Phallavattana Thon
Cambodian Education Forum
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Innovations and Challenges in Cambodian Education: Youth’s Perspectives
Edited by Kimkong Heng, Koemhong Sol, Sopheap Kaing, and Sereyrath Em
© Cambodian Education Forum 2023
Summary
Plagiarism has grown increasingly prevalent and widespread in the academic world as a result of the emergence of the internet and the variety of materials available to students. The act of using or stealing another person’s intellectual property and passing it off as one’s own is known as plagiarism. It has been noted that higher education institutions are quite concerned about the problem of plagiarism. Many university students, particularly those from rural areas, may not comprehend the idea of plagiarism, with some probably having never heard of it. As some students are not properly exposed to the concept of plagiarism until they enter university, they may have little knowledge of what it is and how to avoid it successfully. Therefore, this chapter aims to discuss plagiarism in higher education. It begins by defining plagiarism before examining the possible causes and consequences of it. The chapter concludes by providing some recommendations for key stakeholders in higher education to prevent plagiarism.
Keywords: Plagiarism; higher education; academic integrity; in-text citation; referencing; paraphrasing; Cambodia
Introduction
The rapid advancement of technology has altered our world. Today’s era is known as the digital age, in which young people use laptops, tablets, and smartphones to engage in new and inventive experiences. Technology, therefore, plays a vital role in easing this change. As a result of technological advancements, the way people learn and acquire skills and competencies is also changing. It provides young people with numerous opportunities for social connections, peer-to-peer communication, job exploration, entertainment, and civic participation (Hasan & Khan, 2018). While digital transformation is usually positive, it introduces new problems that require a shift in the way we think and deal with them. For example, maintaining academic integrity has become crucial to protect educational institutions’ reputations and ensure the authenticity of schoolwork and exams. Students are increasingly tempted to copy information from the internet, edit it, and submit it as their original work because of the internet’s ever-expanding wealth of knowledge and the ease with which they may access it (Bailey, 2021).
This phenomenon has resulted in an increase in academic misconduct, undermining academic integrity. Nowadays, plagiarism encompasses more than just copying and pasting sections of materials from other sources. As education progresses, plagiarism techniques have evolved as well, demonstrating the need for instructors and educational institutions to be more aware and make appropriate efforts to minimize acts of dishonesty (Janet, 2012). Academic dishonesty can occur for a number of reasons, including indolence, carelessness, and ignorance of the significance of citations. Some people plagiarize because they are unable to come up with their own thoughts or points of view. Others are too lazy to work hard; they think it is much easier to cheat to finish their projects quickly. It has been acknowledged that students usually fail to reference their materials because they do not understand why they must do so (Keith, 2018).
According to Beasley (2004), higher education institutions across the world have made significant efforts to identify plagiarism and penalize plagiarists by enforcing ethical guidelines. The development of plagiarism detection technologies, employed successfully by instructors and their institutions, might have discouraged students from plagiarizing other people’s works. In the case of researchers or professionals, if plagiarism is found in their works, their whole career and integrity might be at risk. For students, their degrees could be canceled and devalued if plagiarism is found in their academic works (Satija & Martínez-Ávila, 2019).
Therefore, plagiarism is regarded as academic misconduct or a crime since it violates academic codes of conduct and goes against the educational goal of increasing human capital for social and economic growth. Indeed, plagiarism is a rising problem in today’s academic contexts, where the internet provides abundant sources of information. In the case of Cambodia, it has been reported that the tolerance of plagiarism and cheating by teachers and students placed strict limitations on students’ ability to progress (Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace [CICP], 2016). Students who participated in roundtable discussions conducted for CICP’s (2016) study highlighted that although they had access to open-access publications and reliable sources, the regulations for citing were not clear, and the anti-plagiarism policies were not strictly enforced. In addition, it was found that inappropriately citing other works and plagiarizing were two common methods that researchers used (De Maio et al., 2019).
Against this background, this chapter aims to discuss plagiarism in higher education, and where relevant, the Cambodian higher education context is raised as an example. The chapter first defines plagiarism and then discusses the possible causes that lead to plagiarism in higher education before highlighting its consequences. The chapter ends with some recommendations for preventing plagiarism among university students.
Defining plagiarism
The modern notion of plagiarism as morally wrong was first developed in Europe in the 18th century (Masic, 2012). The term ‘plagiarism’ comes from the Latin verb ‘to plagiarius,’ which means ‘kidnapper’ and refers to someone who takes and publishes another person’s work under their name (Cook, 2019). Passing off someone else’s words, thoughts, or visuals as one’s own or depriving the writers or content creators of the credit they deserve is called plagiarism (University of Oxford, n.d.). Plagiarism goes against academic ethics, whether it is intentional or not. Plagiarism can prevent readers from identifying ideas back to their original sources, disrespect the efforts of original writers by failing to acknowledge their contributions, and unfairly discredit individuals who put in the effort to finish their work. Plagiarized writers risk having their work rejected by publishers and may face disciplinary measures at work (Ouellette, 2008). Typically, if a citation error is minor and can be attributed to an editorial oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to steal someone else’s ideas or obscure the source of information, it is not considered plagiarism. However, these mistakes may still lead to a deduction in assignment scores or a request for correction of a paper that has been submitted for publication (American Psychological Association, 2020).
Self-plagiarism is also a type of plagiarism that is immoral and involves presenting one’s own previously published work as original. Duplicate publishing and repetitive or overlapping writing are the most prevalent types of self-plagiarism (Scanlon, 2007). Writers sometimes claim that since they are the original writers, they are free to reuse their work as many times as they want. Since they are not using anybody else’s words or ideas, they cannot truly be accused of plagiarism (Roig, 2010). However, the same work may result in copyright breaches if it is published by different publishers. If a student uses work from one class to complete assignments in another class without the present teacher’s consent, it may also be considered plagiarism by many educational institutions. Basically, using the same assignment for several classes goes against university ethics, honor, and academic integrity rules (American Psychological Association, 2020).
Possible causes of plagiarism
Plagiarism is also academic misconduct since it violates the academic codes of conduct and affects education’s ultimate purpose of improving human capital. Three main factors that are associated with students, universities, and society can lead to plagiarism.
Student-related factors
The factors associated with students may include procrastination, workload, ignorance, lack of information, and weak academic writing abilities. It is likely that many students in developing countries such as Cambodia do not fully comprehend what plagiarism is. It is also probable that many university students, particularly those who come from rural areas, have little understanding of plagiarism. For example, it has been reported that university students in Cambodia had limited awareness of what plagiarism is and how to effectively avoid it because they were not taught about it until after they entered colleges or universities (Cheng et al., 2017). Moreover, it is common that university students in Cambodia tend to put off completing their assignments or research papers until the last minute (Ly, 2020). Therefore, they are less likely to have enough time to complete their projects due to poor time management, potentially causing severe stress and anxiety for them. Students may also choose to plagiarize when their workload becomes too heavy for them to handle efficiently. When they cannot manage their time to complete all of the things that they have to do, they often turn to plagiarism to assist them with handling their difficulties (Cleary, 2020). In addition, there is a significant link between students’ poor academic writing skills and plagiarism (Anney & Mosha, 2015). Citing, summarizing, paraphrasing, and conveying authors’ ideas are complex skills to master in academic writing. Plagiarism occurs when students take someone else’s work without adequately paraphrasing it or without properly citing or acknowledging the original source of the work. A lack of knowledge about the subject matter, grammatical inaccuracies, and a misunderstanding of how to properly reference or cite sources make it difficult for many Cambodian university students to perform well in their courses (Khim et al., 2019).
University-related factors
The factors associated with universities can be linked to a lack of follow-up mechanisms for students and the absence of strict penalties associated with plagiarism. In addition, lecturers who are negligent in preserving academic integrity may enable students to plagiarize easily in their courses. If students see their lecturers’ disregard for academic integrity, they will take it for granted and may submit plagiarized work. In many cases, students tend to like such lecturers since they allow them to pass easily. However, there are also lecturers who might view such behavior as harmful to students’ careers and would want to prevent it. Even so, lecturers like this may have missed the possibility of reprimanding students due to care and compassion (Bahadori et al., 2012). Moreover, because of a lack of institutional regulations, it is understandable that plagiarism may be frequently committed by students. If a university does not have a clear plagiarism policy, students may be more likely to plagiarize since there are no penalties for doing so. This phenomenon is common in developing countries where policies on plagiarism tend not to be well-defined (Romanowski, 2021). As Gasparyan et al. (2017) noted, many institutions in industrialized nations, such as the United States, have a firm plagiarism policy, whereas those in developing countries tend to lack it.
Society-related factors
Societal factors such as culture, social norms, and family pressure can also influence plagiarism in schools. According to Wheeler (2009), cultural aspects may have an impact on how individuals view plagiarism. For example, in some countries, plagiarism may be viewed as acceptable, causing students to accept it as a normal thing because they may believe that copying someone else’s words or thoughts is a show of respect and commendation (Nash, 2018). As a result, the frequency with which academic dishonesty is perpetrated varies greatly among students from various cultural backgrounds. Relatedly, family and friends may also be a key factor influencing plagiarism, as some parents put pressure on their children to maintain a specific grade point average (Romanowski, 2021). As a consequence, students may be motivated to plagiarize in order to get high scores or good grades that are commonly used to measure their accomplishments against those of their peers (Songsriwittaya et al., 2009).
Consequences of plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious academic violation and a breach of academic integrity. It can not only ruin students’ reputations in school but also harm their career prospects. It can also result in legal consequences, depending on the severity of the violation. In Cambodia, plagiarism is starting to be taken very seriously by many educational institutions, as evidenced by the presence of academic integrity rules and committees in most institutions (Cheng et al., 2017). Plagiarism can affect a student’s ability to think. Since good writing requires rational arguments, students who rely on the ideas of others by resorting to plagiarism while completing their work tend to be unable to think through critical topics (Raihanah et al., 2011); therefore, they are at risk of losing their thinking capability (Carson, 2010).
If found guilty of plagiarism, students may also be punished by failing a course, receiving a lower grade, being suspended, or even being expelled. When students mistakenly plagiarize a piece of work, some teachers might just give a warning to the students, while others might give a zero if the plagiarism is detected. Receiving a zero score on one assignment is consequential as it could significantly lower the final score, making some students fail the course (Gregory & Leeman, 2021). In some cases, universities can dismiss students and withdraw academic certifications issued to them when plagiarism is found to be intentional and severe.
Moreover, plagiarism has the potential to harm a student’s reputation and career in the long run. Students’ mental health and overall well-being may also be harmed due to the embarrassment they may feel when they are found committing plagiarism (see Pandoi et al., 2019). The ethical breach may also be revealed in the students’ academic records, making them face difficulties in finding a job (Shahabuddin, 2009). Berlinck (2011) noted that society generally views the plagiarist as a bad person, even if the plagiarist committed plagiarism in a relatively short period of time, probably unintentionally or even for the first time. Furthermore, when students or lecturers are found to have committed plagiarism, not only does the reputation of the students suffer, but it also affects the reputation of the educational institution (Salleh et al., 2012).
Recommendations
To prevent plagiarism among university students, all concerned stakeholders, including higher education institutions, academic staff, and university students, must collaborate and play their part well. These actors have crucial roles in preventing plagiarism in higher education. The following are some recommendations for consideration:
Higher education institutions
When it comes to supporting students in acquiring academic integrity, higher education institutions play a vital role. They must put in place a professional anti-plagiarism software program, such as Turnitin, Scribbr Plagiarism Checker, or Grammarly, in addition to a regulatory plagiarism framework to protect their institutional reputation. The issue of academic integrity among students needs to be taken seriously. The implementation of honor or academic integrity codes or policies is meant to serve as a measure to prevent students from engaging in behaviors that could harm their academic records. Such codes or policies should specify what exactly plagiarism is, what university rules, regulations, and practices have to say about it, and what the ramifications are. Higher education institutions should also provide orientational workshops, seminars, and training sessions to raise students’ awareness of plagiarism (Malik et al., 2021). In addition, the use of libraries should be promoted within educational institutions to help students learn to avoid plagiarism. Libraries serve a vital role in educational institutions as they provide reading spaces and a collection of various reading resources for students. Libraries can also promote reading among students and help them learn more about any particular topic, allowing them to write their research or assignment papers rather than copying and pasting ideas from the work of others.
Academic staff
Academic staff also play an important role in preventing plagiarism. Even though universities may have a strict plagiarism policy, the policy will not work if there is no one to enforce it. Therefore, academic staff members have a vital role in enforcing the relevant rules and regulations about plagiarism with students. If a student has committed plagiarism, he or she needs to be punished based on the academic integrity policy by the academic staff and offices in charge. Moreover, academic staff should inform their students about plagiarism and its consequences, as well as their course requirements or expectations. In fact, students may plagiarize if they do not know the university regulations that govern their academic behavior. They may also plagiarize if they believe their university will not check and care about their plagiarized work. Thus, academic staff should ensure that their students are fully aware of the negative implications of plagiarizing other people’s work. Furthermore, they should teach their students how to properly acknowledge sources and discuss the potential consequences of plagiarism. Students have the right to receive proper guidance from their lecturers to help them realize what types of writing might result in plagiarism. Therefore, if possible, academic staff should require their students to submit their work to plagiarism checker software to produce a satisfactory report before it can be considered for assessment (Eriksson & Sullivan, 2008).
University students
University students should be well aware of plagiarism and learn to cite, reference, paraphrase, and quote sources properly. This knowledge can prevent them from committing plagiarism. Altering a few words or rephrasing a few sentences will not save them from charges of plagiarism. To paraphrase effectively, they must first read the source material carefully, take it in, put the author’s ideas and concepts into their own words, and properly acknowledge the source. If they are unclear whether they have properly paraphrased, they should compare their work to the original to ensure they have kept the original meaning but used their own words to convey the messages. Furthermore, quotation marks must be used when quoting someone’s words verbatim. If possible, they can also use plagiarism-checking software to see what else to paraphrase to avoid plagiarism. These approaches can help them identify any plagiarism in their work. If any, they can take the necessary and fast corrective action.
Overall, students have to cite the sources of quoted and paraphrased information carefully. There are a variety of style guidelines that may be employed. If they are unsure about which style to follow, they should consult their lecturers or institutions to make sure that they cite the sources appropriately. A reference list also has a defined structure, so they need to make sure what rules or referencing styles to follow. Due to the complex nature of the references included in the reference list, every entry or item must be carefully checked for accuracy. The reference list usually contains the author’s name, publication date, title, and information about the publisher. To ensure accuracy, students can use Microsoft Word to generate automatic in-text citations and the reference list or employ referencing software such as Endnote, Mendeley, and Zotero, among others (McMillan & Weyers, 2013).
Conclusion
Plagiarism—the unacknowledged use of another person’s work without due credit—frequently occurs in academic settings (Anderson & Steneck, 2011). Thus, direct copying, translation without proper attribution, idea theft, and other types of plagiarism are all possible. As some university students only learn about plagiarism when they enter university, they may have limited awareness of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it effectively. As this chapter has discussed, plagiarism in higher education could be caused by three factors related to students, universities, and society. It is a severe problem with serious consequences that can affect both students’ academic and professional lives. In addition, penalties and other forms of action may be taken if students are found to be engaging in plagiarism.
Plagiarism in higher education must be prevented by all concerned stakeholders at all levels, including higher education institutions, academic staff, and university students. Educational institutions must set up a regulatory framework and put in place a professional anti-plagiarism software program to protect their reputation. University libraries also play a critical role in promoting reading and providing various resources for students’ research activities. Moreover, academic staff members play a pivotal role in enforcing the relevant plagiarism policies on students. They can take immediate action for plagiarized work as per university rules or regulations. They should warn students about plagiarism, make them aware of their expected standards, and teach them how to properly cite, reference, paraphrase, and quote sources. For university students, they must be responsible for their own work and learn about proper citation, paraphrasing, and quoting techniques to avoid plagiarism, either intentionally or unintentionally.
References
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association 2020: The official guide to APA style (7th ed.). https://apastyle.apa.org/products/publication-manual-7th-edition
Anderson, M. S., & Steneck, N. H. (2011). The problem of plagiarism. Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, 29(1), 90–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urolonc.2010.09.013
Anney, V. N., & Mosha, M. A. (2015). Student’s plagiarisms in higher learning institutions in the era of improved internet access: Case study of developing countries. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(13), 203-216. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1080502.pdf
Bahadori, M., Izadi, M., & Hoseinpourfard, M. (2012). Plagiarism: Concepts, factors and solutions. Iranian Journal Military Medicine, 14(3), 168-177. https://militarymedj.bmsu.ac.ir/article_1000491_5572d232e5b417d4cfe1fff42d9726da.pdf?lang=en
Bailey, J. (2021, October 25). The impact of the internet on plagiarism. PlagiarismToday. https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2021/10/25/the-impact-of-the-internet-on-plagiarism/
Beasley, J. D. (2004, April 27). The impact of technology on plagiarism prevention and detection: Research process automation, a new approach for prevention. [Paper presentation]. Uniting Networks Incorporated, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. http://docplayer.net/11862090-The-impact-of-technology-on-plagiarism-prevention-and-detection-research-process-automation-a-new-approach-for-prevention.html
Berlinck, R. G. (2011). The academic plagiarism and its punishments – a review. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 21(3), 365-372. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-695X2011005000099
Carson, S. H. (2010, October 16). Plagiarism and its effect on creative work. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/life-art/201010/plagiarism-and-its-effect-creative-work
Cheng, S., Hor, K., Lo, C., & Ren, D. (2017). UC students’ perception towards plagiarism. UC Working Paper Series, 1(1), 107-133. https://uc.edu.kh/userfiles/image/2018/Cambodian_University_Students%E2%80%99_Perspectives.pdf
CICP. (2016). Doing research in Cambodia: Making models that build capacity. https://cicp.org.kh/publications/doing-research-in-cambodia-making-models-that-build-capacity/
Cleary, M. N. (2020, December 10). Top 10 reasons students plagiarize & what teachers can do about it (with apologies to David Letterman). Phi Delta Kappan. https://kappanonline.org/cleary-top-10-reasons-students-plagiarize/
Cook, D. (2019, September 21). Plagiarism as a moral choice. Lostgarden. https://lostgarden.home.blog/2011/11/17/plagiarism-as-a-moral-choice/comment-page-1/
De Maio, C., Dixon, K., & Yeo, S. (2019). Academic staff responses to student plagiarism in universities: A literature review from 1990 to 2019. Issues in Educational Research, 29(4), 1131-1142. http://www.iier.org.au/iier29/demaio.pdf
Eriksson, E. J., & Sullivan, K. P. (2008). Controlling plagiarism: A study of lecturer attitudes. In T. S. Roberts (Ed.), Student plagiarism in an online world: Problems and solutions (pp. 23-37). IG Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-801-7.ch003
Gasparyan, A. Y., Nurmashev, B., Seksenbayev, B., Trukhachev, V. I., Kostyukova, E. I., & Kitas, G. D. (2017). Plagiarism in the context of education and evolving detection strategies. Journal of Korean Medical Science, 32(8), 1220–1227. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.8.1220
Gregory, A., Leeman, J. (2021, April 1). On the perception of plagiarism in academia: Context and intent. ArXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2104.00574
Hasan, N., & Khan, N. H. (2018). Internet and increasing issues of plagiarism. Shrinkhla EK Shodhparak Vaicharik Patrika, 12(5), 125-131.
Janet, F. (2012, December). What plagiarism actually is? PlagiarismCheckerX. https://plagiarismcheckerx.com/blog/what-plagiarism-actually-is
Keith, T. (2018, November 16). Literature review: Academic dishonesty – what causes it, how to prevent it. Academic Technology Solution. https://academictech.uchicago.edu/2018/11/16/literature-review-academic-dishonesty-what-causes-it-how-to-prevent-it/
Khim, R., Min, V., & Touch, R. (2019). The challenges of academic writing for undergraduate students in Phnom Penh. UC Working Paper Series, 2(1), 51-73. https://uc.edu.kh/working_paper_series/Working%20Paper%20Series%20Volume%202,%20Issue%201.pdf
Ly, S. (2020, November 27). Why university students should not rely on one-night policy. Cambodian Education Forum. https://cefcambodia.com/2020/11/27/why-university-students-should-not-rely-on-one-night-policy/
Malik, M. A., Mahroof, A., & Ashraf, M. A. (2021). Online university students’ perceptions on the awareness of, reasons for, and solutions to plagiarism in higher education: The development of the AS&P model to combat plagiarism. Applied Sciences, 11(24), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/app112412055
Masic, I. (2012). Plagiarism in scientific publishing. Acta Informatica Medica, 20(4), 208-213. https://doi.org/10.5455/aim.2012.20.208-213
McMillan, K., & Weyers, J. (2013). How to cite, reference & avoid plagiarism at university. Pearson. https://www.pearson.com/en-gb/subject-catalog/p/how-to-cite-reference–avoid-plagiarism-at-university/P200000004994/9780273773368
Nash, J. (2018). Plagiarism, culture, the Middle East and Westernization: A mixed methods study. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 15(1), 54-67. https://doi.org/10.18538/lthe.v15.n1.287
Ouellette, M. A. (2008). Weaving strands of writer identity: Self as author and the NNES “plagiarist”. Journal of Second Language Writing, 17(4), 255–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2008.05.002
Pandoi, D., Gaur, S. S., & Gupta, A. K. (2019). Role of virtues in the relationship between shame and tendency to plagiarise: Study in the context of higher education. International Journal of Educational Management, 33(1), 66-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-02-2018-0074
Raihanah, M. M., Hashim, R. S., Zalipour, A., & Mustaffa, M. A. (2011). Developing a critical response, avoiding plagiarism among undergraduate students. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 18(2011), 517-521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.05.075
Roig, M. (2010). Plagiarism and self-plagiarism: What every author should know. Biochemia Medica, 20(3), 295-300. https://doi.org/10.11613/BM.2010.037
Romanowski, M. H. (2021). Preservice teachers’ perception of plagiarism: A case from a College of Education. Journal of Academic Ethics, 20(3), 289–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-021-09395-4
Salleh, M. I. M., Ghazali, S. A. M., Awang, Z., & Sapiai, N. S. (2012). The effect of plagiarism on the corporate image in the higher education: An extended TPB model. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 2(4), 340-343. https://doi.org/10.7763/IJSSH.2012.V2.122
Satija, M. P., & Martínez-Ávila, D. (2019). Plagiarism: An essay in terminology. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 39(2), 87-93. https://doi.org/10.14429/djlit.39.2.13937
Scanlon, P. M. (2007). Song from myself: An anatomy of self-plagiarism. Plagiary: Cross-Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification, 57-66. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/song-from-myself-an-anatomy-of-self-plagiarism.pdf?c=plag;idno=5240451.0002.007;format=pdf
Shahabuddin, S. (2009). Plagiarism in academia. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 21(3), 353-359. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ909069.pdf
Songsriwittaya, A., Kongsuwan, S., Jitgarun, K., Kaewkuekool, S., & Koul, R. (2009). Engineering students’ attitude towards plagiarism: A survey study. https://www.ineer.org/Events/ICEEiCEER2009/full_papers/full_paper_212.pdf
University of Oxford. (n.d.). Plagiarism. https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism
Wheeler, G. (2009). Plagiarism in the Japanese universities: Truly a cultural matter? Journal of Second Language Writing, 18(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2008.09.004
Cambodian Education Forum 