Academic writing for higher learning institution students: implications from user needs analysis for a specific plagiarism module in e-learning platform

Abstract

Academic writing is a benchmark in most academic institution towards maintaining academic excellence among graduate students. However, to avoid plagiarism was found to be one of the most challenging tasks in academic writing among graduates in the digital era. A deeper understanding of plagiarism would be an important addition to students’ competencies in academic writing. This study aimed to develop a one-stop e-learning platform that is able to assist graduate students in addressing their knowledge and understanding towards plagiarism. ICCEE instructional design method was used in developing the proposed platform. Need analysis was the first step approached in the development process. A survey was conducted among 440 post-graduate students using self-designed questionnaire. The outcome of the survey was quantitatively analyzed using descriptive technique. Results show that majority of the respondents have general knowledge about plagiarism. Even though most respondents agreed plagiarism is a serious matter, their attitude shows the opposite. This may be because they have never taken any specific course related to plagiarism nor used any plagiarism detection tool. The respondents also stated the need for a specific online course on plagiarism in the form of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This information about students’ need can be a guide in developing the one-stop e-learning platform to understand about plagiarism.