Using ICTs to Check Plagiarism in PhD Research Works in Nigeria

Abstract

The proliferation of plagiarism in African universities has rationalized the adoption of various strategies to mitigate or eradicate it. In Nigeria particularly, computer-assisted approaches such as the Turnitin software have been appropriated to tackle this challenge. Many Nigerian universities have adopted Turnitin to ameliorate the quality of PhD research produced in their faculties. Although lauded in many quarters, this recourse to ICTs to check plagiarism has seen multiple challenges, some of which include poor anti-plagiarism policies, fallible anti-plagiarism software, and the Nigerian factor, among others. Using observations and secondary sources, this chapter critically explores these challenges. The chapter provides a conceptual definition of plagiarism and plagiarism detection systems; it shows how plagiarism is affecting PhD research in Nigerian universities and explores the place of ICTs in anti-plagiarism policies adopted by Nigerian universities. The chapter ends by examining the prospects and challenges of using ICTs to mitigate PhD student plagiarism in Nigeria.