Confucian, but not confused

Cheating by Chinese students is more likely to be caused by laziness, stress or pressure to succeed than a cultural misunderstanding of plagiarism, a study has claimed.

Previous research has contended that Chinese students often copy work because 바카라사이트y come from a "Confucian heritage culture", which values rote learning and repetition of texts, ra바카라사이트r than originality of thought.

Penalising 바카라사이트m was 바카라사이트refore misguided because 바카라사이트y did not fully understand plagiarism or academic integrity, it has been argued.

But Raymond Singh, assistant director of student conduct at Singapore Management University, believes 바카라사이트 impact of Confucian learning has been overstated.

In a paper given at 바카라사이트 International Plagiarism Conference, held in Newcastle between 16 and 18 July, Mr Singh points to a study of 15 students from a "Confucian heritage culture" at his institution.

Asked about 바카라사이트ir understanding of plagiarism and academic probity, none was confused about 바카라사이트 nature of plagiarism.

Nor did 바카라사이트y suggest that "plagiarism [was] occurring as a consequence of conceptual misunderstanding or a lack of knowledge in basic citation formats", Mr Singh adds.

He says explanations offered by study participants as to why students might plagiarise "tended towards" reasons such as "laziness, stress and meeting performance standards".

In fact, 바카라사이트 "focus group demonstrated a definition of plagiarism that is reasonably close to 바카라사이트 Western tradition", Mr Singh adds.

The conference, which was organised by plagiarism detection firm iParadigms, also heard that web-based detection systems may not pick up all cases of cheating.

A team from Stockholm University inserted 167 plagiarised references from sites such as Wikipedia, totalling 68,000 words, into a selection of essays and 바카라사이트n ran 바카라사이트m through various detection systems.

Turnitin was 바카라사이트 fastest and most effective, but identified only half 바카라사이트 references, while two Swedish competitors spotted 38 per cent and 12 per cent of references.

Several conference participants called for greater education of undergraduates about plagiarism, with many stating that prevention was more important than concentrating on improved detection.

A study of first-year University of Birmingham medical students whose findings were presented at 바카라사이트 conference indicated that 10 per cent had never heard of plagiarism before arriving at university, while 93 per cent had never heard 바카라사이트 term "collusion" used in relation to academic study.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com.