Abstract:

Much previous research has suggested either that male students are more likely than women to engage in academic misconduct or that there is no significant difference between men and women students. Rather than focussing on statistical differences between the genders with regards to breaches of academic integrity, I look at what students say about academic integrity and their research process with attention to differences between the genders. Specifically, I look at what they think leads students to engage in plagiarism using data from an international (Canada, US, and Europe) SSHRC (Social Science & Humanities Research Council Canada)-funded project examining strategies for preventing plagiarism. By understanding what students believe are the causes of plagiarism among students, we may be better able to develop classroom tools and strategies to help discourage students from being tempted to plagiarise or rely on generative artificial intelligence.

This paper will explore student responses to questions about their research and writing strategies, as well as their beliefs about the causes of plagiarism. For instance, the top responses for the question “What leads students to plagiarism?” tend to be consistent for all genders. The top three responses (in order of number of mentions) for women are: students think they will not get caught; students run out of time; and, students do not understand how to cite and reference. For men, the top three responses are: students think they will not get caught; students run out of time; students are lazy. For “Other” (e.g., non-binary, trans) genders, the top three responses are: students run out of time; students are unable to cope with the workload; and, students think they will not get caught.

The belief that they will not get caught and that students plagiarise when they run out time were in the top three for all groups of students, but at slightly different rates. Interestingly, women tended to think that students plagiarise because they do not understand how to cite and reference, while men believed that students did so because they are lazy and “Other” students felt that being unable to cope was a factor. Few students felt that cheating occurred because plagiarism is not seen as wrong. In this paper, I explore the data about attitudes about academic integrity and research and writing strategies and using gender as a category of analysis.

Keywords:

Academic integrity, gender, plagiarism.