Discard the student caricatures

Plagiarism "happens when students see too great a gap between their abilities and the standards they have been asked to reach." This may be the case in a very small number of cases. The truth is that plagiarism happens at university for many reasons, including Because they got away with it in their previous studies Because they see other students getting away with it Because they got way with it previously in other courses Because they want the qualification, but do not want to do the work Because they prioritised their social life over their academic studies Because they thought the study skills lessons were irrelevant to them Because they never read the feedback on their previous work Plagiarism does not happen with all students. In fact it happens with a small minority. It is definitely not the fault of the academics who are setting appropriate standards and expectations for academic work from university students.

Fantastic piece, I agree with every single word! :-)