Attitudes towards plagiarism culturally relative: study

Though all cultures perceive contract cheating as wrong, nearly half of ESL students see plagiarism – a subtler form of cheating – as less problematic. They think universities make ‘too much of a fuss of people cheating’ in this manner. A fifth of them also believe ‘it’s okay to cheat a little in assignments’. Only seven per cent of students from English-speaking backgrounds agreed.