Salim Razı & H. Sümeyra Pektaş
Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University,
Turkey
www.salimrazi.com
Investigating policies
for plagiarism and academic integrity:
The case of Turkey
Challenges of academic writing
Plagiarism, a crime?
Related Academic Integrity projects
The case of plagiarism at COMU
The study
Findings
Discussion & Conclusion
Implications
Q & A
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş
You can download
this presentation at
www.salimrazi.com
Academic writing is complicated (see Matsuda, 2001):
Brings the risk of plagiarism.
Several factors to be considered:
More common in expanding‐circle.
Cross‐cultural differences (Baurain, 2011).
Cultural influences in writing (Kachru, 2009).
National and institutional attitudes towards plagiarism.
Being naïve in academic writing (Park, 2003; Razı, 2015a; Yeo & Chien, 2007).
Insufficiency in L1 writing (Razı, 2015b).
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Internet technology makes plagiarism a crucial problem:
Specifically for university assignments (Walker, 2010).
Students might not feel that cheating on assignments is a serious problem
(Brent & Atkinson, 2011).
Plagiarism (Howard, 2007):
not necessarily a crime,
benefit as a teaching strategy.
Academic writing: a complex intellectual skill.
Plagiarism: the first vital step in developing academic writing skills.
Howard’s ‘patchwriting’: weak paraphrasing skills.
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş5
Plagiarism occurs when someone:
Uses words, ideas, or work products
Attributable to another identifiable person or source
Without attributing the work to the source from which it was obtained
In a situation in which there is a legitimate expectation of original
authorship
In order to obtain some benefit, credit, or gain which need not be
monetary
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Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in Higher Education across Europe (IPPHEAE):
http://plagiarism.cz/ippheae/ Aimed to identify the actions of combatting plagiarism at 27 European HE institutions.
South‐East Europe Project on Policies for Academic Integrity (SEEPPAI):
http://www.plagiarism.cz/seeppai/
Aims at revealing the perceptions of students, lecturers, and managers in the related
higher education setting.
European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI):
http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/home.php
Aims at understanding culture bounded interaction of plagiarism and academic integrity.
Related infringements requires wider cooperation.
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A follow‐up investigation on policies for student plagiarism and
academic integrity:
Aimed at revealing the perceptions of undergraduate and post‐
graduate students, lecturers, and managers at the English
Language Teaching Department of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart
University, Turkey.
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Setting:
Fall semester of 2016‐17 academic session
COMU ELT Dept.
BA, MA and PhD Programmes
Participants (N = 135):
Administrators (n = 3, out of 4, response rate = 75%; nmale = 2, nfemale = 1)
Lecturers (n = 6 , out of 9, response rate ≈ 67%; nmale = 3, nfemale = 3)
Students (n = 126 , out of 400, response rate ≈ 32%; nmale 53= 2, nfemale = 73)
BA (n = 72 , out of 320, response rate ≈ 23%)
MA (n = 20 , out of 40, response rate = 50%)
PhD (n = 21 , out of 40, response rate ≈ 53%)
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş10
COMU ELT Dept.
No investigation by the ethics board regarding
plagiarism concerns!
Does this necessarily mean, there is no
plagiarism?
NO!Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş11
2011‐12 academic year:
My initial attempt to use a text‐matching software.
No other lecturers used it.
2016‐17 academic year:
5 lecturers use it regularly;
4 lecturers, from time to time; and
3 lecturers, never.
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0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2010‐2011 2011‐2012 2012‐2013 2013‐2014 2014‐2015 2015‐2016
Plagiarism
No submission
Accepted
Total
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş13
Plagiarism incidents:COMU ELT Dept. Advanced Reading and Writing Skills Course
2010‐11 & 2015‐16 (Razı, 2016b)
Make‐up exam:
Minor plagiarizers revise and resubmit for make‐up exam.
Major plagiarizers cannot resubmit for the make up exam;
repeat the course.
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş14
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SEEPPAI questionnaire:
Delivered online
(Special thanks to Irene Glendinning for her generosity in
sharing the instruments and managing the online data
collection process.)
Administrator version
Lecturer version
Student version
Scale reliability:
α = .73 over 12 items in section 4
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before undergrad during undergrad during postgrad still not sure
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Strongly disagree Disagree Not sure Agree Strongly agree Not applicable
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Plagiarism Academic dishonesty
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0102030405060708090
Assignment Final
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Word for word, noquotations
Word for word, noquotations, correctreferences, no intext citations
Word for word, noquotations, correctreferences and intext citations
Some wordschanged, noquotations,
references or in textcitations
Some wordschanged, no
quotations, correctreferences, no intext citations
Some wordschanged, no
quotations, correctreferences and intext citations
Serious plagiarism Plagiarism Not sure Definetely not plagiarism
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Word for word, noquotations
Word for word, noquotations, correctreferences, no intext citations
Word for word, noquotations, correctreferences and intext citations
Some wordschanged, noquotations,
references or in textcitations
Some wordschanged, no
quotations, correctreferences, no intext citations
Some wordschanged, no
quotations, correctreferences and intext citations
Yes No
Awareness of plagiarism and practising citation:
During BA; should start earlier.
Anonymous multi‐mediated writing model (Razı, 2016a) :
Awareness regarding plagiarism concerns.
Multiple submissions causes drop in plagiarism (Ledwith & Riques, 2008).
Students seem confused regarding institutional policies.
Confirmed by their responses to sanctions.
Awareness of plagiarism and academic dishonesty largely depends on lecturers:
Confirmed by services provided: Lecturers & supervisors.
Finding good quality sources! Module on literature review & 7/24 open library.
Reasons: Similar to previous findings (Razı, 2015c).
Easy to copy from the internet: Similar to Walker (2010).
Responses to fictitious cases:
They need more training regarding what causes plagiarism.
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş29
Analyze qualitative data.
Compare students’ responses with lecturers’ and managers’.
Compare COMU results with SEEPPAI.
Adopt ‘Plagiarism Reference Tariff’.
Develop institutional policies.
Institutional policies are core elements of academic integrity
(Bretag, personal communication).
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş30
Baurain, B. (2011). Cross‐cultural moral explorations in plagiarism. In L. H. Phan & B. Baurain (Eds.), Voices, identities, negotiations, and conflicts: Writing academic English across cultures. Studies in writing (Vol. 22 – pp. 123‐138). Bingley, UK: Emerald.
Brent, E., & Atkinson, C. (2011). Accounting for cheating: An evolving theory and emergent themes. Research in Higher Education,52, 640‐658.
Fishman, T. (2009). “We know it when we see it” is not good enough: Toward a standard definition of plagiarism that transcends theft, fraud, and copyright. Paper presented at the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Educational Integrity (4APCEI) 28–30 September 2009, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/09‐4apcei/4apcei‐Fishman.pdf
Howard, R. M. (2007). Understanding internet plagiarism. Computers and Composition, 24, 3‐15. Kachru, Y. (2009). Speaking and writing in World Englishes. World Englishes today. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru & C. L. Nelson (Eds.),
The handbook of World Englishes (pp.240‐270 ). Oxford: Wiley‐Blackwell.Ledwith, A., & Risquez, A. (2008). Using anti‐plagiarism software to promote academic honesty in the context of peer reviewed
assignments. Studies in Higher Education, 33, 371–384.Matsuda, P. K. (2001). Voice in Japanese written discourse: Implications for second language writing. Journal of Second Language
Writing, 10, 35–53. Park, C. (2003). In other (people’s) words: Plagiarism by university students – Literature and lessons. Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education, 28, 471–488.Razı, S. (2015a). Development of a rubric to assess academic writing incorporating plagiarism detectors. SAGE Open, 5(2), 1‐13. DOI:
10.1177/2158244015590162Razı, S. (2015b). Plagiarism in academic writing in English medium universities. Paper presented at the 21st Conference of the
International Association for World Englishes, 8‐10 October, Istanbul, Turkey.Razı, S. (2015c). Reasons of plagiarism in undergraduate academic writing and benefiting from Turnitin. Paper presented at the
International conference plagiarism across Europe and beyond 2015, 10‐12 June, Brno, Czech Republic. Razı, S. (2016a). Are review skills and academic writing skills related? An exploratory analysis via multi‐source feedback
tools. International Journal of Progressive Education, 12(1), 117‐127.Razı, S. (2016b). Reducing plagiarism incidents in student assignments by implementing anonymous multi‐mediated writing
model. Paper presented at Inaugural Mediterranean Conference: Integrity as a way forward, 8‐10 September, Athens, Greece.
Tennant, P., & Rowell, G. (2010). Plagiarism reference tariff. Retrieved from Plagiarismadvice.orgWalker, J. (2010). Measuring plagiarism: Researching what student do, not what they say they do. Studies in Higher Education, 35,
41‐59.
References
Plagiarism Conference Brno 2017 – Policies – S. Razı & H. S. Pektaş
Salim Razı & H. Sümeyra Pektaş
Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University,
Turkey
www.salimrazi.com
Thank youfor your attendance.