Why do ESL students plagiarize?
In my experience, plagiarism by ESL students is rarely as a result of laziness or the inability to think for themselves. If they find part of a text that conveys the information that they wish to convey or expresses the idea that they wish to express, it is not surprising that many will simply copy the passage into their own work. Some of them do not have good enough English to express themselves to their own satisfaction in their own words; or they feel they haven’t been given enough time to do so. Others may believe that it is showing respect to the author if they use his or her words without changing them. Many of them have no idea that plagiarism will be regarded by most of their teachers as a kind of cheating.
