Academic Integrity: To what extent is the student voice heard in existing research into academic integrity?

There is currently a significant focus on plagiarism and academic misconduct, with phrases such as ‘contracting to cheat’ and ‘penalty’ suggesting that the student is always to blame in these situations. Whether this is a somewhat simplified view of the situation is debatable, so what would be useful is research into the reasons why students engage in this behaviour, and whether sufficient efforts are put in to teaching students that there is value in academic integrity, and how and why academic misconduct can be avoided.

This forms part of a PhD research project into academic integrity, which will ultimately aim to produce a toolkit for students and academics to use to help develop skills in researching and referencing. Students and staff will be consulted through questionnaires and focus groups, with a view to gathering evidence of the types of education and training available at the start of and throughout HE courses, looking at how these impact the student experience, whether measures can be put in place which help students navigate their way through the complexities of academic research, and how effective such measures can be.

Currently, there exists little information in this area. The focus tends to be on the punitive side, rather than the developmental side, and hence this suggests that a more positive and proactive approach would be beneficial to students in their studies.

It is hoped that the ‘toolkit’ could be published – whether online or in hard copy as a functional and informative guide for academic staff and possibly for students themselves.