Annotated Bibliography Example: Plagiarism in Higher Education

Academicians, 2009. Shepherds Library Database, (http://www.shepherd.edu/library/library-research)

Eret and Gokmenoglu define plagiarism as using and presenting someone elses work as ones own. They also describe it as academic dishonesty. The authors point out that plagiarism is a worldwide phenomenon and is affecting all schools in the world. Plagiarism is one of the primary manifestations of student academic dishonesty that welcomes a range of behaviors that include copying, stealing, or buying ideas, words, material, works, documents, or other people's works by presenting them as their own, without giving credit for their authorship. It is a major problem in our learning institutions and needs to be analyzed critically. They say that incidences of acts of academic dishonesty and plagiarism, in particular in examinations, written works, and other academic tasks have been on the rise at an alarming rate and that institutions have to come up with the solutions of curbing this problem and restore ethical norms in the education system. The authors conduct a study on the perceptions of plagiarism on students and academicians. Through the use of a survey, the authors ask students whether they understand what plagiarism is, what it means to them and what the reasons that make them plagiarize are. The findings of the study show that even though students do know that plagiarism has many negative effects, they still plagiarize because of difficulties in understanding a foreign language. Some of the other reasons given by students include pressure to get good grades, the difficulty of the exam or assigned work, the need to raise the grade of the course, many examinations or work for the same date and heavy academic load. Eret and Gokmenoglu further point out that most students do not understand what plagiarism entails, its different forms and worse still, they do not know the many negatives of plagiarism. Equipping students with knowledge on plagiarism is the best solution to addressing the problem.

Through educating students the various forms of plagiarism and the negative consequences of the actions, students will start adhering and conforming to the rules dealing with plagiarism. Most students are not aware of the many cons of plagiarism, and much more are not aware of how plagiarism is committed. They urge institutions of higher learning to establish a culture and institutional policy which favors academic honestly use appropriate techniques to teach relevant curriculum content and evaluate student learning, provide appropriate instruction and guidance about assignments and define the concepts and behaviors which are associated with academic dishonesty.

Foster, A. New Systems Keep a Close Eye on Online Students at Home. The Education Digest, 74(7), 2009, pg.45-57. Shepherds Library Database (http://www.shepherd.edu/library/library-research)

In this article, the author discusses some of the methods that learning institutions have adopted so that they can stop plagiarism. The author discusses how technology and innovation are used to prevent plagiarism. Some of the techniques that the author discusses are: software which checks the plagiarism rates in a paper, fingerprint identification mechanisms (this is used for online classes) and program web assessors. Foster also discusses some of the harmful effects of plagiarism. He says that plagiarism is equivalent to refusing to think and that it is a practice which goes against the essence of the university. Foster says that even though technology has made it easier to detect and show plagiarism, learning institutions are very reluctant when it comes to adopting these new technologies. Foster concludes by saying that it is high time schools stopped being bureaucratic and embraced these new technologies. It is the responsibility of teachers and heads of institutions to take action and tackle this issue.

Gabriel T. Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Classes. 2010. Shepherds Library Database

Like Eret and Gokmenoglu, Gabriel says that students commit plagiarism without realizing that they are doing something wrong. He provides some of the ways through which students unintentionally plagiarize. The article lists some studies which were conducted between 2006 and 2010 on plagiarism in institutions of higher learning. The studies show that more than 15,000 students have been involved in cheating and plagiarism in one way or the other. He provides some simple ways through which plagiarism can be detected. The first way to detect plagiarism, for example, depends on the teacher's or teacher's analysis of the suspect text by identifying inconsistencies in ideas, vocabulary, style, citations from bibliographic sources and other elements. Another requires looking for certain elements in the text that tend to suspect plagiarism, such as (a) using different citation formats, (b) dispensing with bibliographic references, quotations or notes, (c) writing with various types of letter, (d) use vocabulary, style of expression, and grammatical structure that are above or below what the student usually writes; and (e) use of unknown references or non-academic sources.

Gabriel is critical of how schools have been dealing with plagiarism. He calls for the implementation of tougher measures to curb plagiarism once and for all. He adds that plagiarism makes students lazy and that education strives in a culture of academic honesty. The lack of this culture erodes the reputation of a university institution and the confidence in its graduates and graduates. He further adds that teachers, school administrators, and school heads should recognize that plagiarism is a major problem. Attending to it represents an educational and social responsibility of each institution with the welfare and personal development of the student body and, ultimately, with the country. Gabriel concludes by encouraging students to believe in themselves and be confident in their works rather than cheating.

Jaschik S. Plagiarism Prevention without Fear. 2010. Shepherds Library Database

The author of this article analyses some of the efficient and effective ways and techniques that could be used to plagiarism. Jaschik looks into a study conducted by Thomas Dee and Brian Job. These two had also researched on techniques which could be used to detect and stop plagiarism. The findings of the study showed that through sensitizing students what plagiarism was, the different forms of plagiarism and the effects of plagiarism on their academic and personal lives, students would be influenced not to cheat or plagiarize other peoples works. The study had conducted a survey and students were asked to give reasons why they would not plagiarize. Most of them said that it was not because of fear of detection or punishment; rather, it was because of being taught about integrity. Teaching students about integrity and honesty would go a long way in curbing plagiarism in institutions of higher learning. Thomas and Brian provide several recommendations to schools. One of the recommendations is that schools should adopt an educational approach in minimizing and stopping plagiarism. The authors say that some of the methods used such as punishments and moral persuasion have less impact on the students. He recommends actions aimed at helping the student to understand the particularities and requirements of evaluation of academic work, as well as to reflect on acts contrary to academic honesty.

Works Cited

Eret E. & Gokmenoglu T. Plagiarism in higher education: A case study with prospective Academicians, 2009. Shepherds Library Database

Foster, A. New Systems Keep a Close Eye on Online Students at Home. The Education Digest, 74(7), 2009, pg.45-57. Shepherds Library Database

Gabriel T. Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Classes. 2010. Shepherds Library Database

Jaschik S. Plagiarism Prevention without Fear. 2010. Shepherds Library Database