How College Freshmen View Plagiarism

Abstract

College freshmen (75 men and 75 women) at Indiana University completed a questionnaire designed to elicit their reasoning about, and attitudes toward, plagiarism. Students wrote their own explanations of why it is wrong to plagiarize, rated five standard explanations that were based on different ethical orientations, and responded to a series of statements about the seriousness and consequences of plagiarizing. Analyses revealed that these students took the matter of plagiarism rather seriously, and that they tended to construe plagiarism in terms of three major issues: fairness to authors and other students, the responsibility of students to do independent work, and respect for ownership rights.