Knowledge, perception and attitude of Nigerian students to plagiarism

Abstract

This study investigated the knowledge, perception and attitude of Nigerian students to plagiarism. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire which was self administered by the researchers to the respondents. The respondents were 282 first year students in the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. The collected data was analyzed with frequency counts and percentage. The major findings show that the knowledge of plagiarism among the students prior to their being taught the subject was very low. However, after being exposed to the subject through teaching, their knowledge increased significantly. The respondents perceived some reasons as significant to the incidence of plagiarism among students. These included: fear of being scored poorly, awareness that other students were doing it, the opportunities for copying offered by the Internet, and the absence of punishment for plagiarism-related offences. The attitude of respondents to strategies for curbing plagiarism showed that respondents favoured corrective measures over punitive measures. The study concluded that university administrations should pay close attention to this problem by developing strategies that can help resolve it.