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Plagiarism Guide for Faculty

Considerations With International Students

Different disciplines, cultures, and individuals have different accepted ways of presenting and acknowledging sources for information. This page summarizes some of the different attitudes for what is called "plagiarism" in the West.

From TurnItIn

From Cultural Differences in Plagiarism at TurnItIn: 

"For some cultures, there is no formalized understanding of plagiarism. In Eritrea, there is no legal copyright protection either for authors within their country or for writers of foreign works. If a student arrives in the United States without a working definition of plagiarism from their home country, it may be difficult to comprehend and adhere to the US concept of academic integrity."

Tips:

  • For students and educators alike, it's important to think about academic integrity as a learned concept. By approaching alternate perspectives with compassion, we can teach academic integrity without demeaning or dismissing student cultural backgrounds.

From The Mentor

From Guide to Advising International Students about Academic Integrity at The Mentor:

 

It is important to remember that plagiarism is a Western ideal. For example, “… the notion of ‘stealing’ another’s work has its origins in the peculiarly Western conjunction between the ‘growth of the notion of human right’ (freedom of speech) and the ‘stress on individual property’ (copyright)” (Duff et al., 2006, p. 675). Not all cultures subscribe to this point of view.
 
For example, Scollon (1999) explains that students from Confucian-heritage countries, such as China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, value their source with the utmost authority, yet do not believe in citing their sources as expected in Western society (Duff et al., 2006). In addition, in the Confucian culture, using an author’s own words is a form of respect, making it difficult for students to understand Western standards and change their perspectives on this matter (Hayes & Introna, 2005).
 
Furthermore, Hayes and Introna (2005) documented the case of an Indian student who declared that in his undergraduate institution more points were awarded to students who could reproduce from class notes and textbooks than to those who paraphrased. Lastly, researchers have proposed that students from overseas feel they cannot improve on what has already been said (Hayes & Introna, 2005). Thus international students in the United States may have difficulty truly understanding what plagiarism is, because it may have been an expected and highly regarded cultural norm in their home country.

From Elearn Magazine

From Why Do Students Plagiarize? A Cultural Perspective at Elearn Magazine:

"The reasons why students plagiarize are often unknown by teachers. By understanding cultural differences, it’s possible to create helpful prevention strategies."

  • Knowledge as a shared property. Many non-Western cultures have different views regarding originality and textual ownership.
  • Respect for authority. International students often do not think that they can enhance the writing and ideas of someone who is an authority on a particular subject.
  • Exam-oriented cultures. In many cultures, educational institutions place a greater emphasis on exams rather than homework, written assignments and presentations.
  • Diverse learning styles. International students may have to adapt to an entirely different academic culture and learning style.
  • Limited writing experience. Some international students may not have experience writing research papers that require personal opinions and critical thinking.
  • Pressure to be successful. The pressure for good grades may be higher for a student who depends on a scholarship or faces the threat of a potential loss of visa.
  • Difficulty expressing themselves in another language. For students who speak English as their second language, it takes longer to read and write.
  • Greater emphasis on collaboration. International students may have a stronger sense of community, and they may not hesitate to help each other and ask to see their notes or assignments. 
  • Minimal consequences for plagiarizing. Consequences for cheating vary from country to country. Nations like the United States and the United Kingdom tend to be much stricter.

From Lancaster University

From Cultural attitudes towards plagiarism at Lancaster University:

"In a case where a Chinese student was accused of plagiarising there was an obvious difference in interpretation of the definition of plagiarism. The student did not think it was correct to rewrite an author‘s words since the author was well known and respected. Hence he/she included it in his/her text. This reverence for authority clearly comes from a cultural worldview where respect for betters andelders is paramount."

...
 
"This student [from India] understood that plagiarism was not acceptable in the UK. However the student chose to plagiarise because he/she felt that his/her English was not sufficiently proficient to explain the point clearly enough. He/she felt that the
original author‘s English was better."
 
 
Tips:
 

  • It is our hypothesis that cheating in assessments for many students, and particularly the non-UK students often become attractive as a possible script to follow in situations where students have become alienated from the process, purpose and meaning of the assessment. This alienation is characterised by a situation in which the intrinsic reasons for assessment, namely self development and learning, is completely displaced by externally imposed reasons such as judgement, competition, discipline,regulation and award.

    • It seems that it is our task to do whatever we can to limit the alienation from theassessment task.

  • In our view the most important implication of our research is that we need to treat plagiarism as an inherent part of the teaching and learning process rather than as a disease that we would like to ignore or be rid of.

  • We need to develop a broader understanding of the skillsstudents have when they arrive. This means having a better understanding of how theywere previously taught and assessed.

  • We also need to develop the infrastructure to support them in making the transition to an often radically different set of expectations and skills required. We need to communicate our expectations, explain the logic and values it is based on, and check that the students have the resources to develop theskills they require to meet these expectations