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• 1 2025-03-10T14:40:40-07:00 The Potential Role of Gender in Plagiarism – Or Not 26 plain 2025-03-18T23:47:50-07:00

  By Dr. Tamara Phillips Fudge, Purdue University Global

  In the never-ending quest for college faculty and administrations to stem the tide of
  plagiarism, the question of whether or not gender has a role in cheating can be posed.
  There have been several studies on this topic, each providing its own answer but without a
  major consensus between studies. It also needs to be said these studies use the binary
  labels of male and female, without consideration of the LGBTQIA+ community and how
  those individuals might be counted. While the short answer to the question is "gender is
  not definitively connected," the longer answer is that while looking for connections to
  gender, some other issues have been brought out that can help institutions and instructors
  best guide all students to honest outcomes.
  
  
  Terminology and Ponder Points
  
  The word "plagiarism" comes from Latin for "kidnapping" (Ratnasari, 2019); it is the act of
  abducting words, ideas, images, and other intellectual property to use falsely as one's own.
  Some use the word "cheating" for an intentional act, whereas "plagiarism" can be either
  intentional or not (Alimorad, 2020), but either is considered academically unsound and can
  lead to warnings and/or sanctions. Lastly, Ratnasari (2019) defines gender as "something
  we do," a construct of a person's social context (p. 27).
  
  A Little History
  
  Cheating happens at every educational level but by the time a student enters college, one
  might hope that ethical code would already be established. A recent Ghanian study saw
  more problems at the graduate level and claimed "our academic discourse appears to be
  losing touch with ethics and ethical values" (Nketsiah et al., 2023, p. 10).
  
  This is unsurprising. Surely since the first word and independent idea there have been
  "copycats." Bailey (2019) shares that as early as 80 A.D. in Rome, the poet Martial accused a
  man named Fidentinus of stealing his work and reciting his poems without crediting him –
  or more specifically, without paying him. Once the printing press was invented around
  1440, a much wider dissemination of written work was possible. Literacy rates began to
  rise and by the Age of Enlightenment, a focus on individual creation rights came to the
  forefront. For perhaps 150 years, accusations of plagiarism were made but were
  contentious; finally, with the technological advances starting in the mid-20th century, the
  issue became more clearly defined, copying was easier to do, and plagiarists easier to
  detect (Bailey, 2019).
  
  A 1964 book published by Columbia University is considered a milestone regarding
  plagiarism attitudes towards the beginning of this technological age, and it explores gender
  as a potential distinction. At the time, there were a far greater number of single-sex colleges
  than today, and data pointed to men's colleges enduring more incidents of cheating than
  women's colleges (Bowers, 1964). It also indicated co-educational schools experienced an
  even higher rate, which was suggested as an outcome of a "greater emphasis on social life
  at the coed schools" (Bowers, 1964, p. 171). Among reasons for women's colleges faring
  better than the other kinds of schools were a tendency towards smaller class sizes and schools
  being more likely to have a written honor code. Bowers (1964) also claimed men were under
  more family pressure to attend and complete college, and women were generally held to
  higher standards of behavior. While coeducation today is by far more prevalent than 60
  years ago, the gender comments written in the 1960s help explain the time's societal
  expectations – which may or may not have fully changed.
  
  Why Students Cheat
  
  Understanding the rules and choosing to abide by them are a first concern. Jereb et al.
  (2019) suggest plagiarists could be put into three categories: those who are not aware of
  the rules, those who know the rules and do not understand the unethical nature of
  plagiarism, and those who understand but ignore the rules and ethical implications, as
  illustrated in figure 2 below.
  
  
  The internet has been blamed for making it easy to cheat, although it can also be said it is
  easier to identify those who break the rules, too. In an Iranian study, the most compelling
  reason for plagiarizing was said to be its ease (Alimorad, 2020).
  
  A 2015 Spanish study of 2,800 students suggested males may be more likely to plagiarize
  than females due to a tendency for procrastination (Sureda-Negre et al., 2015; Bailey (2015)
  and Lu et al. (2022) concur that males may procrastinate more. Becker and Ulstad
  (2007) say female students, on the other hand, might be more concerned about potential
  consequences. Women might also be more prone to attempt multitasking (Pagaddu,
  2021), although the concept of "multitasking" is debunked by Madore and Wagner (2019),
  who explain the brain is really just switching from one task to another, not truly doing two
  or more things at the same time.
  
  Some students have a fear of failure that leads to cheating (McCabe and Drinan, 1999). Both
  men and women may be inclined to make excuses (Becker and Ulstad,, 2007). Bailey
  (2015) identifies lack of understanding course content, difficulty handling heavy requirements,
  and not knowing what constitutes plagiarism as additional issues that can affect both genders.
  Ahmad et al. (2022) cite motivation and other cultural differences as being the problems
  rather than gender. Social constructs to consider include age, previous education, work
  and life experiences, family dynamics, and social/cultural values. Additionally, students
  have different reasons for pursuing their degrees and may have a lack of organizational and
  study skills (Ratnasari, 2019).
  
  Related Issue: Gender and Publications
  
  Per several studies done in 2019-2022, there is an inequality in authorship credit, with
  some men taking more credit than their contributions suggest vs. women contributing to
  the same projects (Goodman, 2022). Interestingly, both Maddi et al. (2023) and Pinho-
  Gomes et al. (2023) report that publications led by men were more prone to retraction
  than those led by women.
  
  How Students Cheat
  
  TurnItIn reminds scholars that academic integrity is not just copying word-for-word or forgetting to
  cite sources, although those are indeed forms of plagiarism. Other issues include but are
  not limited to collusion, wherein students collaborate instead of working independently;
  contract cheating by using a third-party to provide assignments (either by purchase, trade,
  or free sharing); and misuse of technology to bypass expected originality ("Academic
  integrity essentials," 2024). AI generation is a recent challenge to sensible human writing
  skills, but even before the turn of this century, McCabe and Drinan (1999) noted the
  internet and related technologies provided "new opportunities for cheating" (para. 1).
  
  Mitigations
  
  The key problems can be lessened to an extent. A combination of educating students
  through the school's website, orientation events, student newsletters, posters, classroom
  announcements, email, syllabuses, and other means implemented by institutions and their
  faculty can help to reduce instances of plagiarism.
  
  Recommendations at the school/administrative level
  
  Ashley Squires, Director of the Avila University Writing Center, has created a video,
  "How to Avoid Plagiarism, Part II," which stands as an example of what can be done
  to guide and inform students on avoiding plagiarism by managing time (Squires, 2022).
  
  Recommendations at the classroom/instructor level
  
  Conclusion
  
  Plagiarism today is not particularly a gender issue even though some studies try to make it
  so. It can be argued that men no longer carry the burden of studying to be a sole family
  wage earner and women are held to the same standards as men. It has been suggested
  procrastination might be more of a concern for men; this can become a slippery slope, as it
  leads to the need to complete work quickly, take "shortcuts" and end up with plagiarized
  work, whether intentional or not. It has also been suggested women might attempt
  multitasking more, and might be more concerned about facing consequences; it is not clear
  if the latter would actually be a deterrent, however. Surely a lack of understanding consequences –
  or the belief they will not suffer them – as well as a lack of understanding what plagiarism
  actually is – could drive any student to plagiarize. Since women also can procrastinate and men
  also can be concerned about consequences, studies have been looking at data that is not as
  helpful as was hoped. Instead, a focus on major issues such as procrastination experienced
  by any student and a well-designed set of mitigations developed by schools and instructors
  can help to encourage ethical academic behavior.
   

  About the Author

  
  Tamara Fudge, DMus, MSIT, MOS

  
  Tamara Phillips Fudge earned a bachelor's and two master's from the Indiana University School of Music and a DMus. from Florida State University. As a lyric mezzo-soprano, she sang opera, oratorio, and in recital, preferring the latter and specializing for a while in music of the Americas. Her music compositions (mostly chamber music, songs, and choral pieces) have been heard on Public Radio, featured at a state choral convention, and performed at several colleges and universities. Fudge has taught over two dozen different courses at the college/university level in vocal and choral music, foreign language diction, vocal pedagogy, song and choral literature, opera techniques, theory and aural skills, and music composition and arranging.  Dr. Fudge's career then saw several changes. She survived a brief stint as an agent and registered representative selling life insurance and variable products. Her writing was put to the test for seven years working as a weekend correspondent for the Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), covering Civil War reenactments, tractor shows, small town festivals, symphony reviews, and other local events. While still writing for the newspaper on the weekends, Fudge joined the staff at a local college to teach writing, critical thinking, culture and diversity, and communication classes. Ultimately, a certificate in Web Development from Black Hawk College and an MSIT from Kaplan University led her to online teaching in the realm of Information Technology. She now teaches graduate IT courses for Purdue University Global. Her teaching specialties include web coding and interface design, systems analysis and design, ethics, communication, and organizational skills. Fudge has received outstanding professor awards and won fellowships for innovation and teaching and is a frequent collaborator, writer, and presenter.

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