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Information technology has played a remarkably important role in developing the contemporary educational system. It not only provides easy access to enormous stores of information but also increases students' scientific efficiency. However, the availability of this technology has also led to increased plagiarism. This study attempted to explore how access to Internet technology contributes to plagiarism problems from the perspective of university students in Iran. A qualitative method to semistructured interviews with 20 students suggested important themes: uncertainty avoidance, tendency to use shortcuts to progress, symbolic certification, social learning and modeling of faculty members as mentors, and plagiarism in the name of justice. Survey data from 180 university students suggest that the personality characteristic of conscientiousness had a negative effect on using information technology to commit plagiarism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the web is always developing, and users' needs are constantly changing, organisations in recent decades have increasingly focused on developing information and communication technologies (ICTs). To introduce new e-services to their customers, they have largely invested in web development and promotional activities. The present study, therefore, describes a novel approach for evaluating and improving website link structure by using web usage mining, as well as assessing the usage pattern of an Iranian organisation. Analysing this pattern, the visited paths are illustrated and the website is modelled as a directed graph. On the basis of graph theory definitions, some measures are introduced and applied to evaluate website usability and link structures. Finally, a ranking improvement strategy is proposed and findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]