THE “astronomical” consequences of plagiarism are well-known by university students and go against the culture of Charles Sturt University.
That’s the view of CSUs student union president Brandon Harry who said plagiarism was not an issue at the university.
The claim comes as pre-purchased essays and the extent to which students will go to get good marks comes under the national spotlight.
CSU plagiarism expert Dr Judith Gullifer labelled the problem a concern, but rather than focus on harsh penalties, universities needed to make sure their students understood the importance of academic integrity.
“The recent scandals are all about cheating and ready-made papers – which is different from the traditional idea of plagiarism,” Dr Gullifer said.
“It’s such a complex area.”
Dr Gullifer said we needed to attempt to understand why students, who had gained entry into university, would resort to purchasing papers.
“There is the immense pressure that university students are under, they have to deal with very tight time-frames,” Dr Gullifer said.
“And we have to investigate how they lay up the costs and benefits of breaches of academic integrity.”
