Law Student Information Seeking, and Understanding of Citation, Common Knowledge, and Plagiarism

This study examines how previous information literacy training before and during law school, law student gender, law student age, where one attends law school, year in law school, and previously obtained education affects law students’ selection of information sources, their understanding of common knowledge, and their decision of whether or not to give attribution to these sources. The problem addressed in this study is that plagiarism is frequently discovered in student’s writings. This study seeks to discover why. Is it due to source selection, lack of knowledge of citation and common knowledge, or something else? The data collected from these research endeavors suggests the outcomes of this study are that law students do exhibit some differences in understanding of citation and citation behavior based on age and their year in law school. They also exhibit some differences regarding their understanding of common knowledge based on their year in law school, where they received their information literacy training, and where they attend law school. Yet, the outcomes suggest no statistically significant differences are discovered regarding where one attends law school and law student citation and source selection.