Abstract:

With the enhanced role of technology in academic circles and increased access to digital resources, it’s much easier for students to cheat than ever before. There has been a noticeable increase in academic dishonesty and plagiarism. Cut, copy, paste culture is rife in campuses all over. While technology has promoted plagiarism, is it capable of providing a solution too? Does the onus fall on students alone or are the tutors and curriculum designers also to be blamed?

This paper explores answers to questions on challenges students face in completing assignments, reasons that compel students to plagiarise, nature of plagiarism and how far do the plagiarism detection software like Turnitin help in keeping a check on plagiarism. Questionnaires and interviews are used to gather the perspectives of undergraduate level Omani EFL students and their tutors on plagiarism with specific reference to the role of technology in promoting as well as checking it at a tertiary level institution in the Sultanate of Oman. It is concluded that there is a profound need to promote academic integrity through awareness workshops, sessions on referencing, and exhaustive practice in summarising and paraphrasing. It is suggested that care should be taken in designing the assignments in a way that prevents plagiarism.

The paper ends with certain hands on approaches adopted by the course designers of ESP (English for Special Purposes) courses and tutors to prevent and tackle plagiarism.

Keywords:

Plagiarism, digital resources, EFL (English as a Foreign Language), ESP(English for Special Purposes).