Loss, responsibility, blame? Staff discourses of student plagiarism

Abstract

Student plagiarism and difficulties with writing have been widely investigated in the literature, but there has been less research on staff perspectives. A Joint Information Services Committee (JISC)-funded questionnaire (n=80) and focus group study investigated the views of lecturers, librarians and study advisors at a UK post-92 university, looking at their perceptions of writing and plagiarism with a focus on first year undergraduates. The data reveal that staff in different roles employed contrasting discourses surrounding academic writing, the curriculum and the locus of responsibility for development. This paper will argue that the ‘literacies’ perspective shown by support staff leads to a more distributed view of responsibility for plagiarism prevention. In contrast, a ‘study skills’ paradigm as shown by lecturers views writing development as extracurricular and remedial, places a symbolic moral value on plagiarism as a signifier for falling standards. Implications for practice arising from the study are discussed.

Keywords:

• plagiarism
• academic literacies
• the first year
• discourses
• academic development

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr Stephen Bruce at Edinburgh Napier for his patient and extensive support with the survey tool, and to all the staff who took part in the study.

Notes

1. Scottish school examination normally taken at age 17.