Accidental Plagiarism in Higher Education, Part II

Abstract

Earlier research found only about half of 423 university psychology students correctly answered four questions involving recognizing plagiarism, and only a minority was able to rephrase a passage without producing plagiarized content. A more representative study of 125 undergraduates and 103 graduate students reported similar difficulties. The most common mistakes involved the presence of citations and word reversals. Results suggest many cases of plagiarism are inadvertent, so skill development rather than punishment may be appropriate.