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Table 1 Common forms of plagiarism reported to be committed by postgraduate students at Mzuzu University

From: Why do postgraduate students commit plagiarism? An empirical study

Offences of plagiarism

Admitted by students

Encountered by academics

Always

Frequently

Rarely

Never

Always

Frequently

Rarely

Never

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Paraphrased work without acknowledging original author

1.9

11.3

56.6

30.2

11.1

63

18.5

7.4

Summarising text without acknowledgement

3.8

13.5

48.1

34.6

11.1

51.9

29.6

7.4

Copy text word by word without acknowledgement

1.9

3.8

22.6

71.7

3.8

38.5

42.3

15.4

Submitted someone’s work without their permission

0

0

7.5

92.5

0

7.4

25.9

66.7

Invented or altered data

0

3.8

24.5

71.7

0

14.8

37

48.1

Written an assignment for friend

0

1.9

15.1

83

0

12

36

52

Using quotation marks without proper citation or acknowledge

1.9

9.4

45.3

43.4

7.7

23.1

57.7

11.5

Invented references or bibliography

0

1.9

20.8

77.4

0

7.7

42.3

50

Submitted work as an individual while written as group work

0

7.5

15.1

77.4

3.7

3.7

44.4

48.1

Copy work from internet & submit it as your own

0

3.8

13.2

83

7.7

19.2

46.2

26.9