Why do they become potential cyber-plagiarizers? Exploring the alternative thinking of copy-and-paste youth in Taiwan

Abstract

With the expansion of digital content, academic integrity has been facing the growing threat of cyber-plagiarism. In the present research, we address young Taiwanese students' perceptions of cyber-plagiarism. Our research included two related studies: in study 1, we collected data through a national survey on a probability sample of 41,911 (4th–12th graders) and analyzed the prevalence and alternative thinking about cyber plagiarism among these students; in study 2, we collected 113 young students' anonymous questionnaires inquiring into the reasoning that the students applied to their own use of online resources for homework. The results of our research show that the prevalence of frequent copy-and-paste students was less than 3% of the surveyed 4th–12th graders in Taiwan. Moreover, we have found that copy-and-paste practices were more prevalent among the 10th and 12th graders than among students in the other grades, and that more male students than female students engaged in copy-and-paste behavior. We have also found that these students’ concept and their ways of using Internet information properly seem incorrect. We suggest that educators implement copy-and-paste prevention curriculum throughout elementary, junior high, and high schools. We offer teaching advice for the prevention of cyber plagiarism, encouraging educators to teach students appropriate ways to resolve copy-and-paste problems.