Question 3 Plagiarism has become an issue of growing concern across universities in Malaysia and internationally.

One of the primary reasons for the rapid growth in plagiarism as an issue is that students have increasingly ready access to downloadable information from the Internet. At the same time, students' time in class and on campus has tended to decline and they are constantly searching for efficient ways to complete assignments and assessment tasks. Plagiarism is not a new phenomenon, but given the proliferation of easily accessible electronic resources in recent times, it has become so much easier for students to cut and paste slabs of text. This can sometimes lead to assignments being submitted that are inadequately referenced or, worse still, assignments being submitted that are largely (or entirely) the work of someone else. What is plagiarism? Plagiarism derives from the Latin word plagiarius, meaning kidnapper or abductor. It is the theft of someones creativity, ideas or language; something that strikes at the very heart of academic life. It is a form of cheating. It is morally and ethically repugnant. It is intellectually deceitful. Plagiarism in higher education can take many forms. Some of the more common forms are listed below, however it should be noted that definitions of plagiarism vary somewhat across the disciplines in accordance with differences in knowledge, authorship conventions and traditions. Plagiarism occurs when cheating in an exam either by copying from other students or using unauthorized notes or other aids, submitting, as one's own, an assignment that another person has completed, downloading information, text, computer code, artwork, graphics or other material from the Internet and presenting it as one's own without acknowledgment, quoting or paraphrasing material from a source without acknowledgment and preparing a correctly cited and referenced assignment from individual research and then handing part or all of that work in twice for separate subjects or marks. To some, the increasing incidence of plagiarism in the higher education sector may be looked upon as perfectly acceptable behaviour. According to author and satirist, Stewart Home, plagiarism saves time and effort, improves results, and shows considerable initiative on the part of the plagiarist (cited in Duguid, 1996). This line of thinking is predicated upon the notion that there is nothing sinister about the liberal use of other peoples ideas. To plagiarise is not to steal anothers property, it is simply about the spread of information and knowledge.

Irrespective of a students ability, pressure to plagiaries can emerge because of a variety of influences. These include, for example; poor time management skills (a problem often exacerbated because of the increasing competition for students time arising from the need to work part-time or care for children); an inability to cope with workload (perhaps as a result of class timetables and the corresponding assessment tasks); a lack of motivation to excel because of a perception that the academic responsible for the class has little enthusiasm for the subject (the student then expending what they consider to be a commensurate amount of effort); external pressure to succeed from parents or peers, or for financial reasons; an innate desire to take on and test the system (particularly if the punishment associated with detection is relatively minor); and cultural difference in learning and presentation styles where, in some settings, it is considered normal custom and practice to quote the experts without citation (JISC 2002). However, this issue can be addressed in various ways. There is some suggestions to reduce plagiarisme. Provide class time for writing. Don't allow students to write reports completely outside of class. Provide time for peer review and response groups, surround students with information about how to cite sources (APA format, MLA format, posters, handouts, Web sites, etc.), use mind-mapping software like Inspiration to help students think and plan before they write, make sure assignments encourage critical thinking rather than recitation of facts: compare, contrast, select the best, use content-specific software that promotes critical thinking rather than "drill and kill" or memorization and create a class database and encourage students to use it to draw conclusions may be useful ways to reduce this problem. (683 words)