1.

Language Barrier

 A pressure which can occur in many overseas students is when

English is not their first language.

 Plagiarism is a problem that has been seen to intensify over the years

due to various factors; after doing some research it has been brought

to attention that the evolution of the internet and the worldwide web is

the root of ‘plagiarism tumour’ [ CITATION DMc04 \l 2057 ].

 Hence, the higher education institutions in the developed countries

such as the United Kingdom are following certain rules in academic

writing.

 Whilst this is an ideal procedure for students who have a good English

vocabulary, this may not be ideal for all students; [CITATION Sia \l 2057 ]

states that some students are unable to understand the new concepts

which are mainly written in English as this is a language other than

their mother tongue.

 Other Authors [ CITATION PCu98 \l 2057 ],[ CITATION APe98 \l 2057 ] &

[ CITATION RSc96 \l 2057 ] have also agreed students both undergraduates

and postgraduates for whom English is not their first language may not

have a good understanding of plagiarism.

2. Higher Grades/Lack of Confidence
 Other pressures that can affect student choices to plagiarise is when students

want higher grades, when they lack confidence within and when they have

fear of making mistakes.

 Palmer (2005) mentions that Denise Clark Pope observed five students for

one year and her findings showed that students mainly spent time “finagling

the system” to get good grades.

 Pope stated that students felt as though getting the best grade was the key to

being successful.

 Pope said the students “know [cheating] is wrong; they tell me they wish they

didn’t do it,” she also said “but they feel like the most important thing they do

is get the grades, by hook or by crook.

 ” Lack of confidence may occur when a student feels that their work will not

give them a good grade which they feel they would with someone else’s work.

Comas-Forgas and Sureda-Negre said “Out of the belief that they will get a

better grade by copying than by doing it themselves (lack of confidence in

their abilities)”.

 Students may be making desperate attempts to impress lecturers and even

family by plagiarising as they may have a lack of confidence to impress others

with their own work.

 Their lack of confidence can be due to the fact they feel their standard of work

does not match up to the standard of what their lecturer could classify as good

work.

 “Students’ lack of confidence in their own understanding of the topic and of what

they are reading was referred to most frequently in such comments as:  Students
 plagiarise because they don't have self-confidence, when uncertain, use the expert

words” [ CITATION Jea04 \l 2057 ].

 Students who find the work hard could be seen as those who lack confidence in

themselves to actually being fully capable to do it. 

 “Many students struggle to grasp concepts in their reading, and this difficulty is

compounded by their lack of cognitive sophistication to re-articulate them in an

academically appropriate way” [ CITATION Jea04 \l 2057 ].

 As they find it difficult, they assume that copying someone else’s work will make up

for it. 

 They may feel as though they have not understood the work correctly and that they

are misinterpreting it so they think that using the work of someone else is the best

way to go about completing their given assignment.

3. Conclusion
 Plagiarism is a difficult aspect of teaching which Higher Education Institutions

must deal with; specifically, when dealing with student coursework.

 The vast number of factors which collectively form plagiarism can be hard to

tackle altogether.

 Majority of the students surveyed in this research admitted they have

plagiarised.

 Additionally, many described that they had been pressured into plagiarising.

 The different types of pressures have been discussed in this research and it is

evident throughout this report that the aims and objectives that were laid out,

have been met in order to show what pressures affects students and in what

way.
 To summarise what the results of the survey concluded, the report shows; All

fourth year students have had plagiarism explained but none in first year

recall having been taught it.

 This could be a reason for more first years being lazy and starting their work

very close to the deadlines, which in turn makes them panic and ultimately

they plagiarise.

 The main reasons students have given for plagiarizing is their fear of failing

the work they are doing.

 First year students are more inclined to copy due to laziness and other

commitments such as work or their social life while students in 4 th year are

more inclined to plagiarism due to lack of motivation (presumably from being

tired from the volume of work that is expected from them).

 Factors such as pressure from their family in doing well and lack of

understanding are common reasons students have given, this includes both

UK nationals and overseas students.

 Fourth year students understand the different aspects which collectively make

up plagiarism and tend to give more time to their work to prevent this from

occurring.

 Overseas students are more inclined to copy due to lack of understanding of

the work or difficulty in phrasing and grammar.

 All these factors show that there are numerous pressures which collectively

affect students and in turn cause them to plagiarise.