Plagiarisim: a review of why Malaysian students commit the academic dishonour

摘要

Plagiarism seems to have proliferated and becomenotoriously comparable to an epidemic in the academia,particularly in IHLs (institutions of higher learning). It is aproblem which threatens the very core of academic sanctity,raising questions on the marred honour and integrity in a worldgenerally presumed to be inherently virtuous and trustworthy.Whether plagiarism is committed and condone, consciously orunintentionally, the results are not very much different, withstudents being the very victims of the academic plague: distortedlearning experience and undervalued learning outcomes. Inaddition, the internet has served as a two-edge sword cuttingboth ways, providing greater access to information andknowledge yet encouraging, though inevitably sometimes,increasing incidents of minor and major intellectual thefts. Thecircumstances notwithstanding, there is a need to review theculture of integrity or lack of in universities, where itencompasses the institution and system as a whole, the staff asthe moral compass and the students seeking transparency andguidance in the matter. It is imperative to identify why studentsengage in plagiarism, how the current learning environment mayhave contributed to the rise in such misconduct, and what can bedone to mitigate and circumvent plagiarism before it grows out ofhand. A good grasp of the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ can lead to theformulation of effective strategies and solutions, i.e. the ‘whats’.This paper explores the reasons students plagiarize in MalaysianIHLs, particularly the public universities.