A Systematic review of the challenges and strategies for addressing plagiarism in engineering education

Abstract

Plagiarism is a growing issue in higher education institutions world-wide. If left unchallenged, it represents a threat to genuine academic scholarship and integrity. This paper examines the current state of knowledge based on published research with a specific focus on plagiarism in engineering education. The overall aim of the study is to identify major factors that contribute to plagiaristic behaviour and to develop evidence-based tools, resources and interventions to assist students, faculty and higher education institutions to avoid plagiarism. Furthermore, the study seeks to provide policy recommendations that can be implemented at institutional level. It is found that plagiarism occurs at all levels of academic practice in teaching and research. The reasons why students plagiarise include ease of access to materials on the internet, time constraints, pressures to achieve good grades, lack of academic support and failure to integrate students into the university community. Faculty and universities have a role to play in training students to be ethical users of information. Students should be trained to be able to identify their requirements, to source and paraphrase text, cite references properly and attribute all sources of information. Faculty should also develop authentic instruments of assessments. This will motivate students to develop creative solutions. Plagiarism is however a complex aspect of human behaviour and further research is required to understand it better and to find potential solutions.