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Plagiarism fears are stressing students: »I spend an insane amount of time with a thesaurus«

Around half of all students at secondary school and university are scared of being flagged for plagiarism, according to a new study. The fear may lead to poorer assignments.

Almost every other student is concerned about being caught for plagiarism, according to a new study. And this may have students rewriting their texts so much that it negatively impacts the quality of their assignments.

The downside of plagiarism detection software

The study ‘The dark side of text-matching software: worries and counterproductive behaviour among European upper secondary school  and bachelor students’ is based on both qualitative and quantitative data and was conducted in seven European countries.

The research includes 3,424 survey responses and 36 qualitative interviews. In Denmark, 218 bachelor students and 389 secondary school students participated.

Read the study here.

The new study is co-authored by Mads Paludan Goddiksen, a postdoc and lecturer in the philosophy of science. Together with colleagues, he investigated the extent to which the fear of plagiarism affects students across Europe.

»Students are altering their writing practices to avoid being accused of plagiarism. This becomes a problem because the reader loses clarity on what is original, and what is borrowed,« says Mads Paludan Goddiksen.

This problem resonates with Sara Egsgaard Møller, who recently submitted her bachelor’s thesis in Danish studies:

»I spend an incredible amount of time using thesauruses and paraphrasing because I’m afraid of being accused of plagiarism. This probably makes the process much harder than it needs to be,« she says.

Sara Egsgaard Møller believes that the teaching on how to cite correctly has been inadequate throughout her studies.

»We are told that we can avoid plagiarism by citing correctly, but I don’t think I’ve been taught how to do it in practice. I often sit and wonder, is this enough?«

This is how plagiarism detection software works

Many students don’t understand how plagiarism detection works. And this, according to Mads Paludan Goddiksen, leads to an exaggerated focus on tricking the software used by universities to check for plagiarism.

»The software itself does not determine whether something is plagiarism. It breaks the text into chunks of around 15 words, removes common words like ‘and,’ ‘that,’ and ‘which,’ and then searches a vast library for overlaps. If there is overlap, it flags it. However, it is the teacher who ultimately assesses whether plagiarism has occurred,« he explains.

READ ALSO: 93 cases of exam cheating at the University of Copenhagen: »It’s a trifling number«

Teachers are obligated to act if they suspect plagiarism, and this can have serious consequences for the student. If an assignment is flagged for plagiarism, the study programme leader is contacted, the student is heard, and finally, the rector’s office decides whether there are grounds for expulsion.

The good assignment?

According to Mads Paludan Goddiksen, avoiding plagiarism is about learning the rules for proper citation while also mastering good academic writing.

UCPH should be better at showing understanding that we are practising and help us navigate the rules.

Sara Egsgaard Møller, Danish student

»The problem is that we teach students not to plagiarise, but we don’t teach them how to write a good assignment. These are two very different things,« he says.

This issue is familiar to Danish student Sara Egsgaard Møller, who also feels uncertain when paraphrasing:

»I’m really unsure about what’s correct because teachers expect us not to quote directly all the time. But what does it mean to make an independent paraphrase? I’ve never had that explained.«

A good rule of thumb, according to Mads Paludan Goddiksen, is to focus on the learning aspect of the assignment. He suggests asking oneself, how can I write in a way that helps me learn?

The institutions’ responsibility

According to Mads Paludan Goddiksen, much of the responsibility lies with educational institutions.

»When institutions choose to use plagiarism detection software, they also have a responsibility to explain how it works. At the same time, they must ensure that students learn how to write good academic assignments,« he says and adds:

»It’s a craft they need to learn. Whether this is the responsibility of universities or high schools is up for debate. Right now, it’s clear that they’re not learning it properly anywhere.«

Sara Egsgaard Møller believes more leeway should be for given for mistakes:

»We’re here to learn. UCPH should be better at showing understanding that we are just practising, and help us navigate the rules. Rarely does anyone plagiarize on purpose. If we don’t learn, how can we get it right?«

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