Interest in plagiarism continues to generate debate both in the media and in the context of the academy. Opinions continue to differ not only about how plagiarism can be defined, but also about the nature of its causes and its possible solutions. Most universities have now developed websites to address the difficulties experienced by both students and staff in ascertaining exactly what kind of writing practices might constitute plagiarism. However more often than not, such websites tend to give undue emphasis to the mechanics of referencing and universal notions of ‘academic honesty’ in order to make their point. Little or no attention is given to providing well-developed guidelines on what constitutes ‘common’ knowledge, which is especially relevant currently given the growing cultural diversity of contemporary university classrooms. In addition, discussions about writer identity and authorship seem to be totally absent. This silence on such matters needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency. I have adopted a ‘critical ethnographic’ case study approach to this doctoral study in order to investigate how undergraduate university students from diverse language and disciplinary backgrounds have used the words and ideas of others in their written research-based assignments. The responses of academic staff to these students’ writing practices have also been explored. Three different sources of data from ten students and ten academic staff have been collected in order to allow for data analysis from multiple perspectives through a process of triangulation. Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism (1981, 1984, 1986), Kristeva’s writings on intertextuality and the subject-in-process-and-on-trial (1986a, 1986b, 1986c, 1996) and Howard’s work on patchwriting, textual ownership and writer development (1992, 1995, 1999) have been central to the construction of the analytical framework used in this study. I argue that, the notion of ‘plagiarism’ should be re-conceptualised in terms of transgressive and non-transgressive forms of intertextuality (see also Chandrasoma et al., 2004). My study also reveals how students react differently to the homogenising forces of the academy (Holton, 2000). Some feel alienated and have challenged or resisted these forces, while others have adopted an accommodationist position. Furthermore, this research shows that students are confused by unified and autonomous notions of textual ownership and originality that fail to conceptualise subjectivity and authorship as sociohistorically constructed and multi-voiced. I conclude that educators need to recognise the political nature of the processes involved in the construction of text/knowledge and writer identity and recommend a dialogic approach to pedagogy, which allows for textual ownership and authority to be circulated and negotiated between students and their lecturers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [169]-191).

Plagiarism is a modern Western construct which arose with the introduction of copyright laws in the eighteenth century. Before this time, there was little sense of artistic "ownership". Since then, the ideas of "originality" in writing as well as the "autonomous text" have been highly valued. In the theoretical section of this dissertation I deal with plagiarism and referencing from three perspectives. After looking at problems of definition of plagiarism, I turn to the first perspective, the historical development of the notions of plagiarism and originality. Alongside this I discuss the notions of "autonomous text" and "decontextualized" language, and attempt to show that these concepts are problematic, and that language is intensely social at the levels of discourses, genres, and the word. The second angle is a snapshot of present-day writing genres, and how they deal with documentation in different ways. The third point of focus is on the development of the student writer, on whom present-day genres of academic writing, and the historically constructed notions of plagiarism converge. Here I centre on the development of the undergraduate student as a writer, and some of the things that may be happening when a student is seen to be plagiarizing. Some of these are the "alienness" of academic discourses, the hybridization of discourses, the need to "try on" academic discourses, the lack of authority of the student writer and her relationship to the authority of the sources, and the way in which languages are learned and reproduced in chunks. I look finally at what the meaning of authorship might be in an intensely social view of language, and at the complexity of developing authorial voice in writing. The dissertation is located in a postpositivist paradigm, and seeks to interpret as well as being oriented towards praxis. The research took place within the Political Studies Department at the University of Cape Town. The study included a discourse analysis of the departmental handbook, as well as analysis of academic essays, at the first year and third year level, which were selected for having problems with referencing, or having plagiarized. A few were selected for good referencing. Students who had written these essays, and tutors and lecturers who had marked them, were then interviewed. In the analysis I explore differing understandings of the role of referencing in the academic essay, what negative and positive consequences the practice of referencing and the monitoring of plagiarism have, with regard to authority and voice in student writing, what might be happening when students are thought to be plagiarizing, and what difficulties are experienced by students in developing an authorial voice when using multiple sources. The study found that there are a range of underlying causes for plagiarism in student writing, which indicate that plagiarism is more a problem of academic literacy than academic dishonesty. It also found that marking practices in detecting plagiarism may sometimes be based on problematic assumptions about the amount of background knowledge and independent ideas which students bring to their writing. I conclude by putting forward a pedagogy for plagiarism and referencing, which is based on 1) the negotiation of shared meaning around the concept of plagiarism, including an examination of assumptions linked to this concept in its monitoring and enforcement, leading to the development of written policy and guidelines emerging from this shared understanding. 2) The development of an academic literacy programme within the curriculum, with attention to the complexities of developing authorial voice whilst constructing a text based on the texts of others, with a focus on authors, which moves students towards an understanding of how knowledge is constructed.

This dissertation is an experimentation in plugging in the work of Deleuze (1990, 1994, 1995), Deleuze and Guattari (1987, 1983, 1994) to create new concepts and methods in educational research. In doing so, I experiment in ‘the real’ through the process of learning, by designing, conducting, and reporting a qualitative empirical study on how second language (L2) writers in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program engage with technology in their academic writing, and how plagiarism may, or may not, relate to this process. As such, the research objectives of this study can be understood as: 1) to think differently about the interconnections between plagiarism and technology in L2 writing; and 2) to see what happens to the research when we do so. At the heart of this study, and forming the onto-epistemological lens for inquiry, is a philosophy of immanence, transcendental empiricism, difference, and the actual/virtual. Additional concepts -- assemblage, becoming, affect, rhizome, molar/molecular, order-word, smooth/striated, event, learning, nomad, and war machine – are deployed to reconceptualize how plagiarism and technology shape L2 students’ writing, as well as the treatment of plagiarism within academic learning and educational research. In more concrete terms, this study was conducted at a university-affiliated EAP program designed for international students who hold conditional-admission to their respective degree programs. Seven students and their teachers were recruited over the course of two semesters. Data sources include ongoing in-depth interviews, document analysis of students’ drafts, screen-cast recordings of the students’ writing process, and a researcher diary. Rhizoanalysis, a Deleuzian inspired non-method (Masny, 2016), was used to read the data and map connections between elements. Five cartographic mappings in lieu of ‘findings’ are presented. These mappings do not attempt to provide a complete picture of reality represented in the data, but instead seeks to disrupt and problematize, and then create open space to think of what might be happening and how it might be happening differently. Seemingly straightforward ‘data’ is complicated in terms of: 1) the affective force of plagiarism; 2) the conditions for learning; 3) digital-tools and plagiarism detection; 4) the materiality of text; and 5) researcher-becoming. Consistent with the call for concept creation to generate new thinking, I propose the concept of virtual-plagiarism to un-do our habit of tracing texts (as a response to alleged plagiarism) and move towards mapping the elements, intensities, forces, and flows by which plagiarism is actualized. Put to work, the concept of virtual-plagiarism de/reterritorializes both the student writers’ assemblage and the researcher assemblage, and ultimately disrupts the pedagogic and research practices in L2 academic writing that have long bound the issue of plagiarism to student ethics and/or student aptitude and intention. Just as this project aspires to rethink how plagiarism and technology shape L2 students’ writing and how this phenomenon can be researched, it also invites the reader to follow suit and reimagine how Deleuze- inspired methods and concepts can affect (their own) teaching and educational research practices.

The criminal justice program in a community college located in the southwestern United States had experienced an increase in student plagiarism. However, the current teaching practices of criminal justice instructors to prevent and manage the increased student plagiarism have not been effective. The purpose of this study was to explore criminal justice college instructors' experiences, perceptions, and teaching strategies related to undergraduate student plagiarism using Goleman's emotional intelligence theory and Daloz's mentoring theory. Employing a qualitative instrumental case study design, data were collected through semistructured interviews with 10 criminal justice college instructors. Member checking and reflective journaling ensured accuracy and credibility with initial findings from the interview data. The interview data were coded and analyzed using matrix and thematic analysis. Findings revealed 6 categories: professional development, instructor-student relationships, Turnitin reports, policy enforcement, instructor discretion, and mentoring students. To address the findings, a department plagiarism policy was proposed through a position paper to key stakeholders at the community college. The implementation of the department plagiarism policy has the possibility to create positive social change by promoting ethical writing standards and providing support for students' future academic success.

Plágio é um dos delitos mais graves no meio acadêmico. É definido como “o uso do trabalho de uma pessoa sem a devida referência ao trabalho original”. Em contrapartida a esse problema, existem diversos métodos que tentam detectar automaticamente plágio entre documentos. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho propõe um novo método para Análise de Plágio Multilíngue. O objetivo do método é detectar casos de plágio em documentos suspeitos baseado em uma coleção de documentos ditos originais. Para realizar essa tarefa, é proposto um método de detecção de plágio composto por cinco fases principais: normalização do idioma, recuperação dos documentos candidatos, treinamento do classificador, análise de plágio, pós-processamento. Uma vez que o método é projetado para detectar plágio entre documentos escritos em idiomas diferentes, nós usamos um language guesser para identificar o idioma de cada documento e um tradutor automático para traduzir todos os documentos para um idioma comum (para que eles possam ser analisados de uma mesma forma). Após a normalização, nós aplicamos um algoritmo de classificação com o objetivo de construir um modelo que consiga diferenciar entre um trecho plagiado e um trecho não plagiado. Após a fase de treinamento, os documentos suspeitos podem ser analisados. Um sistema de recuperação é usado para buscar, baseado em trechos extraídos de cada documento suspeito, os trechos dos documentos originais que são mais propensos de terem sido utilizados como fonte de plágio. Somente após os trechos candidatos terem sido retornados, a análise de plágio é realizada. Por fim, uma técnica de pós-processamento é aplicada nos resultados da detecção a fim de juntar os trechos plagiados que estão próximos um dos outros. Nós avaliamos o métodos utilizando três coleções de testes disponíveis. Duas delas foram criadas para as competições PAN (PAN’09 e PAN’10), que são competições internacionais de detecção de plágio. Como apenas um pequeno percentual dos casos de plágio dessas coleções era multilíngue, nós criamos uma coleção com casos de plágio multilíngue artificiais. Essa coleção foi chamada de ECLaPA (Europarl Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis). Os resultados alcançados ao analisar as três coleções de testes mostraram que o método proposto é uma alternativa viável para a tarefa de detecção de plágio multilíngue. / Plagiarism is one of the most serious forms of academic misconduct. It is defined as “the use of another person's written work without acknowledging the source”. As a countermeasure to this problem, there are several methods that attempt to automatically detect plagiarism between documents. In this context, this work proposes a new method for Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis. The method aims at detecting external plagiarism cases, i.e., it tries to detect the plagiarized passages in the suspicious documents (the documents to be investigated) and their corresponding text fragments in the source documents (the original documents). To accomplish this task, we propose a plagiarism detection method composed by five main phases: language normalization, retrieval of candidate documents, classifier training, plagiarism analysis, and postprocessing. Since the method is designed to detect cross-language plagiarism, we used a language guesser to identify the language of the documents and an automatic translation tool to translate all the documents in the collection into a common language (so they can be analyzed in a uniform way). After language normalization, we applied a classification algorithm in order to build a model that is able to differentiate a plagiarized text passage from a non-plagiarized one. Once the classifier is trained, the suspicious documents can be analyzed. An information retrieval system is used to retrieve, based on passages extracted from each suspicious document, the passages from the original documents that are more likely to be the source of plagiarism. Only after the candidate passages are retrieved, the plagiarism analysis is performed. Finally, a postprocessing technique is applied in the reported results in order to join the contiguous plagiarized passages. We evaluated our method using three freely available test collections. Two of them were created for the PAN competitions (PAN’09 and PAN’10), which are international competitions on plagiarism detection. Since only a small percentage of these two collections contained cross-language plagiarism cases, we also created an artificial test collection especially designed to contain this kind of offense. We named the test collection ECLaPA (Europarl Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis). The results achieved while analyzing these collections showed that the proposed method is a viable approach to the task of cross-language plagiarism analysis.

Plágio é um dos delitos mais graves no meio acadêmico. É definido como “o uso do trabalho de uma pessoa sem a devida referência ao trabalho original”. Em contrapartida a esse problema, existem diversos métodos que tentam detectar automaticamente plágio entre documentos. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho propõe um novo método para Análise de Plágio Multilíngue. O objetivo do método é detectar casos de plágio em documentos suspeitos baseado em uma coleção de documentos ditos originais. Para realizar essa tarefa, é proposto um método de detecção de plágio composto por cinco fases principais: normalização do idioma, recuperação dos documentos candidatos, treinamento do classificador, análise de plágio, pós-processamento. Uma vez que o método é projetado para detectar plágio entre documentos escritos em idiomas diferentes, nós usamos um language guesser para identificar o idioma de cada documento e um tradutor automático para traduzir todos os documentos para um idioma comum (para que eles possam ser analisados de uma mesma forma). Após a normalização, nós aplicamos um algoritmo de classificação com o objetivo de construir um modelo que consiga diferenciar entre um trecho plagiado e um trecho não plagiado. Após a fase de treinamento, os documentos suspeitos podem ser analisados. Um sistema de recuperação é usado para buscar, baseado em trechos extraídos de cada documento suspeito, os trechos dos documentos originais que são mais propensos de terem sido utilizados como fonte de plágio. Somente após os trechos candidatos terem sido retornados, a análise de plágio é realizada. Por fim, uma técnica de pós-processamento é aplicada nos resultados da detecção a fim de juntar os trechos plagiados que estão próximos um dos outros. Nós avaliamos o métodos utilizando três coleções de testes disponíveis. Duas delas foram criadas para as competições PAN (PAN’09 e PAN’10), que são competições internacionais de detecção de plágio. Como apenas um pequeno percentual dos casos de plágio dessas coleções era multilíngue, nós criamos uma coleção com casos de plágio multilíngue artificiais. Essa coleção foi chamada de ECLaPA (Europarl Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis). Os resultados alcançados ao analisar as três coleções de testes mostraram que o método proposto é uma alternativa viável para a tarefa de detecção de plágio multilíngue. / Plagiarism is one of the most serious forms of academic misconduct. It is defined as “the use of another person's written work without acknowledging the source”. As a countermeasure to this problem, there are several methods that attempt to automatically detect plagiarism between documents. In this context, this work proposes a new method for Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis. The method aims at detecting external plagiarism cases, i.e., it tries to detect the plagiarized passages in the suspicious documents (the documents to be investigated) and their corresponding text fragments in the source documents (the original documents). To accomplish this task, we propose a plagiarism detection method composed by five main phases: language normalization, retrieval of candidate documents, classifier training, plagiarism analysis, and postprocessing. Since the method is designed to detect cross-language plagiarism, we used a language guesser to identify the language of the documents and an automatic translation tool to translate all the documents in the collection into a common language (so they can be analyzed in a uniform way). After language normalization, we applied a classification algorithm in order to build a model that is able to differentiate a plagiarized text passage from a non-plagiarized one. Once the classifier is trained, the suspicious documents can be analyzed. An information retrieval system is used to retrieve, based on passages extracted from each suspicious document, the passages from the original documents that are more likely to be the source of plagiarism. Only after the candidate passages are retrieved, the plagiarism analysis is performed. Finally, a postprocessing technique is applied in the reported results in order to join the contiguous plagiarized passages. We evaluated our method using three freely available test collections. Two of them were created for the PAN competitions (PAN’09 and PAN’10), which are international competitions on plagiarism detection. Since only a small percentage of these two collections contained cross-language plagiarism cases, we also created an artificial test collection especially designed to contain this kind of offense. We named the test collection ECLaPA (Europarl Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis). The results achieved while analyzing these collections showed that the proposed method is a viable approach to the task of cross-language plagiarism analysis.

Plágio é um dos delitos mais graves no meio acadêmico. É definido como “o uso do trabalho de uma pessoa sem a devida referência ao trabalho original”. Em contrapartida a esse problema, existem diversos métodos que tentam detectar automaticamente plágio entre documentos. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho propõe um novo método para Análise de Plágio Multilíngue. O objetivo do método é detectar casos de plágio em documentos suspeitos baseado em uma coleção de documentos ditos originais. Para realizar essa tarefa, é proposto um método de detecção de plágio composto por cinco fases principais: normalização do idioma, recuperação dos documentos candidatos, treinamento do classificador, análise de plágio, pós-processamento. Uma vez que o método é projetado para detectar plágio entre documentos escritos em idiomas diferentes, nós usamos um language guesser para identificar o idioma de cada documento e um tradutor automático para traduzir todos os documentos para um idioma comum (para que eles possam ser analisados de uma mesma forma). Após a normalização, nós aplicamos um algoritmo de classificação com o objetivo de construir um modelo que consiga diferenciar entre um trecho plagiado e um trecho não plagiado. Após a fase de treinamento, os documentos suspeitos podem ser analisados. Um sistema de recuperação é usado para buscar, baseado em trechos extraídos de cada documento suspeito, os trechos dos documentos originais que são mais propensos de terem sido utilizados como fonte de plágio. Somente após os trechos candidatos terem sido retornados, a análise de plágio é realizada. Por fim, uma técnica de pós-processamento é aplicada nos resultados da detecção a fim de juntar os trechos plagiados que estão próximos um dos outros. Nós avaliamos o métodos utilizando três coleções de testes disponíveis. Duas delas foram criadas para as competições PAN (PAN’09 e PAN’10), que são competições internacionais de detecção de plágio. Como apenas um pequeno percentual dos casos de plágio dessas coleções era multilíngue, nós criamos uma coleção com casos de plágio multilíngue artificiais. Essa coleção foi chamada de ECLaPA (Europarl Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis). Os resultados alcançados ao analisar as três coleções de testes mostraram que o método proposto é uma alternativa viável para a tarefa de detecção de plágio multilíngue. / Plagiarism is one of the most serious forms of academic misconduct. It is defined as “the use of another person's written work without acknowledging the source”. As a countermeasure to this problem, there are several methods that attempt to automatically detect plagiarism between documents. In this context, this work proposes a new method for Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis. The method aims at detecting external plagiarism cases, i.e., it tries to detect the plagiarized passages in the suspicious documents (the documents to be investigated) and their corresponding text fragments in the source documents (the original documents). To accomplish this task, we propose a plagiarism detection method composed by five main phases: language normalization, retrieval of candidate documents, classifier training, plagiarism analysis, and postprocessing. Since the method is designed to detect cross-language plagiarism, we used a language guesser to identify the language of the documents and an automatic translation tool to translate all the documents in the collection into a common language (so they can be analyzed in a uniform way). After language normalization, we applied a classification algorithm in order to build a model that is able to differentiate a plagiarized text passage from a non-plagiarized one. Once the classifier is trained, the suspicious documents can be analyzed. An information retrieval system is used to retrieve, based on passages extracted from each suspicious document, the passages from the original documents that are more likely to be the source of plagiarism. Only after the candidate passages are retrieved, the plagiarism analysis is performed. Finally, a postprocessing technique is applied in the reported results in order to join the contiguous plagiarized passages. We evaluated our method using three freely available test collections. Two of them were created for the PAN competitions (PAN’09 and PAN’10), which are international competitions on plagiarism detection. Since only a small percentage of these two collections contained cross-language plagiarism cases, we also created an artificial test collection especially designed to contain this kind of offense. We named the test collection ECLaPA (Europarl Cross-Language Plagiarism Analysis). The results achieved while analyzing these collections showed that the proposed method is a viable approach to the task of cross-language plagiarism analysis.

Plagiarism is a worldwide problem that is widely recognised in developed countries. There is increasing plagiarism awareness in developing countries such as Nigeria. Problems can arise when students with a low level awareness of plagiarism move from developing to developed countries for further studies. Given their previous academic background which differs from that of the western education system, some students contend with issues of plagiarism for most of the period of their study overseas. This thesis identifies a need to explore issues related to the Nigerian university system including Nigerian students studying in Nigerian universities and those travelling overseas for further studies. This investigation into student textual plagiarism was aimed at exploring the awareness, perception and attitude of Nigerian students to plagiarism. Furthermore, the research aimed to determine the types and causes of student plagiarism and Nigerian universities’ responses, policies, guidelines and prevention mechanisms. The thesis proposes a conceptual model for managing the occurrence of student plagiarism that can be consistently used across the Nigerian universities as an approach to the deterrence of plagiarism amongst students. A mixed methodology was adopted to harness the advantages of both qualitative and quantitative methods with a greater leaning on the qualitative data collected using a phenomenographic approach. Findings from this research confirmed the perceived occurrence of student plagiarism in Nigerian universities studied, showing that a significant proportion of students were unaware of the concept, and where they claimed awareness and understanding, their understanding was partial. This research revealed that the major causes of the perceived occurrence of Nigerian students’ textual plagiarism were associated with the students, staff, universities and the society. The thesis discusses these findings in the context of existing literature. Findings related to the students revealed issues in relation to the lack of: awareness, study skills, mastery of requisite academic writing skills, previous experience with virtual learning environments, mastery of information and communication technology skills. Findings also identified inadequate perception of the concept and inability to acquire and effectively transfer the skills from the learning outcomes of the ‘technical writing’ course offered in their first or second year to other courses offered. Issues identified in relation to the lecturers were: perception and disposition towards teaching the requisite skills, the degree of emphasis they placed on the concept, poor monitoring of the students’ use of the skills acquired and the type of roles they modelled. Regarding the institutions, issues identified were related to the academic learning environment. This was with respect to the: academic climate and culture, infrastructure, pedagogy, perception of the institutions’ views about the importance of plagiarism and institutional policies, procedures and guidelines on dealing with student plagiarism. On the part of the government, there were issues regarding inadequate financial commitment to the education sector. The proposed conceptual model for managing the occurrence of student plagiarism is designed around the findings of this research. Findings from the research impacted on the Nigerian universities in several ways, particularly in the area of raising student plagiarism awareness and highlighting the need for upholding academic integrity which has contributed to the recent adoption of Turnitin as a standard tool for checking text matching in 115 Nigerian universities.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. May 2017 / Plagiarism is a serious problem in academia. It is prevalent in the computing discipline where students are expected to submit source code assignments as part of their assessment; hence, there is every likelihood of copying. Ideally, students can collaborate with each other to perform a programming task, but it is expected that each student submit his/her own solution for the programming task. More so, one might conclude that the interaction would make them learn programming. Unfortunately, that may not always be the case. In undergraduate courses, especially in the computer sciences, if a given class is large, it would be unfeasible for an instructor to manually check each and every assignment for probable plagiarism. Even if the class size were smaller, it is still impractical to inspect every assignment for likely plagiarism because some potentially plagiarised content could still be missed by humans. Therefore, automatically checking the source code programs for likely plagiarism is essential. There have been many proposed methods that attempt to detect source code plagiarism in undergraduate source code assignments but, an ideal system should be able to differentiate actual cases of plagiarism from coincidental similarities that usually occur in source code plagiarism. Some of the existing source code plagiarism detection systems are either not scalable, or performed better when programs are modified with a number of insertions and deletions to obfuscate plagiarism. To address this issue, a graph-based model which considers structural similarities of programs is introduced to address cases of plagiarism in programming assignments. This research study proposes an approach to measuring cases of similarities in programming assignments using an existing plagiarism detection system to find similarities in programs, and a graph-based model to annotate the programs. We describe experiments with data sets of undergraduate Java programs to inspect the programs for plagiarism and evaluate the graph-model with good precision. An evaluation of the graph-based model reveals a high rate of plagiarism in the programs and resilience to many obfuscation techniques, while false detection (coincident similarity) rarely occurred. If this detection method is adopted into use, it will aid an instructor to carry out the detection process conscientiously. / MT 2017