Plagiarism in higher education. : Causes and preventive measures

The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate the causes of plagiarism in higher education and to discuss possible preventive measures against plagiarism. The study is basedon documents containing students´ explanations when being accused of plagiarism before the disciplinary board, as well as on interviews with staff in two colleges/universities in Sweden. This material is analysed with a qualitative approach, and the theoretical lenses used are ethics and information literacy. The result shows that the most common causes of plagiarism according to the students themselves are lack of knowledge, a problematic private situation or that somebody external is to blame. In some cases, several factors coincide. A number of preventive measures are suggested, such as emphasizing the values of the academic tradition, cooperation between different groups of staff and a more prominent role for the teachers in this work. The discussion brings up the different roles of librarians and teachers, and sheds light on the need for future research on how to further clarify the boundaries between the professions as well as their common ground