EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACHES TO BUILDING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The article focuses on the analysis of the linguistic perception of plagiarism as a constituent element of the umbrella concept of academic integrity . Certain attention is given to how contemporary scholars address the notion of textual plagiarism in second-language (L2) learning. The paper reviews recent research studies related to the terminological distinctions between “ intentional ” and “ unintentional ” plagiarism when considering its potential roots and pedagogical approaches to preventing cheating. The methodological context suggests that plagiarism-related practices in L2 writing can be largely eliminated by actively encouraging students to engage with relevant academic sources and by developing their information searching and library skills. It is argued that one of the ways to lessen the risk of plagiarism is to raise learners' awareness of academic literacy skills and textual appropriation strategies, and in doing so to encourage students' independence. The findings of the study reveal the meaning of plagiarism and attitudes towards plagiarism-related practices as investigated by means of an online survey involving undergraduate students of Moscow City University (MCU), Higher School of Economics (HSE) and Рeoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University). The paper analyses student responses to the causes of plagiarism in higher education and as well as their perception of the suggested ways to prevent academic misconduct. One of the findings of this study is the correlation between unintentional plagiarism and students' unawareness of such integral aspects of academic writing as citing sources and acceptable strategies for paraphrasing and incorporating the words and ideas of others. With regard to the source-use problems the respondents encountered, the present paper suggests a number of practical ideas aimed at enabling novice academic writers to better understand and appropriately interpret the rhetorical purposes of the cited text. These include the methods of summarizing, paraphrasing, assimilating and evaluating information in the process of trying out various writing genres which are to some extent built upon the already existing academic work. The author exemplifies the use of source texts as a means of extending students' lexis, grammar and academic repertoire and discusses the importance of developing language and discoursal skills when striving for authenticity in academic writing.