Plagiarism : perceptions and practices of UNIMAS humanities undergradutes

• Main Author: Mavis, Valentine Jihir
• Format: Final Year Project Report
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2009
• Subjects: L Education (General)
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6954/3/MAVIS%20full.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/6954/
• Institution: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Plagiarism has been a global issue worldwide and this is not a new issue in tertiary education.The aim of the study was to investigate the perceptions and practices of UNIMAS humanities undergraduates on plagiarism. 311 participants (221females and 90 males) of Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4 undergraduates from ten humanities courses in the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, and the Faculty of Social Sciences in UNIMAS were involved in this study.Besides that, 10 UNIMAS humanities lecturers were interviewed on their understanding of plagiarism,their perceptions on the seriousness of plagiarism, and the reasons for undergraduates’ plagiarism. The study was conducted by using a survey research in which questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were employed for the purpose of data collection. The results showed that the undergraduates’ ability to identify plagiarism acts was on average and their views on the seriousness of plagiarism acts were also on average.The main reason for undergraduates’ plagiarism in this study was due to poor academic skills. With this study,the undergraduates would have awareness toward the seriousness of plagiarism acts.