Students Turned Off by Turnitin? Perception of Plagiarism and Collusion by Undergraduate Bioscience Students

Abstract

Research on undergraduate bioscience students and the incidence of plagiarism is still in its infancy and a key problem arises in gauging the perception of undergraduate students on plagiarism and collusion in biosciences subjects because of the lack of empirical data. The aim of this study was to provide qualitative data on the perceptions of plagiarism and collusion of final year Pharmacology students. Data with respect to student ethnicity, age and gender are discussed. The results from the pilot study suggested that students did not find Turnitin (UK) easy to use neither did they perceive it as a useful learning tool. This study demonstrated that the overall majority of the students would like an alternative way to detect for plagiarism and collusion. Understanding these perspectives of undergraduate bioscience students can assist educators in developing new strategies when encountering plagiarism and collusion in final year undergraduate biosciences. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)