Ewha Voice conducted a survey in order to find out the awareness level of Ewha students regarding plagiarism in their assignments. 170 students from Liberal Arts (12), Natural Sciences (13), Human Movement (20), Law (20), Social Sciences (20), Medicine (9), the Division of International Studies (5), Social Sciences (20), Engineering (20), Business Administration (16), and Nursing Science (15) participated in the survey.
Q1. Have you ever plagiarized other people? Works?
A1. Yes= 53%, No=43%
Q2. Do you think these factors consist plagiarism?
a) Copying the exact words from the original text without footnotes or references.
A2a. Yes=64%, No=36%
b) Changing a few words of the original text and copying it without footnotes or references.
A2b. Yes=64%, No=36%
c) Copying the idea of the original text without footnotes or references.
A2c. Yes=35%, No=65%
Q3. What is the awareness level of Ewha students regarding plagiarism?
A3. High=5%, Medium=64%, Low=31%
Q4. Do you know what the punishments and consequences are when students plagiarize in their assignments?
A4. Yes=82%, No=18%
The survey results indicate that 57 percent of students have deliberately plagiarized the works of others in their academic assignments. A majority of Ewha students believe that copying the exact words from the original text without footnotes validates plagiarism. More students, however, said that changing the words of the original text and taking the idea of an eminent scholar's work did not constitue plagiarism (even without footnotes or references). Interestingly, some mentioned that because they are still students who are in their learning process, it is justifiable for them to "borrow" the words and ideas of a well-known figure. 31 percent of the students said that the awareness level was low and only five percent said it was high. Surprisingly, the vast majority said that they did not know what the punishments and consequences would be after committing plagiarism. Some possible consequences stated by Ewha students were suspension, expulsion and an "F" grade from professors regarding plagiarized assignments.