Plagiarism among undergraduate students in the Faculty of Applied Science at a South African Higher Education Institution

• Main Authors: Mapule Patricia Sentleng, Lizette King
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stellenbosch University 2012-12-01
• Series: South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science
• Subjects: Plagiarism; higher education; South Africa; undergraduate students
• Online Access: http://sajlis.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/47
• ISSN: 2304-8263; 0256-8861

The purpose of this study was to investigate plagiarism among undergraduate students at a higher education institution in<br />South Africa. This study investigated the awareness and causes of plagiarism among undergraduate first, second and third<br />year students of the departments of Chemistry and Mathematical Technology within the Faculty of Applied Science at a<br />university of technology. A quantitative research method was used. The results of the study confirm that student<br />plagiarism is fairly common. The study shows that 41% of undergraduate students think that plagiarism is very serious,<br />but plagiarism is still being practised within these departments. It was also found that 71.9% of students admit to using<br />the Internet to compile their assignments. This implies that the Internet is the most possible source of plagiarism.<br />Students also used books and journal articles as possible sources to plagiarise.