Do students understand plagiarism?

By Rebecca Ratcliffe. Instances of plagiarism appear to be on the rise. Are universities offering students enough advice about cheating? In a world of Wikipedia and internet-based essay-writing companies, it's never been easier for students to plagiarise their work. But as German education minister, Annette Schavan, found out today, it's also never been easier to get caught. While there are no hard stats on the number of students cheating at university, a recent survey of 80 institutions suggests such behaviour may be on the rise – in 2009-10 more than 17,000 incidents of cheating were recorded, up 50% in four years. Read more...