Masters Degrees (South African Sign Language)
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Item Open Access Plagiaat in die akademie: 'n beleids- en opvoedkundige perspektief(University of the Free State, 2010-03) Olivier, Aletta Petronella; Du Toit, J. S.; Venter, L. S.English: In this dissertation, the notion of plagiarism is examined in the context of academic writing. The development of the notion of plagiarism is first of all put in historical perspective, because the problems revolving around the notion emerged with the first etymological reference to it as plagiarius (“kidnapper”). One of the factors that complicate plagiarism is that it is confused with copyright in the wake of copyright legislation. Other extrinsic and complicating factors include unreliable statistics on plagiarism, the phenomenon of intertextuality as opposed to plagiarism, the Internet, varying cultural views on plagiarism and the influence of second language issues. Although the existence of plagiarism in academic writing is undisputable, its nature and management vary. Approaches to plagiarism in academic writing are as complex as the phenomenon of plagiarism itself. The approaches to plagiarism discussed here represent the general trends over the past decade. The sequence of discussion corresponds with the development of the approaches to plagiarism during the given period: first the ethical, then the policing, followed by the intentional, the developmental and learning, the textual, and the contextual approaches. With this complex situation in mind, definitions of plagiarism in 13 institutional policy documents are discussed in terms of six elements: the corpus, appropriation, source, reference, intention and scope. The vision and mission, values, academic and/or integrity issues and prescribed approach of each university are accounted for in the respective policies. This study prioritises the educational approach. Acts of plagiarism are often committed through lack of writing skills, especially in the case of inexperienced students that are still apprentices in the craft of academic writing. Basic writing techniques and transformational writing strategies are demonstrated with reference to Van Dijk’s (1971) transformation theory. The transformation types addition, deletion, repetition, structuring and argumentation are illustrated by means of examples. There is no simple solution to the complex dilemma of plagiarism. This dissertation indicates that an implementation plan for the prevention of plagiarism in academic writing comprises three aspects: a transparent policy, the didactic use of detection mechanisms, and the specific teaching of academic writing skills. The emphasis on the educational approach and proactive writing instruction entails that the focus in combating plagiarism is on education. Plagiarism as an unacceptable form of academic writing can be remedied by the teaching of acceptable writing techniques and strategies.