"It's Not Fair": Policy Discourses and Students' Understandings of Plagiarism in a New Zealand University

Autor/inn/en	Adam, Lee; Anderson, Vivienne; Spronken-Smith, Rachel
Titel	"It's Not Fair": Policy Discourses and Students' Understandings of Plagiarism in a New Zealand University
Quelle	In: Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research, 74 (2017) 1, S.17-32 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-1560
DOI	10.1007/s10734-016-0025-9
Schlagwörter	Ethics; Plagiarism; Student Attitudes; Educational Policy; Moral Values; Discourse Analysis; School Policy; Foreign Countries; Interviews; Undergraduate Students; Policy Analysis; College Students; Higher Education; Writing Skills; Academic Discourse; Learning Processes; New Zealand + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ethik; Plagiat; Schülerverhalten; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Moral value; Ethischer Wert; Diskursanalyse; Schulpolitik; Ausland; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Politikfeldanalyse; Collegestudent; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Writing skill; Schreibfertigkeit; Discourse; Diskurs; Learning process; Lernprozess; Neuseeland
Abstract	Plagiarism is a concept that is difficult to define. Although most higher education institutions have policies aimed at minimising and addressing student plagiarism, little research has examined the ways in which plagiarism is discursively constructed in university policy documents, or the connections and disconnections between institutional and student understandings of plagiarism in higher education. This article reports on a study that explored students' understandings of plagiarism in relation to institutional plagiarism discourses at a New Zealand university. The qualitative study involved interviews with 21 undergraduate students, and analysis of University plagiarism policy documents. The University policy documents revealed moral and regulatory discourses. In the interviews, students predominantly drew on ethico-legal discourses, which reflected the discourses in the policy documents. However, the students also drew on (un)fairness discourses, confusion discourses, and, to a lesser extent, learning discourses. Notably, learning discourses were absent in the University policy. Our findings revealed tensions between the ways plagiarism was framed in institutional policy documents, and students' understandings of plagiarism and academic writing. We suggest that, in order to support students' acquisition of academic writing skills, plagiarism should be framed in relation to "learning to write," rather than as a moral issue. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01