Plagiarism: the main reasons for its widespread use amongst students theoretical framework behind students' plagiarism

With the development of the Internet and the abundance of sources available to students, plagiarism has become more prevalent and widespread in the academic community. There are now a number of special software recognition programmes which can detect academic misconduct and plagiarism. Many scientific studies have been conducted investigating the possible reasons behind why plagiarism is being employed more readily by students. The afactors and therefore it is a complex system. Research states that there are five elements which can result in undergraduate student’s plagiarism. These are known as the five ‘S’s: Student, Supervisor, Syllabus, System, and Society. Each of these elements affects the student in one way or another either negatively or positively and can lead to academic dishonesty. This research tries to review these studies to consider the reasons that motivate student plagiarism and ultimately to create a framework which empowers decision-makers and educators to prevent students plagiarising during their university studies.