The consistent effort and autonomous problem-solving required in programming instruction presents unique educational challenges, with plagiarism being a significant factor negatively correlated with independent programming performance. The prevalence of digital communication and information exchange further complicates this issue. This research paper aims to investigate and discern patterns of plagiarism among first-year computer science undergraduates. To investigate the research questions, we conducted three controlled experiments. The first experiment demonstrated that students were more likely to commit plagiarism when provided with the opportunity to do so. The second experiment corroborated this, showing a tendency for plagiarism among students who had not previously been exposed to any plagiarism mitigation strategies. The third experiment revealed that early awareness of plagiarism mitigation strategies leads to enhanced student performance, indicating that awareness of these measures acts as a stimulant for autonomous learning.