Sponsoring Academic Integrity: The Role of Human and Informational Sources of Scholarship in Adoption of Plagiarism-Avoiding Techniques among Research Students of Social Sciences

Plagiarism is a serious offense that defies the ethics of scholarship and research. Research students need to pay substantive attention to the dynamics and contours of plagiarism in their creative, ethical, and academic endeavors. Scholarship avenues such as online tutorials and work assignments are important sources of instructions for plagiarism-avoidance among students. The current study explores the frequency of consultation of scholarship avenues and the usage of plagiarism-avoidance techniques among research students in social sciences. The study also recommends a scale to investigate plagiarism-avoidance techniques. Furthermore, it also examines the level of the study in predicting the usage of plagiarism-avoidance. Using the online survey technique, 108 research students from Pakistan were sampled. The questionnaire was uploaded on several student-based research groups of social media, including; Facebook, and Yahoo groups. Bivariate linear regression analysis was used for hypothesis testing. Findings revealed that scholarship avenues lead to greater usage of plagiarism-avoidance techniques among research students (R2 =0.065). Supervisors, class-fellows, colleagues, and faculty of the department are prominent human scholarship avenues. Similarly, articles and books from the web, books from the library, the anti-plagiarism policy of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), and lectures delivered in the classroom were leading informational scholarship avenues. Stage of the study and consultation of the scholarship avenues were predictors of usage of plagiarism-avoidance techniques. It is recommended that (i) plagiarism-avoidance is promoted through prevention rather than detection, and that (ii) scholarship avenues (e.g. Delivering lectures, institutional policy, and interaction with relevant websites) are used for enhancing awareness about intellectual dishonesty.

Food consumption patterns and nutritional disparity evidence from Pakistan

This thesis investigates the changes in food consumption patterns by observing the variations in 11 commodity groups. The analysis is based on the Household Income Expenditure Survey (HIES) using data of 7 cross-sections for the period 2001-2014. The study examines the alterations in consumption and calorie bundles for the period under study to determine the change in preferences of Pakistani households. Quadratic Almost Ideal System (QUAIDS) model has been used to estimate price and expenditures elasticities. Results support the hypothesis that food consumption patterns are not only different across regions but are also different among provinces. Despite the increase in unavailability of food items and increased per capita income, calories consumed per adult equivalent in the country is still less than 2340Kcal. It is important to draw the attention of policy makers towards the issue as 22 percent of the population are still malnourished and this can lead to increased disease burdens and lower productivity in the long run