The JISC advisory service (Plagiarism Detection and Prevention 2001) has provided a list of possible reasons why students plagiarise, which is summarised below). The list does not distinguish between plagiarism from external sources (like journals and the web) and peer-plagiarism (or collusion with other students).

1. Bad time management skills
2. Unable to cope with the work load
3. "The tutor doesn't care, why should I?"
4. External pressure to succeed
5. Lack of understanding
6. "I can't do this!"
7. "I want to see if I can get away with it"
8. "I don't need to learn this, I only need to pass it"
9. "But you said work together!"
10. "But that would insult the experts in the field"

Chester’s (2001) research on this question is found on the Higher Education Academy’s website. Plagiarized.com is an extensive site that provides many resources (including FAQs) for helping to prevent plagiarism.