiarise, but other students submit their own honest work. Many students felt that if anti-plagiarism software was used, it would help their peers to learn the correct way to quote, paraphrase and summarise from sources.
When asked "Should NP use anti-plagiarism software?",
- 44% agreed
- 31% disagreed
- 25% did not answer
Some of the written responses were:
Agreement (90 written responses)
- "it really bugs me when i take the effort to do all the hard work for my assignment and my friends just want the file so that they can have a eazy life..."
- "i get really irritated with my classmates, who always try to "borrow" my assignment and copy them all, and then during the tutorial, they will said that they do it themselves!!!!! "
Disagreement (70 written responses)
- "i feel that by copying is also part of the learning process. Copy with your brains but not blindly. By copying the concept is fine but not everything."
- "Using the system to detect dishonest student is an ideal way to prevent the submission of identical work, but if the student don't understand the importance of handing up their own work, I still think it's pointless no matter how great the system is. By educating the student to be more responsible in handing their own assignment is a better way of getting things done."
Next: NP Plagiarism Policy »