Exploring Digital Academic Writing Skills In Higher Education: The Case of Moroccan University Students

Abstract

With the rapid proliferation of technologies in developing learning, promoting students’ digital learning skills has become a prominent issue in the existing educational discourse. To explore this new role of technology in facilitating easy access to information, the present study investigates Moroccan university students’ perceptions regarding their level of digital information literacy, writing and referencing skills, and knowledge of plagiarism. Based on a quantitative descriptive design and using an adapted survey questionnaire, the data were collected from a convenience sample of n=204 Moroccan graduate students. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents are unfamiliar and less efficient with digital information and referencing skills, along with having basic technical knowledge of bibliographic data management softwares. Moroccan university students would definitely benefit from being taught these strategies in order to develop better writing habits and learn how to write without plagiarizing.