Exploring the Forms, Causes and Remedies of Plagiarism in the Academic Writing of Graduate Students in the Private Universities in Bangladesh

Abstract

Plagiarism is a well-documented problem in the academic writing of students. This paper reports on a study aimed at investigating the forms, causes and remedies of plagiarism in the graduate students’ academic writing. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five teachers to know about their own ways of defining plagiarism, tracing techniques restricting this academic theft. A questionnaire based on Likert scale was administered to 20 graduate students of two private universities to gather information about the forms or ways, causes and remedies of plagiarism. They were also given home assignments to write so that we could trace out their forms of plagiarism as proof. The data across the three tools revealed plagiarism is prevalent to a large extent in the students’ academic paper which is a big threat to the academic integrity. The growth of internet use, lack of awareness about academic writing and plagiarism issue, deliberate copying through internet without acknowledgement, bad paraphrasing, students’ unwillingness to work hard, lack of proper application of university plagiarism policy etc. have been found to be the prime agents of graduate students’ plagiarism. By raising enough awareness among students and teachers, giving them proper training on academic writing as well as plagiarism issue and its rules to avoid it, and adopting plagiarism checker, we can reduce this academic dishonesty and subsequently originate creative writers. Suggestions for further research in wider timeframe and with more respondents are also suggested to know more about the academic document and plagiarism issue.