Graduate students’ experiences of plagiarism by their professors

Abstract

This study expands the inquiry about an egregious form of academic misconduct. Participants consist of graduate students who reported a violation of academic integrity because a professor plagiarised their academic work. Based on data collected through interviews and documents, interpretative phenomenological analysis is used to examine participants’ experiences. A key research finding of relevance to Higher Education policy is: individuals in positions of authority failed to resolve the reports. This study calls for more education about authorship. Equally important, universities need clear reporting procedures and protections for students when they report academic violations.