Plagiarism as an academic dishonesty: the case of Armenian universities

Abstract

The aim of this internship policy paper is to study the problem of plagiarism at the Armenian universities. The paper aims to find out whether students are aware what actions constitute plagiarism, what kind of attitude they have towards this academic dishonesty and what are the major factors (in the case of the Armenian universities) that lead students to commit plagiarism. The research is based on primary and secondary source data which reveal the major problems that the Armenian universities face connected with the plagiarism. A survey was conducted in May 2012 in five universities of Armenia to study the problem. It was found out that in general students know what types of actions constitute plagiarism but they continue to commit academic dishonesty because they are no sanctions or punishments for it. Finally, the paper comes up with conclusions and some recommendations, the fulfillment of which will beneficially affect the process of addressing this challenge and will help to decrease the plagiarism rate at the higher educational institutions of Armenia.