Joy, Mike, Sinclair, Jane, Boyatt, Russell, Yau, Jane Yin-Kim and Cosma, Georgina (2012) Student perspectives on plagiarism in computing. In: 5th International Plagiarism Conference, Newcastle, UK, 16-18 July 2012

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Abstract

Prevention and detection of plagiarism have formed the basis for many research projects, but student perceptions on plagiarism are arguably not well understood, and this is particularly true in the computing disciplines. This paper considers two aspects of the student experience, (i) the types of plagiaristic activity that students engage in, and (ii) the specific understanding of what plagiarism means for students who write computer programs. In a recent study we classified types of plagiarism in computing, collecting data from two sources: published material (books, published papers, web sites), and on-line formative quizzes and questionnaires used by universities to test student knowledge of what constitutes plagiarism. Facet analysis was used to categorise the data into four initial categories (sources, actions, material, extrinsic). Further analysis suggested a refinement to six categories and 23 sub-categories which directly relate to the computing disciplines. In a further study we analysed data collected from 18 UK institutions via an online questionnaire, in which over 700 computing students were invited to scrutinise fifteen scenarios which may (or may not) contain plagiarism, and to identify which they thought did contain plagiarism. The results of this study suggest that there are certain types of plagiaristic activity which are poorly understood, and demographic factors which correlate with student understanding. This paper summarises and compares the results of these two studies and reflects on the implications for educating computing students about how they should avoid plagiarism.

Item Type:	Conference Item (Paper)
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Electronic computers. Computer science. Computer software
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Computer Science
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Plagiarism, Computer science -- Study and teaching
Publisher:	Plagiarism Advice
Official Date:	July 2012
Dates:	Date Event July 2012 Available
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Conference Paper Type:	Paper
Title of Event:	5th International Plagiarism Conference
Type of Event:	Conference
Location of Event:	Newcastle, UK
Date(s) of Event:	16-18 July 2012

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