Scaffolding Academic Integrity: Creating a Learning Context for Teaching Referencing Skills

Abstract

Methods of detecting plagiarism and teaching skills relating to the use of secondary sources are matters of increasing contention within academia. The project presented in this paper melds the use of a detection tool (Turnitin) with a multi-strategy educational programme. The results show that using percentage of secondary sources usage as an indicator of plagiarism is unreliable, that a one-on-one tutor clinic may be an useful part of any educational programme, and that students’ inability to reference correctly may be based on an inadequate understanding of the process of academic writing, rather than a misunderstanding of the conventions. This suggests that students would benefit from interactive teaching or teaching materials which focus on the process of using secondary sources, rather than teaching which focuses solely on definition of terms and conventions of secondary source usage.