Academics discuss how to control plagiarism

Academics on Mobnday discussed plagiarism in higher education and ways to monitor it.

A workshop on plagiarism was conducted by ICT Colleges Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) In-charge and Focal Person of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad Dr Asif Jamal on Monday.

The training workshop included rationale, brief overview of plagiarism and its objectives, basic criteria, common forms of plagiarism, plagiarism detection, avoiding plagiarism and inappropriate writing practices and use of the Turnitin software tools.

Dr Jamal highlighted important aspects related to the issue of plagiarism in academia. He said that as digital literature resources have been increasing across the world, this rapid growth creates possibilities of copy right violation and plagiarism.

“Different softwares are being used to check for plagiarism,” he shared, adding that one common one is ‘Turnitin’. This software is an essential tool to promote quality, originality and creativity in the academic and scientific work, he added. At present, 19 focal persons of ICT Colleges have been provided with Turnitin accounts through QEC, he noted.

ICT Colleges Liaison Committee Chairman Naeem Dar appreciated the initiative taken by Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ali Shah to extend his efforts towards further strengthening the quality of Bachelors and Associate Degree programmes in affiliated colleges.

The participants took keen interest in the training and vowed to discourage all forms of plagiarism in their respective educational institutions.

They also suggested that such informative workshops should be frequently organised to equip the faculty with modern knowledge and techniques. The workshop was conducted at Islamabad Model Postgraduate College of Commerce in Sector H-8/4.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2020.