The findings for both internet and conventional plagiarism was very similar (p. 379). In regards to the morality of plagiarism the overall theme was that the participants viewed plagiarism as wrong with an average of 89.3%of the participants saying they strongly or somewhat agreed (p. 380). The participants believed the faculty of colleges thought plagiarism was wrong with an average of 92% (p. 381). The participants perceived their colleges’ punished for plagiarism to be strict with an average of 78.05% (p. …show more content…
It was concluded the more words that were plagiarized the less often it occurred among the participant and their perception of their peers both internet based and conventionally. The common occurrence being the participants reported plagiarizing less and believing their peers plagiarized more than they did. The majority of the participants believed plagiarism was wrong, the faculty believed it was wrong, and their college rules were strict regarding plagiarism. However, there were still occurrences of plagiarism which leads to the need for more research to obtain an even better understanding of plagiarism. The impact of peers, internet accessibility, and likelihood of getting caught should all be researched for a better understanding. The findings of this study illustrate how plagiarism may not be a true epidemic, but the frequency warrants gathering more information and combating the problem before the integrity of information and knowledge is