Introduction1
Ethics in Research2
The Reality of Plagiarism3
Ensuring Academic Honesty8
Conclusion9
References10
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1: College students’ ethical views on plagiarism5
Figure 2: College students actually committing acts of plagiarism5
Figure 3: Percentage of HS students who cheated6
Figure 4: Percentage of HS students who plagiarized6
Figure 5: Percentage of HS students who cheated and plagiarized7
Figure 6: Plagiarism among undergraduates and graduate students7
Academic Honesty in Conducting Research Studies
Introduction
Plagiarism has always been a problem in the academic field, particularly in the area of research. The act of plagiarism is the act of using somebody else’s work, may it be paraphrasing or direct quoting, and passing it off as one’s own work (Barron-Cedeno, Rosso, Pinto & Juan, n.d). It may seem like an innocent deed for some people, but it is indeed a serious crime. It is intellectual theft. The dangers of plagiarism lie in its simplicity. After all, it is extremely easy for a student to copy a few sentences from a published work and use it in his or her own paper.
This has been made particularly easier in today’s 21st century with our modern technology. With just a few simple clicks, a student can instantly copy and paste from published works on the internet (Brooks& Ellis, 2005). Along with the convenience that technology has brought mankind comes the convenience of committing plagiarism. Academic institutions have already spent huge amounts of money, time, and energy in trying to solve this problem. Nevertheless, plagiarism is still quite rampant among students. Statistics from the Educational Training Center show that the rate of cheating, including plagiarizing other people’s works, has remarkably increased over the past half decade (Barron-Cedeno, Rosso, Pinto & Juan, n.d). This is why it is important, now more than ever, that academic institutions be able to instill the spirit of academic honesty among students.
Having said that, this paper aims to address the very serious problem of plagiarism. Its scope will include a discussion of what exactly makes plagiarism unethical and its negative effects on the field of research in general. A section regarding the current prevalence of plagiarism will also be included to inform readers on how big of a problem it is in contemporary times. This section will serve as an update on the extent of the issue that is being dealt with. In addition to that, ways to ensure academic honesty in doing research will be enumerated, discussed, and assessed. These ways will include traditional and non-traditional approaches, even involving complex software programs. In the end, it is hoped that this paper will be able to inform readers regarding the nature of plagiarism, its current prevalence, the importance of academic honesty, and how both academic institutions and students can ensure practice it.
Ethics in Research
Academic integrity is nothing new, even when it comes to doing research. Academic integrity pertains to intellectual honesty or being responsible for one’s own academic work (Brooks& Ellis, 2005). This includes possessing specific values such as commitment, honesty, respect, trust, fairness, and responsibility (Brooks& Ellis, 2005). Without all of these, a student would be strongly susceptible to committing plagiarism. To be more specific, academic honesty involves creating academic work without having to resort to acts such as plagiarism, tampering, stealing, lying, cheating, receiving illegitimate assistance from outside parties, or using a source of information that is not widely recognized (Brooks& Ellis, 2005).
On the other hand, academic dishonesty involves committing those aforementioned acts, may it be intentional or even unintentional. There should be an emphasis on the ‘unintentional’ because some students actually claim to not be aware that they are already committing academic dishonesty (Jones, 2011). This can be attributed to the fact that throughout the years, there has been a huge lack of importance given to the value of academic honesty. It has become some sort of an unspoken code of conduct. Unfortunately, because of the ‘unspoken’ aspect, students have the tendency to forget just how important it is altogether.
But just how important is academic honesty? First of all, academic honesty ensures that students truly are able to learn from their classes. Research papers serve as the representation of a student’s knowledge, learning, academic skills, discipline, and professional competence (Gelman & Basboll, 2013). Therefore, committing plagiarism while doing a research paper means submitting an inaccurate representation of one’s capacities (Gelman& Basboll, 2013). This will be putting both the student and the university’s reputation at risk. More than that, failing to practice academic honestly will not properly equip students to becoming a qualified and competent part of the community and the workforce once they graduate.
Academic honesty also promotes fairness and respect. Committing plagiarism is not fair to all parties involved. It is not fair for the student, to his or her classmates, to the professors, and, most importantly, to the author or authors of the plagiarized work (Gelman& Basboll, 2013). It wouldn’t be fair to the student because he or she will not be evaluated fairly based on an actual honest work that he or she did. It wouldn’t also be fair to the fellow students, particularly to those who are actually adhering to the university’s policies regarding academic honesty. This is because committing plagiarism gives dishonest students an unfair advantage; this will be especially unjust in an extremely competitive environment, which most universities have nowadays (Gelman& Basboll, 2013).Promoting academic honesty promotes a community of mutual respect and honesty. It isn’t enough for students to gain new knowledge through research; it is also important for them to develop discipline and responsibility through research (Gelman& Basboll, 2013).
A huge aspect of conducting responsible research is acknowledging other people’s own hard work. Research, by its virtue, does not just involve one student who is currently doing the research. It involves a whole community of students, scholars, writers, and researchers. It is a community that is supposed to be working together in their pursuit of knowledge (Gelman& Basboll, 2013). And working together entails acknowledging and respecting one another’s work, not stealing them. Being able to work together is of incredible significance because research involves a participatory learning process. It involves the inclusion, assessment, and criticism of a wide array of different opinions, ideas, and perspectives (Gelman& Basboll, 2013). It is then the role of policies regarding academic honesty to make sure that these opinions, ideas, and perspectives are being protected from plagiarism.
When it all boils down to it, academic honesty simply prohibits theft. As mentioned before, plagiarism is a form of intellectual theft. Promoting academic honesty prevents the formation of an environment where stealing other people’s works is deemed acceptable (Jones, 2011). On the contrary, academic honesty actually fosters an environment of mutual trust. It is only through that mutual trust can genuine positive learning from all parts of the world be possible. Genuine positive learning pertains to writers, students, and researchers being able to feel secure enough that their work will not be stolen by other people (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). It also pertains to students being able to feel confident that the research studies that they are learning from and using in their own research were created with full academic honesty and do not contain any plagiarized work (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002).
The Reality of Plagiarism
Because plagiarism is a relatively easy and simple crime to commit, it is actually more common than one would think. Even increasing its prevalence is the rise of advanced technologies that enable people to commit plagiarism easier and faster. It is a fact that plagiarism has already existed for centuries (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). However, the internet has been exacerbating the problem of plagiarism, especially for students conducting research. Student plagiarism has become an even bigger problem among universities because of the fact that the internet is providing students with millions of available sources online (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). To make things worse, students can freely use any of those sources by either paraphrasing them or even directly quoting them for their own research. It is simply ironic to note that although the internet is seen as an extremely helpful educational tool because of its collection of vast information, it is actually helping form a new generation of students who fail to participate in an honest learning process.
Perhaps, a part of this problem is that some students are not even aware when they are committing acts of plagiarism. Canonical researches on academic honesty have established eight main acts of plagiarism that every student, researcher, professor, and everyone else should know. These are the following (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002):
- Copying text from another work into one’s own paper without the use of citations
- Copying an entire paper without the use of citation
- Having someone else write the entire paper
- Using the internet to copy and paste texts without the use of citation
- Using the internet to copy and paste an entire paper without the use of citation
- Using the internet to have someone else write the entire paper
- Paying for a paper from a term paper mill advertised in a print publication
- Paying for a paper from an online term paper mill
Once again, it can be observed just how big a role the internet has been playing in the crime of plagiarism. It has actually doubled the opportunity for committing the crime. Every form of plagiarism that students were able to do prior to the information age can now be done as well using the technology of the internet. However, it is still important to consider the fact that the internet is not the main source of the problem; it is merely a tool. The main source of the problem lies in the decision-making process of the students who choose to participate in plagiarism.
After clearly defining plagiarism and identifying its various forms, the next thing that must be looked into is how much students value academic honesty in doing research. Patrick Scanlon and David Neumann (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002) conducted a survey among nine academic institutions across the United States of America; the survey focused on the ethical views of college students regarding acts of plagiarism. The table below shows the results of the survey.
Figure 1: College students’ ethical views on plagiarism
In juxtaposition of the question on students’ ethical views, Scanlon and Neumann also asked the same group of students regarding whether they have actually committed an act of plagiarism or not (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). The results can be seen below.
Figure 2: College students actually committing acts of plagiarism
Based on Figure 1, it is clear that majority of college students do believe that plagiarism is an immoral act. However, the data in Figure 2 seem to contradict the previous information. Despite almost 90% of college students believing that plagiarism is an unethical act, around 40% of them still sometimes do it and around 20-50% of them do it often (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). So what is it that pushes students to plagiarize in their researchers regardless of their own ethical views?
According to other researches, factors that motivate students to commit acts of plagiarism include personal, social, demographic, and institutional aspects (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). The most influential factors among these are the peer-related ones (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). In other words, a student’s choice of peers actually has a huge impact on his or her decision-making process when it comes to academic honesty. Furthermore, the over-all environment of students plays a substantial role in determining the prevalence of plagiarism. Because of this, it has been suggested that instead of simply implementing strict policies prohibiting plagiarism in the universities, academic institutions should also establish an over-all environment of honesty (Barron-Cedeno, Rosso, Pinto & Juan, n.d). This entails creating a “prevention of behavior atmosphere” that includes reinforcing the value of academic integrity among students (Jones, 2011).
This also includes preventing the persistence of stress and not using professors or academic mentors as a means of intimidation. Stress and intimidation are two components of why college students feel that they do not have the choice but to cheat and plagiarize (Jones, 2011). This is because instead of seeing their research work as a genuine way of learning, they only see it as one requirement that they must accomplish or else they are going to meet academic repercussions. This formation of a prevention of behavior atmosphere should actually start as early as before college years. According to a survey conducted involving 24,000 students and 70 high schools, it was found that more than 50% of students have already committed academic dishonesty even before entering a college (Scanlon& Neumann, 2002). This academic dishonesty includes cheating on a test, plagiarizing their homework, and both.
The prevalence of cheating and plagiarism among high school students just goes to prove that at such an early age, students are already failing to see the value of academic honesty (Jones, 2011). Even worse is that it seems that because the high school institutions have been failing to prevent students from cheating and plagiarizing, they have consequently been also failing to provide students with the proper skills needed in order to conduct honest research in the future (Jones, 2011). Because of this, more students who enter college have the higher tendency to plagiarize in their research. A survey by Rutgers University involving 63,700 undergraduate students and 9,250 graduate students showed the following results:
Figure 6: Plagiarism among undergraduates and graduate students
Ensuring Academic Honesty
Having seen just how high the prevalence of plagiarism is among both high school and college students, it is important to be able to come up with ways to bring academic honesty back to the field of research. There are three ways to do this including implementing effective academic policies, utilizing technology as a preventive tool, and developing appropriate research skills among students. This paper will be discussing all three but will be focusing on the last one.
Currently, academic institutions are yet to come up with the best and most effective policies that would guarantee the control of academic honesty (Jones, 2011). Most of the current policies that universities have right now involve punishment strategies (Jones, 2011). However, research shows that academic institutions should do more. This includes establishing themselves as a role model for ethical behavior; this means even the faculty should also serve as an exemplary when it comes to academic honesty. Students should be constantly educated when it comes to academic honesty. They should not just know that it is unethical to cheat; they should also know why it is so.
The second method of preventing plagiarism is the utilization of technology. The same way that technology is used by students to plagiarize, academic institutions should also use technology to prevent plagiarism. Websites such as Turnitin have actually been developed and widely used by professors and institutions in making sure that the papers being submitted to them do not contain plagiarized sections by (Kitahara, Westfall& Mankelwicz, n.d.). Turnitin, specifically, checks submitted papers and looks for unoriginal content by comparing them to both online published works and other papers submitted to the website (Kitahara, Westfall& Mankelwicz, n.d.).
Lastly and perhaps most importantly, students should be equipped with the proper skills necessary for creating and writing research papers. It is often the case that students who feel that they are incapable of conducting research themselves tend to resort to acts of plagiarism (Jones, 2011). To prevent this, academic institutions should mold students into developing the following skills: creativity, judgment, and persistence (Jones, 2011). Plagiarism is synonymous to unoriginal works. And so for students to make sure that their works would be devoid of any unintentional plagiarized sections, they should learn how to create original materials; this requires a lot of creativity. Creativity helps students think out of the box and open up new doors to the world of research (Jones, 2011).
The role that judgment plays in research is very extensive. Students need judgment skills in order to correctly decide on things like who their mentors should be, when to ask for help, and which references to use (Jones, 2011). In addition to that, having good judgment also prevents researchers from committing plagiarism as they would know the consequences of their actions. Persistence is necessary when conducting a research because it is indeed a difficult act. It requires a lot of time and energy. If a research is unable to persist, she or he will most likely go the easy way and fall back on plagiarism (Jones, 2011). Being able to develop all three of these study skills will not only make students competent researchers, it will also make them honest and ethical researchers.
Conclusion
Research has never been an easy endeavor. It requires a lot of diligence and discipline. However, most students simply choose to take the easy route and commit plagiarism instead of upholding academic honesty. Cases like this have been increasing in widespread occurrence due to the convenience that technology has given students when it comes to accessing other works and copy-pasting their materials. Fortunately, there are still various ways to preventing plagiarism. These ways include re-instilling a spirit of academic honesty among students. Students should be made to understand its value as soon as they start education. Knowing that something is wrong and understanding why it is wrong are two different things. The difference determines whether or not a student would commit plagiarism.
Furthermore, academic institutions can also use technology as a tool to prevent plagiarism. Software and websites like Turnitin can be used in order to double check students’ researches. This will serve as an effective means of detecting plagiarism and sending a message to the students that they cannot get away with plagiarism anymore. Lastly, students should also be trained to have the proper skills necessary in conducting researches. These skills include creativity, judgment, and persistence. Without these three, even students who see the value of academic honesty will find it extremely difficult to abide by it.
References
Barron-Cedeno, A., Rosso, P., Pinto, D., and Juan, A. (n.d.). On cross-lingual plagiarism analysis using a statistical model. Retrieved from http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-377/paper1.pdf.
Brooks, C. and Ellis, J. (2005). Fidelity to scholarly practice: Academic honesty and information literacy in the faculty of arts. Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/blogs/proceedings/11_Brooks.pdf.
Gelman, A. and Basboll, T. (2013). To throw away data: Plagiarism as a statistical crime. American Scientist, 101, 168-171. Retrieved from http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/research/published/GelmanBasbollAmericanScientist.pdf
Jones, D.L.R. (2011, June). Academic dishonesty: Are more students cheating? Business Communication Quarterly, 74(2), 141-150. Retrieved from http://debdavis.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/83389894/CONTEMP%20academic%20dishonesty.pdf.
Kitahara, K., Westfall, F., and Mankelwicz, J. (n.d.) New, multi-faceted hybrid approaches to ensuring academic integrity. Journal of Academic and Business Ethics, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/10480.pdf.
Scanlon, P.M. and Neumann, D.R. (2002). Internet plagiarism among college students. Journal of College Student Development, 43(3), 374-385. Retrieved from http://www4.ncsu.edu/~ladare/eac595/readings/scanlon-neumann.pdf.
