WDHE 2010 Sustainable Writing
Development
Tracking the development of
plagiarism education through
postgraduate preparation and study:
the experience of international
students in UK HE
Mary Davis, Oxford Brookes University
Plagiarism today




97% of 114 HE institutions felt plagiarism
was a significant issue (Davidson, 2004)
95% of UK HE institutions use Turnitin
(plagiarismadvice.org, 2010)
Teaching problems-Lack of explicit
teaching, time pressures, poorly designed
assignments, internet access (SutherlandSmith, 2008)
Student problems -Previous education,
panic, lack of understanding (Hayes and
Introna, 2005)
Issues for international
postgraduate students





Different educational background (Davis, 2007)
Different L1 (Keck, 2006)
Teachers’ perception that more international
students plagiarise (Pennycook, 1996)
Some studies show they are more likely to
plagiarise and more likely to be caught (Bennett,
2005)
39% of complaints to OIA from postgraduates,
22% outside EU, mostly related to plagiarism
(Behren, 2010)
Tracking development of source
use- research participants





10-15 students over 2 year period
from Pre-Master’s to Master’s
Chinese, Japanese, Sri Lankan,
Algerian
Business and Technology
Non-UK undergraduate degree
English L2 or L3
Tracking data





Four stages, one each semester over
2 years
5 assignments
4 interviews
4 questionnaires
Interviews with Pre-Master’s tutors,
Master’s tutors and plagiarism
experts in last stage
Figure 1: Features related to plagiarism education and
development of source use

Averall and
Attribution
Form
Word

Authorial
voice
Reporting
verbs
Evidence
of reading
Citation
norms
according to
academic
conventions
Quotations
Paraphrasing
Idea/Academic
argument
Integration
of source
use
Amount
of source
use
Vocabulary
Quality
of source
use
Figure 5: A taxonomy of stages of learning in source use
Adapted from Anderson and Krathwohl (2001)
Creating
Stage 5:
competent user
Evaluating
Stage 4: improving
user II
Analysing
Stage 3: improving user I
Applying
Stage 2: novice user
Understanding
Stage 1: non-user
Key to analysis of stages



Citation
Reporting verbs
Integration of source use into own
arguments/authorial voice
Stage 1: Non-user


There are many resources can be found, such as
the HILTON HOTELS CORPORATION CREATES LUXURY
BRAND LINE, Source: Caribbean Business; 2/9/2006, Vol. 34 Issue
5, p15-16, 2pDocument.
First issue is British Airway. It is focus on
business travelers not economy class. Second
issue is Nestle how to stimulate sales and profits
in a mature business with health foods. Third
issue is Dyson moved production of vacuum
cleaners and washing machines from UK to
Malaysia reduce manufacture costs. Three issues
are different source.
Stage 2: Novice user


“The Convention does not allow changing the children’s
personal details such as age, sex” (Human Rights watch).
“It absolutely prohibits all forms of direct and indirect
participation of children under the age of 15 and lists
certain essential protection for non-combatants” (Druba.v).
The service includes not only the physical demands on the
enjoyment, but also the spirit to meet the psychological
needs. (Sternthal, Erin F, 2002) The luxury hotel not just
selling the food, drinks and accommodations, it also
supplies the facilities and safety systems to satisfy the
demand of the customers. (JohnR.Walker, 2002)
Stage 3: Improving user I

As (Wanhill, 2002) said theme parks are part of the trend
to have a condensed leisure product for the visitor who
wants to make maximum use of available holiday time for
the family, where the needs of the children have priority.
Another factor is the parks provide a mix of rides and
shows to entertain the whole family, with a level of
investment that encourages repeat visits (Wanhill, 2002).

A five petroleum exporting countries established in 1960 an
organization and called it OPEC (www.opec.org A) , which is
now an organization of 14 members from the oil producing
countries with a 32.5% of the whole world oil production
(www.opec.org B).
Stage 4: Improving user II


Cope and Ziguras (2002) affirm that it is important to
translate the book into other languages for selling it in
other places. However, the most important influence on
sales seems to be internet marketing (Mason, 2002). This
has been shown by..
…which is the main marketing strategy for these new
modern companies (Haas, 2003). However, Emery and
Weed (2006) shows evidences that the football
management strategies is really poor, described as a failure
and doesn’t achieve much success as they note that “The
issue for clubs outside the top flight is not profit
maximization, but financial survival” (Boon and Jones, 2002
from Emery and Weed, 2006:22).
Stage 5: Competent user

The differences of communication styles in men
and women have been observed in previous
studies. Tannen (1994) found that women state
their opinions mildly, whereas men would like to
state their ideas forcefully. In addition, male
employees prefer to using a more assertive
speech mode while female employees prefer to
using mitigated and qualified speech mode
(Mulac, 1998; Gray, 2002; Liska et al., 1981).
The reasons for this phenomenon are
complicated. Erickson et al. (1978) argued that
speech style was associated with social power
and status, so
Learning about source use
Warnings and
guidelines
about
educational
conventions
Previous
educational
experience –
stage of
unlearning
Instruction
and practice
of source use
Current
ability to
use
sources
New learning
about
educational
conventions
Understanding
of current
educational
conventions
Conclusion



Model of stages can inform teaching
of source use at Pre-Master’s and
Master’s level
More attention needed to teaching
source use (within stages)
Further research recommended into
how students learn about sources
and the influences on their source
use
References









Anderson, L.W. and Krathwohl, D.R. (eds) (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching
and assessing: a revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York:
Longman
Behrens, R. (2010) Learning from student plagiarism complaints. Paper presented at
‘Institutional policies and procedures for managing student plagiarism’ ASKe, Oxford
Brookes University, 25/5/2010.
Davidson, S. (2004). Plagiarism in Higher Education survey. Plagiarism Advisory
Service N-Learning [Online] Retrieved 27/5/10 from
www.northumbrialearning.co.uk/reports
Davis, M. (2007). The role of Turnitin in the formative process of academic learning:
a tool for learning and unlearning? Brookes e-Journal of Learning and Teaching, 2 (1).
Retrieved 27/5/10:
http://bejlt.brookes.ac.uk/article/the_role_of_turnitin_within_the_formative_process
_of_academic_writing/
Hayes, N. and Introna, L. (2005). Plagiarism, alienation and fairness: towards an
inclusive educational practice. Ethics and Behaviour, 15(3), 213-231.
Keck, C.(2006). The use of paraphrase in summary writing: a comparison of L1 and
L2 writers. Journal of Second Language Writing. 15, 261-278.
Pennycook, A. (1996). Borrowing other’s words: text, ownership, memory and
plagiarism. TESOL Quarterly, 30, 210-230.
Plagiarismadvice.org (2010). Frequently asked questions. Nlearning. Available at
http://www.plagiarismadvice.org
Sutherland-Smith, W. (2008). Plagiarism, the internet and student learning:
improving academic integrity. New York: Routledge