‘It’s not plagiarism, it’s a bad use of power phrasing’: Assessment of home and international student (mis)understandings of citation practice

ABSTRACT

This study documents the development of an assessment (a multiple-choice test with free text rationale) built into an academic skills module over a 2 year period. Initially introduced as a credit bearing assessment to promote student engagement, disappointing results in the first year prompted a further intervention in year 2 with an additional lecture and a series of online resources provided. The results of the assessment from both years were examined; firstly, to determine the success of the intervention, and secondly, the free text rationales in an attempt identify aspects of academic practice that proved difficult for students. With a diverse cohort, the opportunity to examine distinctions between home and international students was also explored. The results indicated that upon the introduction of the intervention the pass rate for the assessment increased from 56% to 80%, however a qualitative analysis of the free text student rationales highlighted persistent underlying problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic writing
• plagiarism
• intervention

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elaine Tan

Elaine Tan is a lecturer in the Marketing department at Newcastle University Business School. Her research interests include technology enhanced and online learning as well as student practices.

Sarah Carnegie

Sarah Carnegie, Lecturer at Newcastle University Business School, leading and teaching on various undergraduate module related to human resource management and business consultancy, drawing on her career as an HR Consultant and Quality Assessor. She focusses on integration of work integrated learning into the curriculum related to employability, and the transition of students into HE and their acquisition of academic and professional skills.