PLAGIARISM ON ATENEO de DAVAO UNIVERSITY

_________________________________________

A Written Report Presented to

the School of Business and Governance Faculty
Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City

_________________________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
PM 203 – GOOD GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

By:

Doyo, Jiemarie R.

Opeña, Guia Melissa D.

 CHAPTER I

Plagiarism is an issue that is evident not only in the Ateneo de Davao University

but also in the Philippines and all around the globe. According to the University of

Cambridge, plagiarism is defined as submitting one's own work, irrespective of intent to

deceive, that which derives in part or in its entirety from the work of others without due

acknowledgement. This unethical practice can be observed when writing thesis,

monographs, essays and even examinations. Plagiarism in easier words is the act of

taking someone else’s essays without acknowledging the author (Charbonneau, 2018).

However, it also extends to others’ ideas. He also said that this is one of the worst mistake

a person can make in his or her career because plagiarism is very easy to commit even

though you are not aware of it. Furthermore, many students, unfamiliar with what

plagiarism is, can be guilty of plagiarizing without realizing it. But mistake or not, when

caught should have consequences that will make the people afraid of committing it.

Plagiarism is already considered as fraud. Ronald B. Standler stated that "The

plagiarist knows that he is not the true author of the work, yet the plagiarist willfully and

deliberately puts his name on the work and then submits the work as an inducement to

some kind of reward”. Most of the plagiarist are already aware that what they are doing

are unethical, but they act as if they are ignorant about the law regarding plagiarism. This

is one of the reasons why countries have different punishments when it comes to this

issue. Also, universities create their own rules and regulations to address it.
 In our society and generation today, plagiarism is noticeable because of the easy

access of different readings and researches in the internet. Plagiarism can be done in

numerous ways and some of them are the following: using someone else's work as your

own, copying words or ideas without giving credit to the owner, not using quotation marks

on phrases that should be quoted, and giving incorrect information regarding the source

or the owner. In addition, images and videos can also be plagiarized. A person can

commit plagiarism using images and videos by copying those from other websites without

citing the source and by using the footage or video clips of other people. The people

should be educated that plagiarism should be avoided because this will affect their whole

life after committing it. Plagiarism can affect their grades and can give a person a bad

reputation their whole life. As a student, or a writer, or a researcher or anybody who write

essays or thesis should know what constitutes plagiarism to avoid doing it.

Other countries are very strict regarding the issue of plagiarism such as United

States of America. USA has laws in addressing this case and also the different

universities belonging in this country. One of the law is the copyright law wherein the

owner of the copyright or the author of the work has the capability to sue the plagiarist for

the violation of the copyright in the federal court. Another one is called Stop Online Piracy

Act (SOPA) where the purpose is to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual

property and counterfeit goods. Lastly, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law is created

to enable the original author to sue the plagiarist in federal court for "false designation of

origin". These are the specific laws created by the government of the United States of

America in order to protect the rights of the people. Also, the universities in the United
States of America have punishments such as receiving a failing grade, to suspension or

even removal from school if a student commits plagiarism.

However, even if USA has strict laws about plagiarism, it is still very hard to put an

end to it. According to Charbonneau (2018), plagiarism even occurs at some of the top

colleges in the United States. For example, Harvard University dismissed about 70 of its

students in 2013, forcing them to leave the college. After suspicions of plagiarism arose,

they proved that many students had copied each other’s work on an exam that was to be

completed alone at home. Plagiarism does not have to be the stolen work of a published

author; using other students’ work is also a violation. In the case of reusing an own work

for another assignment, even if something was added to the new material, this would still

be committing self-plagiarism. In 2012, an Amherst College professor resigned from her

position because she had plagiarized some of her past professional work. Although she

was the one to admit the act, she still lost her career and hurt her reputation, earning a

story on the Amherst website—and picked up across the Web—that exposed her name.

Every university makes it clear that plagiarism is strictly prohibited. In spite of that,

Maurer et al. (2006) disclosed that there are 40% of the student population that have

already committed and practiced plagiarism based on the project Center for Academic

Integrity Assessment of the U. Based on Macdonald & Carroll, (2006), it is up to

institutions of higher education: a) to prepare students for their learning tasks; b) to create

teaching methods that will minimize the possibility of student plagiarism c) to develop
programs in order to avoid plagiarism. Canada also practices a very strict regulation in

dealing with the issue of plagiarism.

In order for different institutions to avoid plagiarism, they should know some

techniques on how to avoid it. Charbonneau (2018) pointed out some ways: First is to cite

the sources well and widely. Second, when writing about other people’s theories and

researches, it is required that you credit the author and the source you found the

information from. Next, citation should be used properly. There should be a separate page

for the references list at the end of the essay with the detailed information about the

sources used. In addition, in order to avoid plagiarism, writing an own conclusion would

help. In doing an assignment, when getting an information from other sources, the best

way to avoid plagiarism is by reading the work, putting the book or article away for a

moment, and then writing down the things that was retained. Then, go back to the author’s

work and compare the facts, to make sure that the information was accurate and

complete.

Plagiarism is not only rampant internationally, Philippines also addressed this kind

of issues with laws such as Philippines Cybercrime Prevention Act (RA 10175) and

Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (RA 8293). According to the Official Gazette

of the Philippines, this republic act will prevent illegal access of any part of the computer

system such as cyber-squatting. Meanwhile, RA 8293 will protect the original authors or

creators of the literary and artistic domain. Bailey (2012), wrote an article about
criminalizing plagiarism in the Philippines. He talked about how the new law adds

penalties to “special laws” under the country’s legal code, such plagiarism now carries a

penalty of 3-6 years’ imprisonment and a fine of P50,000 - P150,000 ($1,200 - $3,600), if

prosecuted under the law. As mentioned before, committing plagiarism can change one’s

life, and public figures are not an exemption. There was a plagiarism scandal that broke

out involving Filipino Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto who was accused of lifting

from five bloggers, and from a speech by Robert Kennedy. From there, the act of Sotto

was taken against him and his image as a public officer.

The Ateneo de Davao University approaches the issue on plagiarism almost the

same way with the universities abroad. The Ateneo de Davao defines plagiarism as

“intentionally or knowingly presenting the work of another as one’s own.” The school

enumerated different situations where plagiarism is evident and these are the following:

(a) When a student quotes another’s actual words or writings without due

acknowledgement; (b) When the student uses another person’s ideas, opinions, work,

data, theories, though paraphrased, without due acknowledgment; (c) When a student

uses data, statistics or other illustrative materials without due acknowledgment; (d) When

the student fails to acknowledge with a citation any close or extended paraphrasing from

another; (e) When the student fails to use quotation marks when quoting directly the work

of another. When a student commits plagiarism, there will be punishments given to him

starting from minor sanctions to major sanctions.

 The real problem here is whether the students and teachers of the Ateneo

community are aware of the practices that can already be considered as plagiarism.

Plagiarism is observed often in academic environment because students are required to

create their own term papers, essays and thesis. On the other hand, teachers are also

expected to create reading materials for the students. There are times that the students

and even professors are unaware of it. Thus, it is important to remind them about

plagiarism to be able to avoid it.

 CHAPTER II

Significance of the Study

This study will give benefit to the society considering that almost majority of the

population gets information from different sources like books, newspapers, and internet.

This study is significant to different universities especially Ateneo de Davao University

because this can help them lessen the issues of plagiarism and help make the students

more aware of what plagiarism really is. Students who do researches for school work

especially in Ateneans, will also benefit from this study because they can be made aware

of plagiarism, its consequences, and how to avoid it. However, this study does not limit it

to these people. Anybody who wanted to gain information about plagiarism in AdDU can

be benefited in this study.

Objectives and Purpose of the Study

The study aims to educate Ateneans on what plagiarism is and its consequences.

This will help AdDU community, especially its teachers, to know how many of the students

practice plagiarism in order for them to help decide on how and what actions needed to

be taken to help eradicate this bad practice. This will help the students to be aware that

they are already practicing plagiarism consciously or unconsciously. Thus, this will be

able to give them a hint that they should stop doing it and start doing the right thing. In

addition, this study will also give specific rules on how plagiarism will be handled if done

by a student.
Scope and Limitation

This research is focused primarily for Ateneo de Davao University’s students and

teachers because in this study they will be able to identify what actions are needed in

order for this issue not to be practiced by anybody. Also, the students and teachers of the

university will be the ones who will have to take the consequences if ever someone in this

university is practicing this. Therefore, they are the ones who should be made aware.

Definition of Terms

1. Plagiarism- the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them

off as one's own.

2. Unethical- is the unwillingness to adhere to proper rules of conduct. It also means

the behavior that does not accord with the standards of a profession.

3. Monogram- a motif of two or more interwoven letters, typically a person’s initials,

used to identify a personal possession or as a logo.

4. Copyright- the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print,

publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to

authorize others to do the same:

5. Federal Court- are courts of limited jurisdiction, which means they can only hear

cases authorized by the United States Constitution or federal statutes. The federal

district court is the starting point for any case arising under federal statutes, the

Constitution, or treaties.
6. References- the use of source of information in order to ascertain something;

providing citations of sources of information

7. Plagiarist - the one who imitates the ideas, language and thoughts of the real

author

8. Fraud - a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably

claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.

 CHAPTER III

Methodology

Participants

The participants are the teachers and students from the Ateneo de Davao

community. There will be ten students from the college area and also ten college

professors.

Materials

The materials needed for this research are survey questions. There will be a

survey questionnaire to be given to the participants. These survey questionnaires contain

survey questions that would measure the level of awareness of the participants regarding

plagiarism. There will be ten questions to be answered by the participants.

Procedure

To be able to do this study, first the researchers have gathered all the informations

needed from different sources. Then, they will conduct a survey to ten students and ten

teachers. This questionnaire contains the different ways on how to commit plagiarism. In

this way the researchers will be able to know how many of the students and also teachers

are aware that the practices they are doing can already considered plagiarism. This will

be able to help Ateneo think of how to make efficient actions to effectively eradicate

plagiarism in the school.

Research Design

The purpose of this study is to gain awareness among the students and teachers

on the different practices that can already considered plagiarism. The research design

that will be used is a non-experimental research design. The instrument will be taken all

at once and will only be answered by exactly twenty individuals.

Research Instrument

The research instrument to be used is a subject completed instrument specifically

survey questionnaires. There will be a maximum of ten questions in a questionnaire. The

researchers created survey questions that are reliable and valid.

Data Collection

The primary data will be gathered from the respondents under the AdDU

community specifically students and teachers. The method used to analyze the data is

the Likert-Type Scale. This means the respondents will have to choose on ordinal scales

measure levels from sometimes, often to always.

Data Analysis

The researchers will analyze the data collected. They will examine how often the

respondents practice plagiarism without even knowing it. The researchers will also know

how much percentage of the respondents practice those different ways.

References:

 https://www.collegexpress.com/articles-and-advice/majors-and-

academics/articles/college-academics/understanding-plagiarism-and-its-dangers/

 http://www.ithenticate.com/plagiarism-detection-blog/bid/87800/Criminalizing-

Plagiarism-in-the-Philippines#.WlJPXSOB2Ho

 http://www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism

 https://www.plagiarism.admin.cam.ac.uk/what-plagiarism/universitys-definition-

plagiarism

 https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/2014/11/what-is-plagiarism

 http://www.rbs2.com/plag.pdf

 https://www.checkforplagiarism.net/plagiarism-law

 http://education.findlaw.ca/article/what-is-plagiarism-and-what-are-the-

consequences-of-it/

 http://www.federislaw.com.ph/faqs-resources/copyright/