Tài liệu The awareness and attitudes towards plagiarism in academic writing of english major students at can tho university

CAN THO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES ENGLISH DEPARTMENT ------ B.A. Thesis THE AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS PLAGIARISM IN ACADEMIC WRITING OF ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY Supervisor: Student: Trần Thị Phương Thảo, M.Ed (TESOL) Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Kim Code: 7106920 Class NN1054A1 Course 36 (2010-2014) Can Tho, December 2013 B.A. Thesis THE AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS PLAGIARISM IN ACADEMIC WRITING OF ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY THESIS CRITIQUE ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… …………………….…………………………………………………... ……………..………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………….……………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… …….………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ….…………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………… i DECLAIRATION OF ORIGINAL WORK I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its entirety. I have acknowledged all the sources of information which have been used in the thesis. Can Tho, December 3, 2013 Supervisor’s signature Researcher’s signature Trần Thị Phương Thảo Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Kim ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been completed without the help and support of many persons. First of all, I am greatly indebted to my supervisor – Ms. Tran Thi Phuong Thao, for her valuable suggestions, instructions and correction without which I can hardly complete this study. I would like to thank all my friends and teachers at Can Tho University who have supported and guided my thinking by observation and critical comments. I also thank the English major students in School of Sciences Sociality and Humanity at Can Tho University for helping me to collect data for this study. Finally, my gratitude is also for my family, for their assistance, support and encouragement during the development of this study. All have enabled me to fulfill my study. Can Tho, November 15th, 2013 Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Kim iii CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................... Page iii Contents .............................................................................................................iv List of tables and Figures ..................................................................................vii Abstract............................................................................................................viii Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................1 1.1 The state of the problem and rationale of the study ...............................1 1.2 Research aims.......................................................................................2 1.3 Research questions ...............................................................................3 1.4 Organization of the thesis .....................................................................3 Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................4 2.1 Definition of plagiarism........................................................................4 2.2 Types of plagiarism ..............................................................................5 2.3. Factors causing plagiarism among students..........................................6 2.4 The negative affects of plagiarism on students’ writing performance ....8 2.5 Strategies for avoiding plagiarism.........................................................9 2.5.1 General strategies for avoiding plagiarism ..................................9 2.5.2 Specific strategies to avoid copying between students .............. 10 2.5.3 Specific strategies to avoid plagiarism from the internet and other text sources ....................................................................................... 10 Chapter 3: Research Methodology ................................................................. 13 3.1 Research questions ............................................................................. 13 3.2 Research design.................................................................................. 13 3.3 Participants......................................................................................... 13 3.4 Data collection.................................................................................... 14 3.4.1 Research instruments ............................................................... 14 3.4.2 Procedure ................................................................................. 15 Chapter 4: Result ........................................................................................... 17 4.1 The total Mean score on the awareness and attitudes of English major students toward plagiarism ................................................................................ 17 iv 4.2. The awareness and attitudes of English major freshmen and sophomore toward plagiarism in academic writing .............................................................. 18 4.2.1 The knowledge of English major freshman and sophomore toward the definition of plagiarism .................................................................................... 18 4.2.2 The knowledge of freshmen and sophomore about the reason causing plagiarism in academic writing.......................................................................... 19 4.2.3 The understanding level of English major freshmen and sophomore about avoiding plagiarism in academic writing.................................................. 21 4.2.4 English major students’ awareness and attitudes toward the consequences of plagiarism in academic writing ............................................... 22 4.3 The perception and attitudes of English major Junior and Senior toward plagiarism in academic writing.......................................................................... 23 4.3.1 The knowledge of English major junior and senior toward the definition of plagiarism ..................................................................................... 23 4.3.2 The knowledge of junior and senior about the reason causing plagiarism in academic writing.......................................................................... 25 4.3.3 The understanding level of English major junior and senior about plagiarism in academic writing.......................................................................... 26 4.3.4 English major students’ awareness and attitudes toward the consequences of plagiarism in academic writing ............................................... 28 4.4 The differences of awareness and attitudes between two groups of students toward plagiarism in academic writing .............................................................. 28 Chapter 5: Discussions, limitation and recommendation for further information ..................................................................................................... 31 5.1 Discussion ......................................................................................... 31 5.1.1 Research question 1: What is the existing knowledge about plagiarism of English major freshmen and sophomore at CTU .......................... 31 5.1.2 Research question 2: what is the existing knowledge about plagiarism of English major junior and senior at CTU....................................... 32 5.1.3 Research question 3: What are the differences of awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism between two groups of students.............................. 32 v 5.2 Implications........................................................................................ 33 5.3 Limited and recommendation for further research............................... 33 5.3.1 Limitations ............................................................................. 33 5.3.2 Recommendation for further research ..................................... 34 References........................................................................................................ 35 Appendices....................................................................................................... 37 Appendix 1: English version of The Questionnaire on Plagiarism in Academic Writing. ............................................................................................................ 37 Appendix 2: Vietnamese version of The Questionnaire on Plagiarism in Academic Writing ............................................................................................. 40 vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics of plagiarism in academic writing ….. ..................17 Table 4.2 English major’s freshmen and sophomore’s awareness and attitudes toward definition of plagiarism in academic writing .........................................18 Table 4.3 The main reasons causes plagiarism among students ............................20 Table 4.4 Appropriate citation to avoid plagiarism in academic writing ................21 Table 4.5 Consequences of plagiarism ..................................................................23 Table 4.6 Junior and senior English major’s perception about plagiarism’s definition ..............................................................................................23 Table 4.7 The reason causing plagiarism in academic writing of English major Junior and Senior .............................................................................................25 Table 4.8 The understanding level of English major Junior and senior on avoiding plagiarism ............................................................................................27 Table 4.9 English major Junior and Senior’s awareness and attitudes toward consequences of plagiarism ...................................................................27 Table 4.10 The difference between 2 group students .............................................29 Figure 4.1 Students’ awareness and attitudes toward avoiding plagiarism by appropriate citation ...............................................................................22 Figure 4.2 The understanding level of English major Junior and senior on avoiding plagiarism .............................................................................................26 Figure 4.3 The difference of students’ understand about plagiarism in academic writing ..................................................................................................29 vii ABSTRACT As an investigation into English major students’ awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism in academic writing, this research reported the thesis aims to explore the exist knowledge about plagiarism of English major students at Can Tho university, to identify some common citation strategies used among students and to make some suggestion for avoiding plagiarism. Based on these aims, this research is conducted in form of a descriptive survey in which awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism in academic writing. To measure the level of students’ knowledge, The Questionnaire on Plagiarism in Academic Writing is used. From data obtained by this instrument, we found a moderate level of students’ awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism (M = 3.39, on the scale of 5.0 as maximum). This result shows that students have known plagiarism. However, students have not known full information related plagiarism, they also misunderstanding how plagiarism is and sometimes they plagiarize unintentionally. Therefore, it is necessary for students to raise their understandings about plagiarism and find out good methods to avoid plagiarism. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter will present (1) the rationale of this research, (2) the research aims, (3) the research questions, and (4) the organization of the thesis. 1.1 The statement of the problem and rationale of the study English is the international language nowadays. Therefore, learning English is very important. English plays an important role in increasing the development of sciences, politics, culture, technology, and the international relation in Vietnam. When we study English, we study not only receptive skills – reading and listening but also productive skills – speaking and writing. Any of them is necessary because one skill can improve the others. Among these skills, writing is one of the requirement skills which help students study English better and express oneself with others. Academic writing is the primary basic that expresses the ability of a person in work, study, and knowledge about English. Because of the requirements of our society and studies, the role of academic writing is considered to be indispensable. Moreover, our country has been integrating into the world economy so we have more and more chances to cooperate with the foreign, English becomes useful. Consequently, Academic writing also becomes more necessary. Writing is important, and writing by one’s own word is more important. It shows one’s ability. It is true that intellectual study is considered an important issue that many researchers have concerned in. “Academic honesty and respect of intellectual property are areas of considerable concern to tertiary institutions worldwide” (Weedon, 2000, Groak et al., 2001). In fact, in many foreign countries, plagiarism is considered as very serious, people have many ways to explore how a person plagiarizes and punish plagiarists. Plagiarism has been troubling the academic world since long. Moreover, with the invention of electronic resources like internet in recent times, it has become easier and more accessible for students than ever before. In contrast, nobody really concerns the problem “a thief of intellectual property” (Maurer, Kappe & Zaka, 2006) in Vietnam. Students just study a little about how to use someone’s studies. 1 Furthermore, they have less time to practice so sometimes they have plagiarized without knowing. It is true that plagiarism is the serious and urgent problem. Not only publishers, researchers and educational institutions but also teachers and students have to always care about it. In spite of being intentional or unintentional, if writers plagiarize, they are criminals. Particularly, at Can Tho University (CTU), English major students do not have many chances to discuss about plagiarism. They often use the knowledge; the studies and researches without acknowledgment nor knowing that plagiarism is not allowed. From the beginning of the four year course, students study the basic skills, especially writing, in using English and it is advanced in the following years. Until the third year, students study about how to use other people’s studies in academic writing. Students do not have enough knowledge about plagiarism; some of them do not know what plagiarism is. Thus, students have plagiarized without understanding. This problem has appeared in academic writing at CTU. If students have a full understanding of plagiarism, realize plagiarism is unethical, and believe that plagiarism will be penalized, students will avoid it and have better writings. Practice of plagiarism by students has resulted in negative consequences in academic performance, and university teachers are now facing more challenging problems. There have been a few studies focusing on the learner’s awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism in Vietnam, especially at CTU so far. For this reason, this study is conducted to explore that issue more deeply in the context CTU in particular to find out how much students are aware of plagiarism and make some suggestions to avoid it. 1.2 Research Aims The purpose of this research is to explore students’ awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism in academic writing of English majors at CTU. Therefore, the research aims are:  To explore Can Tho University student’s existing knowledge about plagiarism  To identify some common citation strategies used among students.  To make some suggestions for avoiding plagiarism. 2 1.3. Research Questions The study seeks the answers to these following questions:  What are the existing knowledge about plagiarism of English major freshmen and sophomores at Can Tho University?  What are the existing knowledge about plagiarism of English major juniors and seniors?  What are the differences of awareness and attitudes toward plagiarism between these two groups of students? 1.4. Organization of the thesis This thesis consists of five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature review, (3) Research methodology, (4) Results and Discussion (5) Conclusion and limitations, and suggestion. In chapter 2, the literature concerning plagiarism and academic writing will be reviewed. Chapter 3 introduces about the research methodology. This chapter includes the research questions, the research design, the participants, the materials, the research instruments, and the procedure of the study. In chapter 4, the results of the investigations into the awareness and attitudes towards plagiarism in academic writing will be reported and the implications of the research results are also presented. In chapter 5, researcher will summarize the content of the research and reflect on the weakness of the research, and finally put forward suggestions for future research. In this chapter, I have introduced the rationale and aims of this study. In the next chapter, I will present the literature review on (1) the definition of plagiarism, (2) types of plagiarism, (3) factors causing plagiarism among students, (4) the negative affects of plagiarism on students’ writing performance and (5) strategies for avoiding plagiarism. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of “Plagiarism” Plagiarism is a serious problem in the educational community. Lucas (2004) concepts of plagiarism: it is a form of cheating that constitutes the academic equivalent of thief. Indeed, the word plagiarism comes from the Latin Plagiarus, which means “kidnapper” (as cited by Husselbee, L. P. 2013). Found in Oxford Student’s Dictionary - for learners using English to study other subjects, “plagiarism is the act of copying another person’s ideas, words or works and pretending they are your own; something that has been copied in this way” (Oxford University Press, 2008, 529). In the course book Academic Writing – A Handbook for International Students, Stephen Bailey (2011) admits that “In academic work, ideas and words are seen as private property belonging to the person who first thought or wrote them.” Therefore, if writers take someone’s ideas to apply in our writing without acknowledging, writer will be considered plagiarizing. From another point of view, Plagiarism is the incorporation of someone else's work – including their language and ideas – without providing adequate credit. The University of Cambridge defines plagiarism as: "submitting as one's own work, irrespective of intent to deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due acknowledgement." (As cited in Wikipedia: Plagiarism, 2012). Sometimes, acknowledgement in a wrong way is considered plagiarizing. It is unintentional plagiarism. In brief, each researcher has his own point of view about plagiarism. In this study, plagiarism is meant as a form of copying and paraphrasing of other people’s works or idea into your own work without full acknowledgement. In general, plagiarism does not simply mean copying a result and a product, or borrowing the ideas basically of someone but plagiarism means taking ideas or words from a source without giving acknowledgement to the author(s). plagiarism is seen as a kind of theft and considered an academic crime. 4 Moreover, 2.2 Types of Plagiarism Plagiarism takes many forms. According to Barnbaum (2006), there are several kinds of plagiarism. They are divided into five types below: (1) Copy and paste plagiarism It means “copying word to word textual contents” (Hermann, Franks & Bilal, 2006, 2) or with only minor changes from Internet, a book, or any other sources. Similarly, when we use the whole sentence or significant phrases from the source and forget to use quotations marks and reference the sources, we are also considered a plagiarist. (2) Word switch plagiarism If we take a sentence from a source and change some words, it is still called plagiarism. Therefore, if we want to quote a sentence, then we need to put it in quotation marks and cite the author and article. But quoting the source articles should only be done if what the quotation says is particularly useful in the point you are trying to make in what you are writing." In many cases, paraphrasing and then citing the original sources is a better option. Translated plagiarism is a part of this kind. It means crossing language content translation and use without reference to original work. (3) Style plagiarism It is also plagiarism when writers follow a source sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph, even though writers change around a few words. It is the author’s style that we copy. (4) Metaphor plagiarism Using the ideas from the original sources and making them more clearly by paraphrasing without quotation are also considered plagiarism. “Metaphors are used either to make an idea clearer or give the reader an analogy that touches the senses or emotions better than a plain description of the object or process” (Barnbaum, C., 2006) (5) Idea plagiarism 5 It means using similar concept or opinion which is not common knowledge. Writers have the same or similar ideas with the others but the ideas have been published in books, papers, researchs by the others. If writers use these ideas without acknowledgement, they are also plagiarizing. Rhoten (1997) in California State University has another idea. He categorized plagiarism into: (1) Word by word: the submission of material authored by another person but represented as the student’s own work is plagiarism although that material is paraphrased or copied in verbatim or near-verbatim form. (2) Improperly paraphrasing: Improper acknowledgment of sources in essays, papers, or presentations includes failure to use quotation marks or indentations if words are directly quoted. (3) Fail to cite the original source: with “Fail to cite the original source”, it is better to paraphrase other people’s ideas by using your own words but students have to acknowledge the person from whom you borrowed the ideas. If writers cite in a wrong way or lack information, readers cannot find out the source, which means we are plagiarizing. In some cases, acknowledge in a wrong way is considered plagiarizing. It consists of various kinds. First of all, the forgotten footnote. It means the writer writes name of author but missed the exact information such as published year, page, the name of the chapter, etc. Second, the misinformation means writer gives wrong information related to source that made reader hard to find out the source. Third is the too-perfect paraphrase: giving enough information for the study but forgetting using quotation mark when citing. After that the researcher will be considered not to respect the origin and translate information wrongly. Forth, writers acknowledge all of sources, paragraph and full citation. It is a resourceful Crime. 6 2.3. Factors causing plagiarism among students There are many reasons making students plagiarize. Chris Hackett & Deborah Eerkes (2013) discover that students plagiarize because of their poor writing and research skills and misunderstanding key concepts which are presented below. For the first reason, it includes many factors (Eerkers, 2013). Firstly, writers lack research skills. Many undergraduate students do not know how to search library catalogue databases for journal articles or use other reference sources. The second one is the problems evaluating the internet sources. Many students do not know how to critically evaluate the Internet sources. This can affect the research process and the student's writing. It is important to remember that there is no quality control on the internet. Subsequently, students get confusion between plagiarizing and paraphrasing. Some students cannot distinguish between plagiarizing and paraphrasing text. The inability to distinguish between plagiarized text and paraphrased text, and incorrectly citing sources, are often the root causes of unintentional plagiarism. Another reason of poor writing and research skills causing plagiarism is careless of note taking. When we are taking notes the contents, we usually take note about the information and forget to cite the sources or lack information about the references. In addition, students may have written incomplete or incorrect bibliographic information. Misunderstanding key concepts is also considered a serious factor causing plagiarism. It consists of misconception of plagiarism – student lack knowledge about plagiarism or misunderstand misconception of common knowledge - students may not have the ability to distinguish what materials, facts, and ideas are considered common knowledge. According to these researchers, plagiarism is not only caused by the reasons above but also by many other factors. The first factor is the pressure from family, competition for scholarships and jobs. The expectation of family and oneself can make students maintain the thinking of high marks so they can do anything, including plagiarism. These things often happen when they are competing for job, scholarship, and others. It is considered external factors. By contrast of external factor, students also plagiarize by internal factors (Bowden, 1996). Undergraduate students do not 7 often manage time well and have lack of organization skills to complete a large research paper. Therefore, they may become overwhelmed in learning. In another view point, the main reason causing plagiarism is lack of experience and knowledge about plagiarism (Hackett, 2013). The researchers denoted that “Inexperience and ignorance has been identified as the main clause of plagiarism” (Dodou, D. & Joost C. F., 2011, 776-782). Students do not have many chances to study about plagiarism so their information and knowledge are limited. Therefore, they plagiarize easily without recognizing. In conclusion, students usually plagiarize intentionally (poor time management, not good at writing so they are not confident enough to write by their own words, their friends plagiarize and they do too, teacher do not care about plagiarism, desire high marks, etc.), and unintentional (unaware of plagiarism, unknown the sources, citation confusion, etc.) 2.4 The negative effects of plagiarism on students’ writing performance Because of many reasons, students often ignore long-term implications of plagiarism and other forms of cheating. They plagiarize, which affects on learning and teacher’s perception about students. If students considered the impacts and consequences of this form of cheating, they wouldn't likely copy another writer's work and use it as their own. “Plagiarism affects college students in a number of tangible and intangible ways.” (Kokemuller, 2007). At first, plagiarism makes writers limit their creativity because plagiarism by definition is an imitation, which is opposite of creativity. Creativity is the ability to develop or generate something original and unique. This researcher admitt that if students are acquainted with copying and imitating, they will gradually become lazy to think about new things. Thus, plagiarism limits thought, research and critical thinking involved in developing original papers or studies. Besides, Kokemuller (2007) expressed that plagiarism has a negative effect on the college community. It may damage the relationships among professors - students, teachers – students, and students-students, i.e. 8 If the original author (professors, teachers, friends, i.e.) finds that a student has used his work without citation, the plagiarist can easily become desolate from groups and society. If an instructor finds a student copies his work without citation, he would have become more critical going forward. Furthermore, the reputation of plagiarist and his school may be damaged when plagiarism is found. Students routinely plagiarize; the education value of this school will be decreased. This affects all students on finding good careers after their graduation. If students usually plagiarize and do not try to develop their critical thinking and creativity, their skills and writing performance will be affected. According to this researcher, the most impact of plagiarism for the students is the consequences on studying. Academic disciplines can be done by the students plagiarizing. Penalties can include grade lowering for the assignment as well as the course. Additionally, in serious cases, students may face criminal and civil penalties for plagiarism if they copy the copyright studies. Fines and even imprisonment are possible in these cases. 2.5. Strategies for avoiding plagiarism 2.5.1. General strategies for avoiding plagiarism Because of the negative effects of plagiarism above, students must avoid plagiarism by anyway. Steven, B. (2011, 31) noted that copy the works of the others will not help students develop their understanding. By avoiding plagiarism, students can show that they understand the rules of the academic community. Moreover, plagiarism is easily detected by teachers and computer software. Seriously, plagiarism may lead to the failure of the courses or even the leaving from school. For these reasons, if writers borrow some factors of the others, they must show that you have done this by providing the exactly acknowledgement. There are many ways to do this. For instance, summarizing, paraphrasing with quotation, citation, etc. Especially, students can avoid plagiarism by developing good study habits. Steven (2011) suggested some general strategies to avoid plagiarism. Firstly, writers should take their responsibility for learning. This means writers need to put 9 both significant efforts into study, minimizing social activities and part-time jobs. When writers spend time concentrating on study, they can get good result and no error in plagiarism. Secondly, educating oneself about plagiarism. By reading and exploring the information related to plagiarism, writers can get more knowledge to understand about plagiarism and find out good methods to avoid plagiarism. Besides, in order to avoid plagiarism, we should manage the assignment carefully. Furthermore, because limited time is one of the reasons causing plagiarism, managing time well and reasonability from the start is a good idea for avoiding cheating. 2.5.2. Specific strategies to avoid copying among students Plagiarism is not only by a person from the sources but also from a person to others, for instance, between students. It usually happened in group works. Therefore, besides general ways, we should have some strategies to avoid copying among students. They avoid copying from others and ensure that other students do not copy from other students. The simple way is to do by own work and cover own work. 2.5.3. Specific strategies to avoid plagiarism from the internet and other text sources The sources that students usually used are from the internet, books, articles, and other texts. Therefore, it is necessary to have specific strategies to avoid copying from these sources. First of all, Zuckerman (2003) suggested that one way to avoid copying or too closely paraphrasing is to avoid looking at the original while writing or typing assignment. Secondly, trying to summarize the ideas of the original as a whole in own words. Writers can also develop their writing skill from this work. If students want to use material from the Internet or other sources, they need to acknowledge it correctly. Writers should never use others’ opinions, ideas or copy word-for-word in writing without using quotation marks or formatting conventions and correcting in-text citation. If writers use the information from the sources, they need to quote, paraphrase, reference, cite or acknowledge. There are some ways below to avoid plagiarism in academic writing. 10