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Table 3 Thematic analysis of faculty perceptions of factors contributing to student plagiarism

From: Faculty perceptions of student plagiarism and interventions to tackle it: a multiphase mixed-methods study in Qatar

Themes

Representative quotes (2013)

Representative quotes (2017)

Lack of plagiarism concept

“Value place on plagiarism seems to be different here from North America”

“Lack of awareness of what constitutes plagiarism”

“Despite education, not clear on what plagiarism is”

“Lack of clarity of plagiarism vs quotation”

“Unaware of what constitutes plagiarism and what constitutes working together”

“Not understanding that minimal paraphrasing of a sentence does not mean this is not a copy”

“They believe they are helping each other”

“Not knowing this behavior is not allowed”

“Unsure of why they should not plagiarize”

“Sometimes unintentional”

“Lack of knowledge” “ignorance”

Time management

“Time pressure”

“Time restrictions”

“To save time”

“Time constrain with heavy schedule”

“They do not have time”

“Pressure to have the work done on time”

“Time management”

Laziness

“Thought of presenting a good write up without committing the necessary effort”

“Laziness”

“Laziness is number 1 in areas I discover. However, in first year, it can be a lack of understanding expectations but this is corrected very early.”

“Laziness or being unsure of the importance of doing their own work”

“Easy copy and pasting”

“Laziness; lack of motivation”

“Leaving assignments till last minutes and rushing to finish”

Lack of consequences

“Have been no serious consequences here that I know of”

“No clear consequences”

“They feel they won’t get caught”

“Everyone else does it”

Pressure to do well

“Pressure to achieve high marks”

“Pressure to success”

Academic difficulty

 

“Difficulty with subject matter”

“Lack of self-confidence, poor sense of values”

Language weaknesses

“Language difficulty”

“Language difficulty”

Carelessness

“Carelessness”

“Carelessness”

“Poor use of resources”