Perception of the Concept of Plagiarism in the course of Biological Sciences of the University of Brasilia

Abstract

This work consists of an exploratory research, seeking to understand the perception of academic plagiarism from the perspective of students and teachers of the undergraduate course in Biological Sciences at the University of Brasilia. For the development of this research, questionnaires were elaborated and applied with 144 undergraduate students and 9 professors of the mentioned course. The answers obtained were systematized and categorized according to the analysis of content proposed by Bardin. The results indicate that the students know how to identify unethical conducts in the academic environment, but often commit such practices anyway. They also point out that students do not have a fully formed concept of plagiarism, nor do they know how to differentiate between forms of plagiarism, although they take mandatory courses that address the subject throughout their graduation. In relation to teachers, they demonstrate ignorance of official UnB documents on scientific misconduct. They tend to talk about ethical and moral values, or about scientific misconduct in the subjects they teach, and those who observe cases of plagiarism among students report that these are mainly related to copying parts of articles. Thus, it is observed that the practice of plagiarism is discussed throughout the undergraduate course in Biological Sciences at UnB, however, it is necessary to deepen this discussion and seek to clarify the measures to be adopted to prevent this practice from perpetuating.