Academic Integrity Plagiarism in the Digital World The

Academic Integrity & Plagiarism in the Digital World: The Student-Professor Research Gap Meg Raven, MLIS Coordinator of Reference & Instructional Services Mount Saint Vincent University Library 25 February 2011

Outline: n n The information and research landscape Citation and plagiarism Differing student-professor research expectations Questions and discussion

The research landscape has changed n n Exponential growth of information Digitization of our whole culture makes it far easier to plagiarize Students may feel there is less need to come up with new ideas Students may find it difficult to be creative or original when faced with so much information

Exponential growth of information BOOKS published in the USA (Bowkers, 1971, 1976, 2001) 1950 1975 2000 2010 online at MSVU 11, 022 39, 372 96, 080 780, 000 e-books

Journals Indexed 1950 1975 1995 2011 Electronic Readers’ Guide 110 164 256 8500 (ASP) Canadian Periodicals 101 87 431 900 (CBCA) Social Science 263 460 1900 (Soc Index) General Science 89 175 22, 000 (Web. Sci)

Growth of internet information Web Servers (Hobbes' Internet Timeline v 8. 1 www. zakon. org/rob ert/internet/timeline ) 1990 300, 000 1995 2000 2005 2010 30 million 100 million 300 million 750 million

How much information is enough? n n Web pages: 25 billion in 2009 Number of Wikipedia articles: 3. 6 million Google Scholar search of “plagiarism” returns 74, 000 results Active English-language blogs: 400 million

What happens with so much info? n Students will write papers and gather citations afterwards; n n n they will read dozens of book reviews and then confess they don’t know what to write for their own review; they will seek out the assignment for which we have hardcopy books. Students seem overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of information which can result in plagiarism.

Students’ experience of and ideas about citation and plagiarism

Percentage Citation and Plagiarism instruction in high school

Percentage Which sources to cite:

Percentage Students who knew what to cite:

Research and Reading Expectations

Percentage 1 st year students’ preparedness to do university level research

Percentage Ratings of 1 st year students’ academic research skills

Percentage Who is most responsible for 1 st year students’ learning how to do research

Percentage 1 st year students’ reading experiences during the last year Hours per week spent reading during the last year.

1 st year students’ reading expectations Percentage ■ Students’ Expected Reading: expect to read more in forthcoming year. ■ Int’l Students’ Expected Reading: expect to read more in forthcoming year. ■ Faculty Expectations for Students Reading: significantly greater than what students plan on.

Percentage Time to research a 10 page paper/assignment

Percentage Getting help: who will students go to, and to whom do faculty want them to go, for research assistance?

Research sources

Where students start an information search (OCLC, 2010, http: //www. oclc. org/ca/en/reports/2010 perceptions. htm)

Percentage Using Google to locate research material: student and faculty expectations ■ Amount of research material 1 st year students expect to find using Google (i. e. , 30% of students expect to use Google to find 61 -80% of their research material) ■ Amount of research material international students expect to find using Google (i. e. , 39% of international students expect to use Google to find 61 -80% of their research material) ■ Amount of research material faculty want students to find using Google (i. e. , 63% of faculty want students to use Google to find 0 -20% of their research material)

Most common academic research sources Students’ top 10 resources: Professors’ top 10 resources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Books: MSVU Library Google Newspapers Encyclopedias Library web site Books: public library Online newspapers Magazines OPAC (Novanet) Scholarly web sites Journals Library web site Books: MSVU Library OPAC (Novanet) Databases E-journals Books: other universities Scholarly web sites Google Experts

Research expectations: the differences Students Research expectation Faculty Yes Students prepared to do university-level research No Less Student most responsibility for student learning Yes Good academic research skills No Yes Good internet skills No Yes Google, Wikipedia Less Reading More Less Research time More Yes Research help: friends & family OK No Yes Newspapers, encyclopedias, magazines, public library No No Databases, e-journals, other universities’ resources Yes No Journals Yes

What can we do? Some suggestions: n Talking about university-level expectations is as important as skills building; n Prepare students that Google won’t be an acceptable source (in many cases); n Practice writing with paraphrasing exercises; n Practice citing by deliberately removing all citations from an article and having students reinsert; n Encourage students to ask for help.

Questions or comments?

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