Academic Integrity, Information Use and Information Literacy in the Digital Environment: A study from An Ethical use Perspective

Abstract

Nowadays, the unethical use of information in the digital environment violates academic integrity. In this situation, information literacy is an essential skill mandatory for tackling challenges. The present study aims to find students’ awareness regarding academic integrity, information use, and information literacy in the digital environment from an ethical point of view. By using google form, a questionnaire was distributed randomly to PG students, and collected data were analyzed. Results of the study revealed that 88.24% (60) students are aware when plagiarism happens. Also, most of the PG students know the meaning of censorship (82.72%) and examples of citation style manuals (85.19%). On the other hand, less than half of the respondents were acquainted with the term netiquette (49.38%) and referencing software (27.16%). Further, Hypothesis testing results reveal that there is a significant difference between males and females regarding the statement, “Copying is allowed from open access resources without giving credit or citation or references”. Similarly, a substantial difference between the two age groups students was observed regarding two statements, one is the meaning of censorship, and another one is examples of citation style manuals. The researcher suggested that workshops, webinars, and training may be beneficial for students to keep academic integrity intact.