Journal Article

Know the Unknown Crime Plagiarism: An Approach to Improve Academic Integrity (A case study of IBB University, Lapai

Abstract

In recent times, the easy access to the web documents, large databases, and telecommunication in general, has turned plagiarism into a serious problem among the students and researchers in educational institutions. People always turns to internet for readymade solutions for their assignments and research projects with or without knowing they are committing plagiarism. The present study investigates the level of awareness and perceptions on plagiarism among students of IBB University, Lapai, Niger state, and some twelve (12) concepts of plagiarism were considered in this study. In this research a questionnaire survey was used for the collection of primary data. In total, two hundred and fifty (250) undergraduate students from 100 to 400 levels in five different departments were randomly selected to participate in this study. After collection of data, the frequency count table was used to present the data which was analyzed using a technique called Relative Importance Index (RII) to determine which among the twelve instances of plagiarism considered occurs most frequently, and the result was presented graphically. The analysis revealed that the most frequently occurred instances of plagiarism are “adapting other people’s ideas”, “substituting words/sentences” and “summarization”. Based on the outcomes marked out in this study, recommendations were given on how plagiarism can be combated in the University.

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