ANTI-PLAGIARISM SOFTWARE TOOLS: A PATH TO ACADEMIC INTEGRITY OR TO ACADEMIC INERTNESS

Akademska čestitost skup je pravila, vrijednosti, moralnih i drugih zaduženja na kojima ta zajednica počiva, kojima se definira odnos članova akademske zajednice prema radu, samoj zajednici i članovima iste. Različiti su načini povrede normi akademske čestitosti, a jedan od od njih je plagiranje. Plagiranje podrazumijeva neovlašteno preuzimanje tuđeg rada ili bilo koji oblik neiskrenosti i lažiranja u bilo kojoj etapi istraživanja s ciljem ostvarivanja nekog rezultata i/ili preuzimanja zasluga za isto. Plagiranje se može pojaviti na svim razinama obrazovanja, a digitalno doba omogućilo je njegovu sve veću rasprostranjenost i sve lakšu prikrivenost. Jedan od načina kojima se plagiranje pokušava iskorijeniti iz visokog obrazovanja je uvođenje mogućnosti korištenja protuplagijatskih softvera na svim hrvatskim sveučilištima. Protuplagijatski softveri korisni su alati za eventualne provjere ispravnosti navođenja, no literatura pokazuje da su plagiranje i akademska nedoličnost širi problemi koji zahtijevaju sustavan rad. Manjkavost ovih alata očituje se u neprepoznavanju različitih vrsta plagijata, mogućnosti plagiranja tekstova koji se ne nalaze u internetskim bazama te nepostojanju smjernica za poboljšanje vještine akademskog pisanja, stoga nisu prikladan način za učenje i usvajanje vještine akademskog pisanja te ne djeluju nužno preventivno na pojavnost plagiranja. Stavovi o protuplagijatskim softverima, iskustva korištenja istih i razumijevanje pojma akademske čestitosti ispitani su među studentima preddiplomskog i diplomskog studija pedagogije na Filozofskom fakultetu u Splitu. Unatoč generalno pozitivnom stavu prema navedenim alatima, studenti ih još uvijek nisu uveli u redovitu uporabu te pokazuju osrednje razumijevanje koncepata plagijata i akademske čestitosti.Academic integrity is a set of rules, values, moral and other responsibilities on which that community rests, which define the relationship of members of the academic community towards work, the community itself and its members. There are different ways to violate the norms of academic integrity, and one of them is plagiarism. Plagiarism means the unauthorized taking of someone else's work or any form of dishonesty and falsification at any stage of research with the aim of achieving some result and/or taking credit for it. Plagiarism can occur at all levels of education, and the digital age has made it more widespread and easier to conceal. One of the ways in which plagiarism is tried to be eradicated from higher education is the introduction of the possibility of using anti-plagiarism software at all Croatian universities. Anti-plagiarism software are useful tools for eventual verification of the correctness of citations, but the literature shows that plagiarism and academic misconduct are broader problems that require systematic work. The shortcoming of these tools is manifested in the failure to recognize different types of plagiarism, the possibility of plagiarizing texts that are not found in internet databases, and the lack of guidelines for improving academic writing skills, therefore they are not a suitable way to learn and acquire academic writing skills and do not necessarily act as a preventive measure against the occurrence of plagiarism. Attitudes about anti-plagiarism software, experiences of using it and understanding of the concept of academic integrity were examined among undergraduate and graduate students of pedagogy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split. Despite the generally positive attitude towards the mentioned tools, students still have not introduced them to regular use and show a mediocre understanding of the concepts of plagiarism and academic integrity