Ética e integridade na pesquisa nos trabalhos de conclusão do curso da Licenciatura em Pedagogia da Universidade Federal de Alagoas

Abstract

In various educational environments, digital information and communication technologies (DICT) have facilitated and supported the development, implementation, and maintenance of educational pedagogical practices, fostering collaborative work. Two key stakeholders — teachers and students — make use of DICT; however, a lack of understanding or misuse of these technologies can lead to plagiarism. The issue of plagiarism has recently been discussed in connection with programs utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as the well-known ChatGPT, alongside students' lack of comprehension about plagiarism in academic work.This dissertation aims to study indications of authorship errors in texts utilizing DICT within the undergraduate thesis (TCC) projects in Pedagogy, both in on-campus and distance learning formats, at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) - A.C. Simões Campus, as made available in the UFAL Institutional Repository (RIUFAL). The study adopts an applied research methodology and focuses on analyzing the impacts of the pandemic and AI on fostering academic plagiarism in the course under consideration. The selection criteria for the TCC projects included graduates with approved and published TCCs in RIUFAL. The sample was stratified by annual periods, spanning from 2015 to 2024. The reports generated by plagiarism analysis software for the TCC projects were observed and compared. The software-generated results were cross-referenced with the institution's key documents through an observation sheet. The findings indicate that the most frequently used search engine by students for engaging in plagiarism practices is Microsoft's Bing. Furthermore, Google Scholar was identified as the most commonly accessed research tool. The most frequently visited websites by students were BrasilEscola, QConcursos, Bloglines, and Wikipedia.