ETHICAL PERCEPTIONS OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS ABOUT CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM
<doi>10.24250/jpe/2/2020/LP/AP
Keywords:
academic dishonesty; cheating; plagiarism; awareness; behaviours; reasons; attitudes.Abstract
Academic dishonesty is an important issue in education that continues to be a worldwide problem in the academic field. This paper embodies the findings from a small part of a larger study on academic dishonesty. Its purpose was to investigate the frequency of cheating and plagiarism behaviours, reasons, attitudes towards cheating and plagiarism and to find out ways to prevent and reduce cheating and plagiarism. This study was conducted through a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire completed by 466 engineering students at the bachelor and master level at a university from Romania. The study indicates that cheating and plagiarism are sometimes common among students, while the need to increase attitudes so as to modify students' behaviours toward honest classroom practices has been identified. Students felt that passing exams was a strong reason for cheating and plagiarism. The study also proposes several recommendations to mitigate levels of academic misconduct.
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