Slovenian students’ awareness of the need for information literacy to avoid plagiarism

In Slovenia, the concept of information literacy within the universities is slowly being implemented, as there are no guidelines or criteria for achieving this strategic goal, even though a National Strategy for the Development of Literacy was adopted in 2005. In 2006, the Slovenian Library Association prepared a document with the starting points for establishing information literacy at Slovenian universities. With a questionnaire on plagiarism among students, we examined what plagiarism is, what the causes of plagiarism are and how to prevent and limit it. The questionnaire was sent to the students of two faculties of the University of Primorska (Faculty of Education and Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies). We compared the collected answers to determine whether there is a difference between students of natural and social sciences. The questionnaire was sent to 2,413 students in February/March 2016. The response rate was 21,3%. The results of the research showed that there are no statistically significant differences between students of natural and social sciences in terms of understanding what plagiarism is, its, and how to prevent and limit it. The poster will present the needs which are found in the study and conclude that teachers at the university should pay close attention to this problem and show the importance of citation to students, promptly warn them about misrepresentation and inform them of the violation and penalty in cases of plagiarism.