Assessment of plagiarism in undergraduate projects in the department of library and information technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined students’ plagiarism in undergraduate final year projects for the 2014/2015 academic session in the Department of Library and Information Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna. Turnitin anti-plagiarism software was used in checking the similarity index and percentage of plagiarized content in the students’ projects. The acceptable benchmark for similarity index was 20% in line with the University policy. All the cases of plagiarism are treated as a case of examination misconduct by the University. The study subjected all the projects to Turnitin anti-plagiarism software as the method for determining the rate of plagiarism. The total population of 42 students for the 2014/2015 was considered out of which 31 (73.8%) successfully turned in their work and graduated with percentages ranging from 14% to 20% similarity indexes. The study determined different tricks and methods adopted by students in manipulating the results of Turnitin in order to get the acceptable percentages. Findings revealed some of the challenges faced by students while using Turnitin for plagiarism check. These includes students’ lack of basic paraphrasing skills; time constraints; and lack of continuous monitoring of students’ progress by Turnitin instructors. The study concluded that Turnitin has helped improve scholarly writings among students and staff and has also ensured integrity in intellectual outputs emanating from the university. This has a consequent effect on the research visibility and global ranking of Federal University of Technology, Minna on the Web. The study recommended among others that students should be advised to start turning in their works early and not at the end of the project, this would give them time to paraphrase the work before submission deadlines. The need for comprehensive training on how to paraphrase contents was also recommended.