Design and Implementation of a Campus-Wide Online Plagiarism Tutorial: Role played by the Library in an emerging research institution in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Academic dishonesty and plagiarism are serious issues in institutes of higher education especially in this Internet age with academic literature and information readily available on the web. Some research studies point to the students’ lack of understanding of the concept of plagiarism and how to cite sources as reasons why they plagiarize (Volkov, Volkov, & Tedford, 2011). Academic librarians have an important role to play in providing instruction in the ethical use of information and helping students develop abilities to attribute and cite sources in their academic writing (Mages & Garson, 2010; Maxymuk, 2006).

Recognizing this important role played by librarians, the University Library at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) started offering face-to-face workshops on the topic in the spring of 2015. While the workshops were positively received by the participants, informal feedback from students points to a need for an online course which would provide asynchronous just-in-time training for students. In this way, students who are not able to attend the face-to-face workshops would be able to access the tutorial in their own time and at their own pace.

This paper reports on the process the University Library took to create and embed an online plagiarism tutorial in Blackboard, the Learning Management System (LMS) used by the university. Drawing on and expanding on materials covered in the face-to-face workshop, the online tutorial included original multimedia material, and a summative evaluation quiz. Improvements were made based on feedback gathered from students, library staff, and other university departments, such as the Office of Writing Services, Graduate Affairs, and ESP Instructors from the Writing Center. The online tutorial was initially planned as an optional course for students, but with the support of Academic Affairs and Graduate Affairs, it has been mandated as a compulsory course for all new in-coming students.