Developing Academic Integrity in Postgraduate Students

• Project Team: Sue NielandPaige Cuffe
• Subject Discipline: Psychology and Counselling
• Theme: AssessmentEquality, diversity and inclusion
• Project Aim: Enables more students to achieve their study goalsEnhances employability and career progressionImproves and enhance the learning experience of students
• Status: Complete
• Date: October 2021 to October 2023

This project will explore the development of postgraduate students’ understanding and practice of academic integrity, that is of good academic conduct, focusing particularly on the module Principles of Social and Psychological Inquiry. The choice of focus on this module is because it is open to all students regardless of previous undergraduate study (outside of the requirement for at least a 2.2 degree) which means that students may be entering the module without a good understanding of academic integrity. This is evidenced by higher number of students than might be expected being flagged by Turnitin mostly for over-reliance on quotes and inability to write in their own words. In the last academic term, students were flagged on several assignments, which suggests the current study skills interventions are not effective in addressing the problem, which appears to be associated with a lack of distinction between weak paraphrasing (e.g. changing odd words and adding a few) and writing in their own words. This is not uncommon, with plagiarism warnings and information proving ineffective with postgraduates elsewhere unless combined with a pedagogical intervention (Marshall et al, 2011) 

Students on master’s level study are potential PhD candidates, at the OU or beyond, and there is a need to ensure students graduating with an OU MSc or MA have the academic skills level suitable for the PhD pathway, including the ability to write lengthy assignments and dissertations without being flagged for plagiarism. Concerns about increasing levels of plagiarism in postgraduates has led to research into the most effective interventions to develop the required skills in potential PhD candidates (Boychuk et al, 2021). These include different support styles through pastoral, contractual or directorial approaches, with contractual styles, most closely aligned to the coaching/supervisory role of a DD801 tutor, producing the most effective increases in understanding and demonstration of academic integrity. It is envisaged that the intervention developed in this project will build upon the coaching/supervisory role of tutoring on the module and its efficacy. 

The objectives therefore are to develop intervention materials that are aimed at helping students understand the expectations of academic good practice at postgraduate level, and how to develop the skills required to avoid being flagged for poor academic conduct. Whilst this intervention will be used at postgraduate level in the first instance, it is envisaged that the resources will be able to be repurposed for other levels of study should they prove effective.  

The research question is: Can a timed intervention through tutorial or other tutor-student activities help students improve their understanding of the requirements of academic integrity as a practice in postgraduate study?