Plagiarism Behavior Among Undergraduate Students in Hospitality and Tourism Education

On average, it is recommended that academics go through assignments at least four times to detect plagiarism (CitationMartin, 1994) At many Australian higher education institutions, such as the Curtin University of Technology, Newcastle University, Adelaide University, and the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School, students are required to submit their assignments to Turnitin (a text-matching software) as a deterrent to plagiarism. Despite knowing that Turnitin will be able to detect plagiarism, students still choose to submit plagiarized assessments. This article investigates plagiarism behavior among Year 1, 2, and 3 undergraduates (n = 369) using Turnitin. Results of this study revealed plagiarism levels were higher among Year 1 students as compared with senior students in their 3rd year. This study also showed patchwork plagiarism as the most common type of plagiarism among undergraduates.