CITATION PRACTICES AND ACADEMIC PLAGIARISM IN THE TEXTUAL ELABORATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Locate, evaluate, manage and communicate information in writing academic essays have become basic skills that university students should possess. This article presents the results of a descriptive study developed by survey with a sample of 1.025 under-graduate students at the University of the Balearic Islands on the prevalence in the practice of citation and plagiarism when preparing essays. It should be highlighted from the results obtained, on the one hand, the fact that much of the students or directly do not quote resources used in the preparation of their work or do so sporadically or infrequently. Concerning the commission of plagiarism, the percentage of students who admitted carrying out this type of practice is certainly high. Based on these data, as well as those of other studies with similar characteristics, the authors propose, first, the need for increased research efforts to assess and understand the causes of the situation described and, secondly, advocate for the provision and implementation of training initiatives to improve the situation described.