Abstract:

We live in the knowledge society which undergoes a rapid development of technologies. The Internet is that door which allows us to access a complex universe of data and information of all kinds and complexity. The Internet is part of our personal, academic and professional lives. Here we are focussing on the academic ground and particularly on University degrees. Not so long ago students carried out their academic essays using very well known and recognized sources of information such as encyclopaedias, university textbooks and journals. Nowadays these sources have become a single one, the Internet. By means of this macro communication route, university students access a never-ending number of materials and resources. They have access to a huge amount of information just in a few seconds. From this perspective it is not a negative tool. But, what does it happen when students face the task of doing an academic essay? What usage do students do of this resource of resources? How do they tackle the information they access?

The answers are found by teachers when assessing their essays: a literal reproduction of contents has been made. This practice is not a new one, it is known as academic plagiarism. Due to the common usage of this practice, there is an extensive existing literature on the topic. (Buranen 1999; Ercegovac & Richardson 2004; Hexham 1999; Harris 2001; Moore Howard 1998, 2000, 2001, 2005; Jewell 2004; O'Neil 2003; Park 2003; McKenzie 1998; Roig 2001; Szabo & Underwood 2004). In Spain, it is worth mentioning the following works: Sureda y Comas (2004, 2006, 2007), Comas y Sureda (2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d), Sureda, Comas y Morey (2008, 2009), Comas, Sureda & Urbina (2005), Urbina Ramírez (2004), Miguel (2002). A review of the above works makes evident the neutralization of the academic plagiarism.

Recent data about the situation in Spain are provided by Sureda, Comas and Casero (2008, p. 201): “61.1% of Spanish university students acknowledge having copied excerpts from websites on at least one occasion and included them in the work they hand in as their own; and 3.3% state that they have bought and handed it in as if they themselves were the authors”. A recent study has been carried out with the students of the first course of the Degree in Primary Education (Infant Education) in the University of Cadiz. Although the university context is more closely analysed, the aim is to show what happens with those students coming into university just after finishing Secondary School studies. Those students have not socialized yet into the new university environment; and therefore will apply their previous habits when doing academic essays so that their behaviour towards plagiarism will show the model they have used up to now. The conclusions drawn from this research show that: a) students know what it is to plagiarize; b) they have experience in this practice as they have used it before, c) they copy for convenience, when they lack time and when they do not understand how to do the essays, d) there is a percentage of students that state that they do not copy because doing so they do not learn or acquire a proper education.