KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE OF ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM STUDENTS ON PLAGIARISM AND THEIR STRATEGIES IN AVOIDING IT IN WRITING ACADEMIC TEXTS

This study aimed to explore level of knowledge of English education study
program students about concept of plagiarism, to find out students attitude
towards plagiarism, and to know the strategies used by students in avoiding
plagiarism in their academic text and the reasons they use these strategies. This
study used a mixed method with totaling sampling as much as 87 people from
class A, B, and C who were taken by using random technique sampling. The
results of this study show that most of the students in sixth semester of English
Education study program had a moderate level of awareness of the various acts
that constitutes plagiarism. The results of the questionnaire showed that there was
confusion among some students regarding the knowledge of plagiarism. It can be
seen from the last statement in table 4.1, the result was almost equal between
agree and diagree, 44 (50.58%) students disagreed and 43 (49.42%) others agreed.
This happens because there are differences in lecturers' views on the topic of
plagiarism, which has an impact on students' knowledge of plagiarism which is
diverse. Results also showed that a significant number of the students had a
negative attitude towards plagiarism indicated that the majority of students would
avoid plagiarism. From the statement, it could be concluded that most students (71
out of 87) believed that plagiarism was against their ethical value that had to be
prevented. It can also be seen that 61 (70.11%) students lacked knowledge about
self-plagiarism as students believed that reusing their own texts in other
assignments would not be a problem. Then, based on the results of interviews, it
was found that there were three strategies to avoding plagiarism in writing
academic text; (1) Direct quotation, (2) paraphrasing, and (3) summarizing. In
addition, students also use additional strategies in avoiding plagiarism, including
reading a lot, understanding about plagiarism, and using plagiarism detection
tools.
Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Plagiarism, Students, Academic Writing