Student Plagiarism and The Use of a Plagiarism Detection Tool by Community College Faculty

Abstract

This study sought to better inform community college administrators and faculty regarding possible factors that contribute to higher levels of student plagiarism and to suggest appropriate preventative or responsive interventions. The specific purpose of the study was to investigate a set of faculty related factors that may be associated with particular levels of plagiarism. The specific research questions were as follows: 1. Are there particular instructor related factors that are associated with the level of suggestive plagiarism that occurs in the community college classroom? 2. Is there a difference in suggestive plagiarism based upon the campus on which the faculty member teaches? 3. How do faculty who use TII think about plagiarism and their role in educating students on how to properly cite works and avoid it? The quantitative portion of this mix-methods study found no statistical significance between the dependent variable of suggestive plagiarism and the independent variables of class level, instructor age, instructor gender, instructor employment status (full-time or part-time), years since hire, academic division and campus. The qualitative portion of the study interviewed nine faculty users of TII and revealed several convergent and divergent themes. The convergent themes were plagiarism due to ignorance vs. intentionality, lack of student objections to the use of TII, lack of faculty difficulty using TII, impact on teaching strategies, and replacement of TII with an alternative tool. The two divergent themes were faculty experience with training in the use of TII and the extent to which faculty sought to teach their students about plagiarism. The study offers implications for practice and policy as well as limitations and opportunities for future research.