How common is plagiarism?
There is no definitive, UK-wide research into the frequency of plagiarism. Any research which has taken place has focussed on the Higher Education (university) sector. There are no published statistics for the school or college sectors; Awarding Bodies do not maintain statistics specifically on plagiarism. Of all the different forms of cheating (which includes plagiarism, inventing data and cheating during an exam), students admit to plagiarism more often than any other. Research findings range from 25% to 90% of students admitting to some form of plagiarism. However, this figure reduces considerably when students are asked about the frequency of serious plagiarism (such as copying most of an assignment or purchasing a complete paper from a website more typically 20% and 10% respectively). Although research findings vary, a recurring theme is that students estimate the occurrence of plagiarism (in all its forms) higher than teaching staff, who estimate its frequency higher than Academi
