PLAGIARISM DISCOURSE IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING: A CASE OF ONE UNIVERSITY IN ZAMBIA’S CENTRAL PROVINCE

Abstract

The study investigated students’ understanding and practices of plagiarism at one of the Universities of Zambia’s Central Province. Plagiarism is a common phenomenon, and a menace in higher institutions of learning. Using interpretive paradigm and qualitative approach, the researchers collected data from 120 respondents where 90 students and 20 lecturers answered open ended questionnaires and 10 that is five lecturers and five students took part in interviews. The data collected was supported by document analysis where the university academic policy, undergraduate student assignments and research reports were analysed. Data generated illuminated that students’ knowledge of plagiarism was vague where they knew how to define the term but could not explain what constituted it. The data collected highlighted that students were indulging in various forms of plagiarism knowingly or unknowingly. It further indicated factors such as laziness, peer pressure, ignorance, and availability of information from the internet among others to have exacerbated students’ indulgence in plagiarism. The availability of a weak University academic policy on plagiarism mitigation strategies and non-availability of plagiarism checkers in the institution has made the penalties administered weak hence not preventing students from plagiarising. The study revealed that as an institution not much was being done to curb plagiarism. Thus, researchers recommended that there was need to do more sensitisation on plagiarism and work on the academic policy to give more direction on plagiarism mitigation measures to be enforced in the University to control the levels of plagiarism taking place in the higher institution of learning