Educational integrity: A strategic approach to anti-plagiarism

Abstract

The widespread perception that plagiarism is a growing problem in tertiary institutions is supported by some large-scale research studies and, indeed, by the attention the topic is attracting in the literature, the media and in the renewals of plagiarism policies to be found on websites across the tertiary sector. While guidelines that accompany some plagiarism policies “encourage” educational strategies, the focus is still firmly fixed on dealing with “offenders”. There is little detail available on educational means that have the capacity to address the incidence of inadvertent or unintentional plagiarism. In this paper an approach is suggested that attempts to redress the balance between disciplinary and educational measures. The approach is twofold. While supporting the application of penalties for plagiarism that is deliberate cheating, it advocates that students be given an explicit period of apprenticeship into the academic culture, its conventions and its multiple “languages”, in order to give innocent learners a realistic chance of understanding and learning the skills of academic writing. With such an approach adopted in mainstream teaching in order to reach all students who are in transition to university study, whether from the Australian school system, the workforce or from overseas, effort and resources could be re-directed towards dealing more confidently with the real offenders.