Plagiarism

Final Report
Course code: 101
Course name: communication
Group name: No Name
Group members: Otaiba Al-Otaib#7998
Mohammed Saleh #8236
Abdullah Al-Hammadi #9406
Nadeem Al-Mahry #8223
Hasan Al-Ssaqaf #9222
Date: 12-Dec-15

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Abstract:
Plagiarism is generally misunderstood since it has multiple definitions and students
misunderstand the concept. The project aimed to compare students and teachers opinions
toward plagiarism focusing on academic experiences and causes of plagiarism. The survey was
conducted in petroleum institute between freshmen students and instructors with 60 participants,
including 50 students and 10 instructors. The results showed that students already knew the
concept of plagiarism. However, students and teachers had different views on reason for
plagiarism. In addition, students results showed laziness is the main reason of plagiarizing. In
contrast, teachers gave other reasons such as time pressure, unintentional plagiarism, and
laziness. The results was different to our literature review as the students might be searching for
the easy way to complete their work rather to do it by themselves.. The project recommended
raising awareness by means such as workshops about plagiarism, educating students and teachers
alike and developing knowledge of plagiarism to counter it.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

Introduction........................................................................................................................4
Background/Literature review............................................................................................4
Purpose, Scope & Research questions and hypothesis.......................................................8
Methodology.......................................................................................................................9
Results................................................................................................................................11
Discussion..........................................................................................................................18
Recommendations..............................................................................................................23
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................24
References..........................................................................................................................25
Appendices.........................................................................................................................26
- Appendix-1: Survey.........................................................................................................26
- Appendix-2: Gantt chart..................................................................................................35
LIST OF FIGURES
Page

Figure 1.............................................................................................................................12
Figure 2-3..........................................................................................................................13
Figure 4-5..........................................................................................................................14
Figure 6-7..........................................................................................................................15
Figure 8-9..........................................................................................................................17
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Introduction:
It might be difficult specifying plagiarism, but we are able to say that plagiarism is academic
dishonesty or it can be viewed as the stealing of another persons ideas, methods, results or
words without giving proper attribution.[1]. Plagiarism is a significant issue in terms of
academic education, especially in the petroleum institute. PI wants to graduate good engineers
and they dont want their students to miss the opportunity to improve their skills that they might
need in the future, cause disrespect for themselves and others, deprave honest feedback and deny
others work. We conducted this research because many students feel it is an increasing problem
and this issue needs to be addressed. Hopefully, it is going to raise the awareness among PI
students and avoid unintentional plagiarism. We are going to clarify and discuss about plagiarism
through our outline which is a literature review, proposal, methodology etc.

Literature review:
"Most plagiarists, like the drone, have neither taste to select, industry to acquire, nor skill to
improve, but impudently pilfer the honey ready prepared, from the hive." - Walter Colton [6]. At
the time that plagiarism grows as a serious issue educators have had trouble specifying the
definition of plagiarism. Sharma B.B., Singh V [1], state that it can be viewed as the stealing of
another persons ideas, methods, results or words without giving proper attribution. or taking
someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own as well. Being as fluid as it is, it
might be a bit hard to have a concrete definition of plagiarism. We hope to clarify the issue over
the following few paragraphs.

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Plagiarism is generally understood as the use of other peoples work without citation or
permission, but can also include ones own work. Self-Plagiarism is just as bad as general
plagiarism. Authors are expected to clearly mention previous works that might be related to said
article, as the work formerly published belongs to scientific medical literature and cant be
replicated. We hope to raise awareness for plagiarism so that any unwary students will avoid
committing it so they wont be subjected to the consequences. Such behavior is extremely ill
advised and well known journals therefore might even refuse to publish ones work as to not taint
their repute.

In this literature review we hope to elaborate three main points in plagiarism. The first being
the reasons people choose to plagiarize and any external or internal influences. The second point
discusses the consequences the subject might be required to face, and the last being how one can
avoid accidentally committing plagiarism and how to know if teachers students are doing their
own work.

Teachers think that students plagiarize because it is easier for them to copy and paste rather
than come up with their own words, and they suppose that the instructor will not find out, in fact,
they could be caught if instructor did a simple search for the exact wording in the internet [7]. On
the other hand, students consider time pressure and their lack of confidence in their literary
abilities are the main reasons for plagiarism. Also they can't function with the amount of stress
and work they are expected to complete within a seemingly impossible amount of time.

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The degree of ones plagiarism defines the consequences s/he will be susceptible to. The
Editorial Board members of Lung India agreed to the penalties of some examples of possible
plagiarism across a varied degree of fabrication such as, minimal copy-paste in a presented
document, where the perpetrator is asked to modify the plagiarized text. Although if the
presented article contains substantial amounts of copied information, it would be sent back with
a letter stating the journals dissatisfaction with such behavior and expects an explanation from
the author and guarantee to not repeat such comportment again. On the other hand, if the article
contains large amounts of information blatantly copied from other sources, said article would be
rejected and an explanation would be demanded from the author. Where in the lack of a
reasonable reply or failure to do so will result in the banning of the author from future
publications in Lung India for a period of two years [1].

The authors [2] conducted a survey among teachers and students. They were given penalties
and asked to choose one that will be imposed as punishment for plagiarism. The data showed
(49-50%) agreed that it should be a zero for a grade for the job and a request to rewrite followed
by a verbal warning. Whereas there was some conflict in final project penalties. Most students
picked zero for the work, but a request to rewrite has been chosen by nearly half of the
instructors. 33% of the students vs. 24% of the teachers picked to fail the subject as opposed to
being exposed to the university community was chosen by 17% of teachers vs. 8% of teachers.

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While detecting plagiarism is necessary and important, there are too many students and too
few staff members to make this easy. [3]. Automating plagiarism detection would be very
helpful, because of the large number of students theses that supervisors need to check for
plagiarism. Therefore, a system was developed based on multiple years of study and research
into the problem. Duplichecker, this system contains a number of modules, which facilitate
management, communication and learning. The Duplichecker system prevents plagiarism by
providing clear instructions about rules and regulations for students and supervisors; an online
peer-review system; transparent online communication and file storage of accumulated
manuscripts; and a final seminar module enabling automatic generation of originality reports
from Turnitin when students upload their final manuscripts.
Taking in consideration the factors that can contribute in plagiarism such as intertextuality,
adaption and many more. There are many ways that can be helpful in avoid plagiarism. One way
to avoid plagiarism could simply be teaching the students how to summarize, paraphrase, and
quote etc. [4]. This will assist them to develop the ability to comprehend and utilize ideas from
different sources. Sometimes lecturers have to keep in mind that not all students came from good
learning backgrounds no matter how frustrating and time consuming it may be to them.
Also taking in account how this is the 21st century one cannot exclude the many useful things
that technology has brought in specific systems such as Turnitin and other systems and
websites that are used to detect plagiarism [5]. Students these days have access to many facilities
such as these that cannot only help them detect their mistakes but also how to correct it as there
are many websites made to help people in efficiently using their resources.

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The articles chosen for this literature review were all less than 6 years old to ensure the
accuracy of the information presented, as the issue of plagiarism has evolved greatly within the
past 50 years due to the increasingly easy access to information on the internet. In every offence,
there is a motive that compels the person to commit such an act. Those motives have been
clarified as well as what any consequent punishments, and how one can avoid being accused of
plagiarism whether s/he is guilty or wrongfully accused of something they might have committed
accidentally. All of the articles we have read while researching were written in non-Arab
countries, and included surveys conducted on students and teachers alike, which is why we will
conduct a survey in the Petroleum Institute to know what people think about plagiarism whether
they are teachers or students, and the differences in their opinions.

Purpose, scope and, research question and hypothesis:

The study was conducted by our group to reflect on the true meaning of plagiarism. Our
purpose was to deliver the accurate definition to the students who may not understand what
plagiarism is and why it is such a controversial subject to be discussed, especially to students
coming from lower education.
Many students coming from high school were not taught what plagiarism is. And that forces
lecturers to teach it as a part of the curriculum even though it is something that should be known.
Our purpose for this research is to focus on teaching why people go through plagiarism.

The scope of this research is based around plagiarism and how it affects PI male students. We
plan to introduce a sample of ideas that will assist the students to steer clear of plagiarism and the

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ideas that will be presented will be developed by merging suggestions of students that will be
based on a survey that will be conducted and concepts that will be found in researches.

Hypothesis:
We believe that PI freshmen students do not know or understand what plagiarism is and its
impact on their academic life and believe that there is a difference of opinions between teachers
and students.

Research questions:
Main question: What is the difference between students and teachers opinion and academic
experience regarding plagiarism in the PI?
Sub-questions:
-

What is the effect of education on peoples perspective on plagiarism?

What is the reason of plagiarizing students?

What is the resource used by students and teachers?

What actions do teachers and students count as unacceptable regarding plagiarism?

Methodology:
There are two types of data that can be collected qualitative data for information and details
and quantitative data for numbers or statistics. The type of data we aimed to collect was
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qualitative because we wanted to understand peoples thoughts and general attitude regarding
plagiarism.
Since the first step to solving an issue is actually understanding it in the first place, we have
tailored the survey questions in a way that would help us identify the flaws in the academic
system that allow an issue such as plagiarism to still exist.
We will compare students elementary opinions to those of more intellectually experienced
teachers. In doing so we hope to find out what gives teachers the aptitude to avoid plagiarism,
and how we can accelerate the process in the students.

Design:
The reason we chose to use a survey as our data gathering tool is because it can be
personalized to target only the essential information to achieve our goals. Also we had interview
as instrument in mind but it was excluded because its difficult and requires extra time which we
hadnt due to short deadline.
In the first part of students and teachers surveys, which consisted of five questions, we
decided to analyze peoples backgrounds to be able to recognize any patterns in their statistics,
such as age, educational background, and language.

In the second part, which was made up of eleven questions, we hoped to identify peoples
opinions regarding the issue, such as what they thought of some hypothesized situations. This
will help us to see the consistent information, differences and relationships between the varied
sources of data so we are able to answer the research questions.

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We used multiple choice questions and tables for ease of analysis and time efficiency. And a
few open questions to give the respondents a chance to express themselves and their opinions
freely.

Target population and sample size & administration process:

Male freshman students at the PI were targeted because they were inexperienced in the
academic skills and unaware of the true definition of plagiarism. Also, instructors were targeted
because they are experienced and they know the usual mistakes that the students commit.
Therefore sixty surveys were distributed between students and faculty, fifty for students and ten
for instructors. We surveyed sixty students and instructors in total because we believed that they
are sufficient for the accuracy of the data and due to the time constraint we had. The
administration of the survey was distributed between the group members. For example; each
member was responsible for ten students surveys and one for the teachers. We also had relied on
Dr. Mark to hand five surveys to instructors in Arzanah because it was out of our reach.

Design issues:
While giving out the survey, there were some difficulties. For instance; there were some
students who postponed to fill the survey to another time which was time consuming for us.
Also, we encountered some questions that seemed to be answered with dishonesty. In addition,
some students struggled on question 11 (a rating question) where they couldnt perceive the

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instruction of the question. Moreover, in the survey many students claimed that the survey was
too long to complete.

Results:
Our Sample was divided by two parts one part was for the students and the other part was for
the teachers. We distributed fifty questionnaires among PI male freshmen students and 10
questionnaires selected PI teachers among the PI. The students were all freshman and teachers
varied from chemistry and physics teachers to mathematic teachers as well as communication
teachers.

Figure 1.

Average rating of the characteristics

7
6
5
4
(6 As the worst)

3
2
1
0
Turning in someone else' work as your own.
Students

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Teachers

Figure 1 characteristics of plagiarism shows that teachers and students results are similar in
these cases generally, but teachers were more serious about it. The first case indicates that
teachers and students thought that turning someones work as their own work was totally
unacceptable. There was a small difference in the third case because most students thought that it
was acceptable to fail in putting quotations in quotation mark while teachers didnt.

Figure 2-3.
These two figures indicate the percentage of the primary resource that students and teachers
use for their research.

Primarily uses as a resource

The internet

82%
8%

Book or other written

publications
Other people

10%

In Figure 2, 82% students use the internet while 8% students use books and 10% students use
other people as a source of their research.

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primarily uses as resource

Book or other written
publications

67%

The internet

8%

Sci Database

8%

Conferences

17%

Figure 3 indicates that 67% of the teachers use books or other written publications, 17% teachers
use the internet, 8% use conferences and another 8% use SCI as a primary resource for their
work.
Figure 4-5.
Suggests the students and teachers rate towards some actions whether it is acceptable, neutral
or unacceptable.

Teachers rated actions

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Unacceptable

Neutral

Acceptable

Figure 4 indicates that 9 out of 9 teacher do not accept any on the actions.

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Students Rated Actions

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Unacceptable

Neutral

Acceptable

Figure 5 explains that 29 out of the 50 students do not accept committing plagiarism. 31 out
of 50 students think that someone assisting in plagiarism isnt acceptable and 14 students think
that its neutral. Generally most students thought that these actions were unacceptable.
Figure 6-7.

Students opinions
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Agree

Not sure

Disagree

No idea

Figure 6 reveals students thoughts toward different statements that are related to plagiarism,
indicating that 29 out of 50 students agree with the statement Lack of academic skills could lead
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to plagiarism. It also indicates that 26 out of 50 students disagree with the statement students
would plagiarize if they had a good academic level meanwhile 22 students arent sure about it.
There was a 20 out of 50 students disagreed on the effect of the cultural background have an
effect on his chances to plagiarize

Teachers opinions
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

Agree

Not sure

Disagree

No idea

Figure 7 reveals teachers thoughts toward different statements that are related to plagiarism,
indicating that 8 out of 10 teachers agree with the statement Lack of academic skills could lead
to plagiarism.it also indicates that 6 out of 10 teachers werent sure about the statement
students would plagiarize if they had a good academic level. And most teachers also think that
cultural background could be a factor.
Figure 8-9.
These figures indicate what teachers and students think the main reasons on why students
plagiarize.

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Main reasons of plagiarism

Laziness

37%

Poor citation Skills

Lack of time

25%

16%

Unintentional
plagiarism (by mistake)

22%

Figure 8 shows that 37% of the students believe that students are lazy, 25 % of the students
have poor academic skills, 22% of the students lack time, and 16% of the students
unintentionally plagiarize.

Main reasons of plagiarism

Laziness
Poor citation Skills

21%

21%

Lack of time
Unintentional
plagiarism (by mistake)

16%

21%

Poorly informed about

plagiarism

21%

Figure 9 shows mixed opinions on reasons why student plagiarize that 21% of the teachers
thinks that laziness is the main reason,21 % thinks having a poor academic skills as reason, 21%

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lack of time, 21% thinks that students plagiarize unintentionally and 16% thinks that students
were poorly informed about plagiarism
Results Conclusion:
We have tailored the survey questions in a way that would help us to answer our research
question. The data obtained from Figure 1 which was about some characteristics of plagiarism
showed similar results between students and teachers. While figure 6-7, which shows some
difference, indicate that students consider laziness is the main reason to plagiarize however,
teachers believe that all terms are the main reasons which leads to plagiarize. This data will help
us to find out more about the differences and similarities between students and teachers opinions
in term of plagiarism and its causes and solutions. In discussion assignment we will relate this
data to our research

Discussion Introduction:
The focus of our research was to collect information regarding teachers and students
opinions concerning plagiarism and how they might be similar in some areas and different in
other areas. We hoped to understand how the presence or lack thereof of academic experience
might have an effect on ones attitude towards plagiarism. In this section we will explain the
results we obtained and discuss and connect them to or literature review.

What is the difference between students and teachers in understanding plagiarism?

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The results incorporated not only students perspective but also teaches outlooks on some
characteristics on plagiarism. Both teachers and students scored a high percentage on Turning
someone elses work as your own but teachers scored slightly higher. This suggests that the
students are put in such position do understand the situation and are conscious of the decision,
this corresponds the literature reviews ethics section [1] which states that Plagiarism is
generally understood as the use of other peoples work without permission.
Another characteristic of plagiarism that scored a high percentage by teachers was students
would plagiarize if they had a good academic level but slightly lower than students which
suggests that students did not completely understand how wrong it may seem to teachers. This
characteristic was not included in the literature review, which was an unexpected finding.

What students and teachers use as main source of information?

In our results we investigated what students use as main resource of information. Therefore,
the data gives us the information needed to know which method may be used usually for
plagiarism. Figure 2 indicates that nearly all PI Students refer to the internet as a resource of
information. However, teachers prefer books or written publications over the internet as their
main resource and this could be because as the issue of plagiarism has evolved greatly within
the past 50 years due to the increasingly easy access to information on the internet [3]. We were
expecting that both students and teachers use the internet as their main way to gather information
because the internet is much easier and faster in obtaining information. The results answers one
part of our research questions since our main target is freshman students in which we can

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identify the main source of information students use in order to avoid plagiarism. As students
chose the internet as their main source of information and [4] we believe that one of the principal
approaches in which plagiarism happens whether intentionally or unintentionally is the internet.

What actions do teachers and students count as unacceptable with regards plagiarism?
In our study we categorize three plagiarism behaviors; committing plagiarism, assisting in
plagiarism and teacher who accepts plagiarism. We asked students and teachers and there were
three different choices; acceptable, neutral and unacceptable. Our results suggest that teachers
considered that all the three actions are unacceptable. This agreement shows that the teachers
have a lot of experience in these actions. Related to our literature review [2], these results were
expected because they all are unacceptable behaviors. The results (figures 4-5) help us to know
the awareness of students and teachers about issue of plagiarism.

Furthermore, the students have the same impression (unacceptable) about these actions, even
if they do not fully agree as a whole group. The other students who chose neutral and
unacceptable are few, but these results led us to wonder whether the students know more
information about plagiarism. The way that the students rated for neutral and unacceptable may
lead us to various conclusions. First possibility is that the students may not know the true
definition of plagiarism or how serious it is. Second possibility might be lack of experience in
these situations because our survey involves only freshmen students. New students might be
misled due to the fact that its their first experience with higher education (Petroleum Institute).
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Referring to our literature review [2], most of the freshmen students do not know the true
definition of plagiarism, but according to our results most freshmen students in PI know the true
definition of plagiarism. This could be because in COMM 101 we learned to reference others
work (IEEE citation) and its useful to know more about plagiarism.

Academic skill and plagiarism:

Part of our research displays students outlooks regarding certain scenarios that talk about
plagiarism, we asked about the potential reasons someone might commit plagiarism and we
asked the students whether or not they thought their colleagues might still commit plagiarism if
they had a higher level of academic intellect. We can see that 58% of the students agree that
Lack of academic skills could lead to plagiarism. On the other hand, we can see that the
majority (52%) out of the 50 students disagree that students would plagiarize if they had a good
academic level which is to be expected based on what was concluded from the literature review.
One way to avoid plagiarism could simply be by teaching the students how to summarize,
paraphrase, and quote etc. [5]

Another part of our research aimed at instructors reveals teachers thoughts toward different
statements that are related to plagiarism. It shows that 80% of the teachers we have surveyed
agree with the statement Lack of academic skills could lead to plagiarism. It also indicates that
60% teachers werent sure about the statement students would plagiarize if they had a good
academic level as they didn't have a clear and straight forward answer. Teachers also had very
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strong opinions towards the effect a students cultural background has towards the chances of
said student plagiarizing; which surprisingly, we didn't come across in our past research. We
assume this comes back to us not taking racial background as a factor in our research.

Teachers and students views about what the main reasons behind plagiarism are
The data collected from this small study in figure 8 as we highlighted, suggests that over one
third of freshmen students in the PI believe that the main reason of plagiarism is laziness. One
reason for this finding may be that they are looking for the easy way to complete their work
regardless of circumstances such as having enough time to complete their work. However, our
results in figure 9 indicate the main causes behind plagiarism according to teachers perspective
are laziness, poor citation skills, lack of time and unintentional plagiarism (by mistake) as each
reason was chosen by almost one fifth of the teachers. This could be because those teachers have
a more intellectual experience as they have been exposed to higher education longer than
students. Our research questions to find out the reasons people plagiarize and result answered our
question as one third of the students chose laziness. The second biggest reason of plagiarism by
students is poor citation skills and for teachers one of the main reasons is also poor citation.
The results that we gathered were unexpected because rather than finding out similar
information to our literature review, which we clarified earlier in the background, it was different
from teachers and students. [2] Says that students plagiarize because they are running out of
time, but in our study we found that students think that students plagiarize because they are lazy
and it is easier for them to plagiarize rather than do their work by themselves. According to [2]

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teachers think that students plagiarize because there are lazy, but in our study we found that
teachers considered time pressure and other reasons such as laziness, poor citation skills and
unintentional plagiarism (by mistake) to be the main reason for plagiarism.

Discussion Conclusion:
Overall, The main issue that students believe causes plagiarism is the laziness, but teachers
have mixed opinions of plagiarism and this result answered our main question which is to
identify students and teachers opinions and academic experiences regarding plagiarism in the
PI. This contradicts the findings of [2] which says that students plagiarize because they are
running out of time. Also [2] says that teachers think that students plagiarize because there are
lazy. The results we found, with regard to the effect of academic influences supported our
research because it agrees with the results. [5] States that plagiarism could easily be avoided by
making students more aware of the situation, and educating them on the matter.

Recommendation:
Further problems regarding plagiarism could be avoided by raising awareness concerning the
issue. Certain workshop techniques and presentations might prove useful. Students and teachers
must both be educated about the rules and regulations regarding plagiarism as to keep them on
the same page.

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Conclusion:
Based on the information we have presented, we can establish that this research would be
really helpful to our community here at the Petroleum Institute, and would be intrinsic in
ensuring a more cohesive and constructive society. A similar study on a larger scale might
provide sufficient information for it to be relevant. Such information would be proven useful in
making an effort against plagiarism. By eliminating plagiarism, people will be more authentic
and hardworking. Permission to carry on with the research would be greatly appreciated in the
hopes of taking a step in the direction of a more utopian PI. Some limitations that we had was
that we only managed to survey a small amount of people and we cannot generalize their
opinions on the rest of the students.

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References:
[1] B.B Sharma., Singh V., Ethics in writing: Learning to stay away from plagiarism and scientific misconduct, Lung
India,148150. Apr-Jun 2011

[2] T. Foltynek, J. Rybicka, C. Demoliou Do students think what teachers think about plagiarism?, international Journal for Education
Integrity, Vol. 10 No.1 June, 2014 pp. 21-30 ISSN 1833-2595

[3] (Chuda et al., 2012, p. 27) Anti-plagiarism strategies, international Journal for Education Integrity, Vol. 9 No.2 December, 2013 pp. 6073 ISSN 1833-2595

[4] E. borg, Center of Academic Writing, Coventry, UK, Assessment & evaluation in Higher Education vol. 34, No. 4, Page 415-426, August
2009.

[5] L.G. Matheson & S. Starr, "Is cheating or learning the craft of writing? Using Turnitin to help students avoid plagiarism," journal OF research
in Learning Technology vol.21, March 2013.

[6] W. Colton, http://www.quotealbum.com/quote/UiUNQ/most-plagiarists-like-the-drone-have-neither-taste.

[7] EnglishClub, Plagiarism https://www.englishclub.com/writing/plagiarism.htm.

[8] Michelle Fabio, Esq. Has the Internet Increased Plagiarism in Schools? https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/has-the-internet-increasedplagiarism-in-schools. Apr 2012 [22/11/2015].

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Appendices:
Students survey:
Introduction:
The main objective for this survey is to identify teachers and students opinions and
academic experiences regarding plagiarism in the PI. This survey will help us to gather
important data in order to raise the awareness of PI students about this issue.
The survey consists of two sections. However, it should take you no more than 5 minutes
to complete. Please don't write your name or ID. All of your answers will be kept anonymous
and they will only be handled by the group members.
Your cooperation would be appreciated.

Section A: Demographic information

1. How old are you?
o 16-18
o 19-20
o 21 and higher
2. What is your academic level?
o Freshman I
o Freshman II
3. What is your first language?
o
o
o

Arabic
English
Other (Please specify) _____________________

4. Which school system did you graduate from?

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o
o
o
o

Arabic system
British system
American system
Other (Please specify) _____________________

5. What was your average high school grade?

o
o
o
o

90%+
86-89%
81-85%
75-80%

Section B: opinions
1. What is plagiarism? (tick all that apply)
o
o
o
o
o

Stealing and passing off ideas or words of others without giving credit
A form of cheating
Inadequate paraphrasing
Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
Other (Please specify) _____________________

2. What do you think is the main reason students plagiarize?

o Poor skills in citing
o Unintentional plagiarism (by mistake)
o Laziness
o Lack of time
o Other (Please specify) _____________________

3. What do you primarily use as a resource for research?

o Books or other written publications
o The internet
o Other people
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o Other (please specify) __________________________

4. How does plagiarism affect your learning skills?

o
o
o
5.

Negatively
Positively
No idea
Do you support the idea of developing automatic tools for detecting plagiarism in order to
save time?

o
o
o
o
o

Strongly agree
Agree
Not sure
Disagree
Strongly disagree

6. In your opinion what do you think the penalties of plagiarism should be?
o
o
o
o
o

Expulsion (kicking a student out)

Course Failure
Warning
None
Other (Please specify) _____________________

7. In your opinion, how to prevent plagiarism? Please write them down. (at least 1)
o
o
o

_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

8. Can you describe plagiarism in 3 adjectives? (Option)

o _____________________
o _____________________
o _____________________

28 | P a g e

9.
(acceptable)
1

(unacceptable)
5

Engaging in
plagiarism.
Someone
assisting in
plagiarism.
A teacher who
accepts
plagiarism.

R
a
t
e
t
h
e
f
o
l
l

owing acts based on your opinion

10. Please tick one of the given choices

a) Do you think some punishments are too strict such as kicking
students out of university?
b) Do you think lack of academic skills could lead to plagiarism?
c) Do you think the variety of assignments prevents teachers
from checking for plagiarism?
d) Do you think teachers lack the tools in order to detect
plagiarism?
e) Do you think universities should enforce strong policies for
plagiarism?
f) Do you think PI should encourage their students and teachers
to attend workshops about plagiarism?
g) Do you think there should be awards for teachers to motivate
them in detecting plagiarism?
h) Does the students cultural background have an effect on
his/her chances to plagiarize?
i) Does plagiarism have an effect on students grades?
j) Do you think students would plagiarize if they had a good
academic knowledge?
29 | P a g e

Yes

Maybe

No

No Idea

11. Which of these cases are more suitable to be considered as plagiarism? (Rate from 1 to
6: 1 is the worst)
a) Turning in someone else's work as your own.

b) Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit.

c) Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.

d) Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation.

e) Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source

without giving credit.
f) Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the
majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

This is the end of the survey, thank you for your time.

30 | P a g e

Teachers survey:
Introduction:
The main objective for this survey is to identify teachers and students opinions and
academic experiences regarding plagiarism in the PI. This survey will help us to gather important
data in order to raise the awareness of PI students about this issue.
The survey consists of two sections. However, it should take you no more than 5 minutes
to complete. Please don't write your name or ID. All of your answers will be kept anonymous
and they will only be handled by the group members.
Your cooperation would be appreciated.

Section A: Demographic information

1. What is your gender?
o Female
o Male
2. What is your first language?
o
o
o

Arabic
English
Other (Please specify) _____________________

3. How long have you been teaching in schools, colleges and universities in general?
o
o
o
o

3> years
3-5 years
5-9 years
10< years

4. How long have you been teaching at PI?

o
o
o
o

3> years
3-5 years
5-9 years
10< years

31 | P a g e

5. What department do you work in?

o
o
o
o
o

Mechanical
Electrical
Chemical
Petroleum
Other (Please specify) _____________________

Section B: opinions
12. What is plagiarism?
o
o
o
o
o

Stealing and passing off ideas or words of others without giving credit
A form of cheating
Inadequate paraphrasing
Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
Other (Please specify) _____________________

13. What do you think is the main reason students plagiarize?

o Poor skills in citing
o Unintentional plagiarism (by mistake)
o Laziness
o Lack of time
o Other (Please specify) _____________________

14. What do you primarily use as a resource for research?

o
o
o
o

Books or other written publications

The internet
Other people
Other (please specify) __________________________

32 | P a g e

15. Do you support the idea of developing automatic tools for detecting plagiarism in order to
save time?
o
o
o
o
o

Strongly agree
Agree
Not sure
Disagree
Strongly disagree

16. In your opinion what do you think the penalties of plagiarism should be?
o
o
o
o
o

Expulsion (kick out)

Course Failure
Warning
None
Other (Please specify) _____________________

17. In your opinion, how to prevent plagiarism? Please write them down. (at least 1)
o
o
o

_____________________
_____________________
_____________________

18. Can you describe plagiarism in 3 adjectives? (Option)

o _____________________
o _____________________
o _____________________

33 | P a g e

19.
(acceptable)
1

(unacceptable)
5

Engaging in
plagiarism.
Someone
assisting in
plagiarism.
A teacher who
accepts
plagiarism.

R
a
t
e
t
h
e
f
o
l
l

owing acts based on your opinion

20. Please tick one of the given choices

k) Do you think some punishments are too strict such as kicking
students out of university?
l) Do you think lack of academic skills could lead to plagiarism?
m) Do you think the variety of assignments prevents teachers
from checking for plagiarism?
n) Do you think teachers lack the tools in order to detect
plagiarism?
o) Do you think universities should enforce strong policies for
plagiarism?
p) Do you think PI should encourage their students and teachers
to attend workshops about plagiarism?
q) Do you think there should be awards for teachers to motivate
them in detecting plagiarism?
r) Does the students cultural background have an effect on
his/her chances to plagiarize?
s) Does plagiarism have an effect on students grades?
t) Do you think students would plagiarize if they had a good
academic knowledge?

34 | P a g e

Yes

Maybe

No

No Idea

21. Which of these cases are more suitable to be considered as plagiarism? (Rate from 1 to
6: 1 is the worst)
g) Turning in someone else's work as your own.

h) Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit.

i) Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks.

j) Giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation.

k) Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source

without giving credit.
l) Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the
majority of your work, whether you give credit or not.

This is the end of the survey, thank you for your time.

Gantt Chart:

35 | P a g e

No_Name_Proposal_
Gantt_Chart_06 (1).xlsx

Note: Double Click to run the file if not working, please refer the other attachment

"We pledge that we have neither given nor received any

unauthorized assistance on this academic assignment, exercise,
or examination."
Otaiba Al-Otaiba
Mohammed Saleh
Abdullah Al-Hammadi
Nadeem Al-Mahry
Hasan Al-Ssaqaf
COMM 101
Writing Rubric
Task Fulfilment
(25%)

36 | P a g e

Student/Team Name:
Organization
(20%)

Content

(30%)

Language and
Mechanics
(25%)

 All components
of task are
complete and
accurate
All task
directions,
including
formatting
requirements,
are
thoroughly
followed
Skillful use of
timely,
credible, and
relevant
Above
sources to
Expect
develop
ations/
ideas;
accurate use
Very
of IEEE
Effectiv
citation style
e
Demonstrates a
thorough
understandin
A B+
g of academic
100%discourse,
audience, and
83%
purpose
relevant to
the task

37 | P a g e

2
5
2
4
2
3
2
2
2
1

Information is
organized in a
logical
manner
Whole text is
very clear,
coherent, and
cohesive
Clear
transitions
connect ideas
both on the
paragraph
level and the
sentence
level
All headings
and subheadings are
appropriately
named,
consistent,
and
illustrative of
section topic
If applicable, all
tables/figures
are
consistently
formatted,
appropriately
placed,
relevant,
labelled, and
referenced
within text

Information is
sufficient,
relevant, and
accurate
1 Main ideas are
9
fully
developed
1
with
8
appropriate
details and
1
explanations
7 As applicable,
writing
displays a
strong critical
awareness of:

Topic
identificatio
n and
exploration

Context and
issues
related to
topic and
existing
knowledge,
research,
and points
of view

Elements of
research
methodolog
y

Analysis and
synthesis

Evaluation

Recommend
ations &
Limitations

Implications
&
Conclusions
2
0

Uses highly
developed
style and
expression
2
appropriate
9
for academic
writing
2 Demonstrates
8
mastery over
the basics in
2
sentence
7
completenes
s, structure,
2
variety, word
6
choice, and
punctuation
2 Strong
5
evidence of
editing &
proofreading
3
0

2
5
2
4
2
3
2
2
2
1

 Some
components
of task are
incomplete
and/or
inaccurate
Some task
directions,
including
formatting
requirements,
are not fully
followed
Intermediate
use of timely,
credible, and
relevant
Meets
sources to
Expect
develop
ideas;
ations/
partially
Effecti
accurate use
ve
of IEEE
citation style
BC
Demonstrates a
82partial
70%
understandin
g of academic
discourse,
audience, and
purpose
relevant to
the task

38 | P a g e

2
0.
5
1
9
1
8

Some of the
information
on paragraph
or whole text
level is not
organized in a
logical
manner
Some of the
text is not
clear,
coherent, and
cohesive
Some
transitions
are missing or
used
incorrectly
Some headings
and subheadings are
not
appropriately
named,
consistent,
and
illustrative of
section topic
If applicable,
some
tables/figures
are not
consistently
formatted,
appropriately
placed,
relevant,
labelled, and
referenced
within text

Some
information is
not sufficient,
relevant
and/or
1
accurate
5 Some ideas are
not fully
1
developed
4
with relevant
details and
explanations
As applicable,
writing
displays some
awareness of:

Topic
identificatio
n and
exploration

Context and
issues
related to
topic and
existing
knowledge,
research,
and points
of view

Elements of
research
methodolog
y

Analysis and
synthesis

Evaluation

Recommend
ations &
Limitations

Implications
&
Conclusions

1
6.
5

Uses style and

expression
mostly
appropriate
for academic
2
writing
3 Occasional
errors in
2
sentence
2
completenes
s, structure,
2
variety, word
1
choice, and
punctuation
do not
disrupt the
flow of
communicati
on or
interfere with
comprehensi
on
Some evidence
of editing &
proofreading

2
4.
5

2
0.
5
1
9
1
8

 Most
components
of task are
incomplete
and/or
inaccurate
Majority of task
directions,
including
formatting
requirements,
are not fully
followed
Ineffective use
of source
material;
Needs
sources may
Improv
not be timely,
ement/
credible, or
Develo
relevant;
ping
inaccurate
use of IEEE
C- D
citation style
69- Demonstrates
little or no
60%
understandin
g of academic
discourse,
audience, and
purpose
relevant to
the task

Task is
misunderstoo
d or
Below
incomplete
Expect

Most
or all
ations/
components
Ineffec
are missing or
tive
unaddressed

F
59-0%

1
7.
5
1
6
1
5

Poor
organization
and structure
loses the
reader
Whole text is
difficult to
read/ is not
clear,
coherent, and
cohesive
Transitions are
rare/missing
Headings and
sub-headings
are
rare/missing
or not
illustrative of
section topic
If applicable,
most
tables/figures
are not
consistently
formatted,
appropriately
placed,
relevant,
labelled, and
referenced
within text

Lack of

discernible
1
organization
4.
and structure
5 No use of
transitions
No section
headings
Missing tables
and figures

Most of the
information is
not sufficient,
relevant
and/or
1
accurate
2 Most ideas are
not fully
developed
As applicable,
writing
displays little
or no
awareness of:

Topic
identificatio
n and
exploration

Context and
issues
related to
topic and
existing
knowledge,
research,
and points
of view

Elements of
research
methodolog
y

Analysis and
synthesis

Evaluation

Recommend
ations &
Limitations

Implications
&
Conclusions
Information has

no relation to
1
task
1.
5
1
3.
5

Feedback: This is generally a good attempt, although improvements to the different

sections are uneven. Feedback provided earlier on the literature review, for example,
does not seem to have informed revisions. The methodology section, in contrast, is
better. The new sections are also a little uneven, with the recommendations in
particular very brief. Nevertheless, this was a good piece of research overall, as
reflected in the score.

39 | P a g e

Style and
expression
not
appropriate
for academic
1
writing
9 Frequent errors
in sentence
1
completenes
8
s, structure,
variety, word
choice, and
punctuation
disrupt the
flow of
communicati
on and / or
interfere with
comprehensi
on
Little or no
evidence of
editing &
proofreading

2
0.
5

1
7.
5

No
understandin
g of style in
relation to
the task
No use of
appropriate
grammar,
vocabulary,
spelling, and
punctuation
No evidence of
proofreading
Total Score: 86%
Final Grade: B+

1
7.
5
1
6
1
5

1
4.
5

Grading Criteria: 90=A; 87-89=A-; 83-86=B+; 80-82=B; 77-79=B-; 73-76=C+; 70-72=C; 6769=C-; 60-66= D; 59 = F

40 | P a g e