Academic Integrity in the AI Age: Exploring the Postgraduate Students' Awareness of Plagiarism in Second Language Writing

Abstract

This study examines postgraduates' awareness of plagiarism in second-language writing to maintain academic integrity in the age of AI, and whether there are significant differences in plagiarism awareness among postgraduate students (PGS) based on gender and year of study. Awareness of plagiarism and the consequences of engaging in such practices is necessary to prevent plagiarism and promote academic integrity. There have thus been calls for researchers to investigate the intersection of AI, plagiarism, and L2 writing among PGS. This study employed a quantitative research design and involved 36 participants (PGS), consisting of 14 males and 22 females, in the Applied Linguistics program at a public university in Saudi Arabia's English Department. The study's findings indicate that postgraduates are generally aware of plagiarism, proper citation, academic integrity, AI tools, and institutional support, and AI's impact on academic integrity, strongly understand plagiarism detection systems, and are moderately aware of institutional support and training in academic integrity. Further, the findings demonstrate a statistically significant difference in plagiarism awareness, where females exhibit a higher awareness of academic integrity principles in second-language writing. Furthermore, the statistics indicate no significant difference in plagiarism awareness between first and second-year (PGS), suggesting that the year of study did not significantly influence plagiarism awareness.