Unfortunately, plagiarism does not receive enough attention, especially on college campuses, if one considers the long-term impact it can have on an individual or community. It seems to me, as a college student, that an increasing number of students are plagiarizing because schools are not publicly confronting the issue, are not watching carefully, and do not have effective deterrence policies. Perhaps easy access to written and virtual print, couple with fierce competition, fuels plagiarism.
Some students plagiarize because they desire a good grade, with little effort.
Other students find they are more apt to plagiarize late at night and they are overworked, exhausted and unprepared. Others decide that it is not necessary to learn skills by completing projects or writing papers so they use other students work. Or perhaps ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism increases incidents. The copy need not be identical to be a plagiary. So long as the essence of the original is used, the offense is committed.