In her research on plagiarism, Blum (2009) discovered that “Some [students] really don’t know how to avoid it, because the rules are terribly subtle and take many years to master. Some deliberately do so to get the job done. There are many motives, many reasons, many biographical details" (p. 6). If Spence was telling the truth when he said, “’You don’t sit down and say, ‘I’m going to start plagiarizing now…’”, (Rushowy, July 26, 2013, p. A1) it may be worthwhile exploring some of those varied motives, reasons, and biographical details through role playing different situations that may lead students down the slippery pathway to academic expulsion.
