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Plagiarism multiple Read Hannah Marriages Guidelines on
choice questionnaire practice profile on topical how to write a
treatments practice profile
Introduction
There is a significant, but avoidable, risk that
nursing students may plagiarise the work of
others in their academic writing, and that 2011). Where guidance fails and student
investigation and penalties will ensue (Lorenz work causes concern, a preliminary report
2013). In this article, plagiarism refers to the is made to the academic conduct officer of
representation of others words in a piece of the faculty or course. The concern may be
coursework or academic assignment as ones raised by tutors, course leaders, examiners
own, without clear reference to the source or assessment administrators using routine
and/or failure to present the words of others screening software such as Turnitin, which
as a quotation (in inverted commas). For the finds matches with published material in
purpose of this article, plagiarism includes print or on the internet, or Copycatch, which
the procurement of others work, perhaps finds matches with other students work, past
from a student colleague, past or present, or or present. The growth of essays for sale on
from a website offering completed essays, and internet sites increases the risk that plagiarised
representing this as ones own work. While work is submitted and software screening
some cases of plagiarism might be considered includes review of the work available from
to be unintentional, for example as a result these sources.
of naivety or lack of knowledge, other cases Once the work is reported, the academic
represent an intentional attempt to deceive conduct officer will contact the student and
the assessor and gain advantage by doing so present him or her with evidence of what has
(Wilkinson 2009, Park et al 2013). been found. At this stage, no judgements are
Both unintentional and intentional made and the student is asked to account for
plagiarism may result in academic penalties matched material presented. Students are set a
because academic conduct officers are only deadline by which to respond, and if no reply
required to demonstrate a match between is received by that date the evaluation proceeds
the students work and source material, with the available evidence. The academic
not to prove how that match arose. Student conduct officer will then assess the evidence
appeals associated with what was or was before the student and either dismiss the
not intended are only considered afterwards concern or issue an informal or formal warning
and may include consideration of the length or a penalty from a tariff set by the university.
of the students study experience, his or her More serious cases of plagiarism may be
level of study and access to clear guidance referred to a university disciplinary committee,
on best writing practice. In extreme cases, which may contact the relevant professional
1 Explore the way intentional plagiarism, for example using an body so that professional misconduct can be
your university defines essay purchased from the internet, constitutes investigated. Students have a right of appeal,
plagiarism in study a breach of the nurses professional code of but must substantiate their claims about
guides for students. conduct and may be referred to the Nursing what was not investigated correctly or not
Examine your universitys and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2011). In such considered adequately, and in a set time period
best writing practice instances, the nurse is at risk of professional after the judgement letter has been issued by
study guide to see penalty, including removal from the nursing the university. Where plagiarism is confirmed
how much detail is register. It may be a distressing experience for and a penalty given, note of this is made in
supplied about what students who discover that their work is being the students record. Repeated plagiarism in
should and should not investigated for plagiarism, particularly as subsequent assessments may then lead to more
be done when writing penalties may influence whether the student severe penalties.
and submitting work passes the current module of study or completes Clear and coherent university guidance on
for assessment. What is the course (Tennant and Duggan 2008). what constitutes plagiarism is vital, because
advised with regards to Complete time out activity 1 assessors will examine whether students can
using information from demonstrate their reasoning and reflection
the internet and making Plagiarism is a recurring problem in higher associated with others work (Ganske 2010).
use of shared learning education (Jiang et al 2013, Lorenz 2013). If the assessor cannot confidently determine
resources, such as Plagiarism prevention relies on providing what represents others work and what
electronic forums? If at clear instructions on what represents scholarly constitutes the students own reasoning,
the end of your enquiry writing practice and guidance on how to accurate assessment is difficult. With this in
you have outstanding deal with a range of situations where the mind, it is important for students to study
queries, identify the work of others needs to be acknowledged in university guidance on best practice and
designated university coursework (Betts et al 2012). It depends on to complete any set study skills activities.
adviser with whom you a clear understanding of student needs and If Turnitin is offered as a means for
should raise these issues. the diversity of backgrounds from which they students to check their draft submission
come (Ryan and Louie 2007, Adler-Collins work, then the service should be used
and represented as a quotation. Lost references words cheating. Cheating is widely reported
can mean that the student preparing work (Wilkinson 2009), and there is an increased
under pressure uses the words of others and risk of this where students do not discuss their
neither attributes the source nor represents study concerns with a tutor, where they fall
quotes correctly. behind schedule in their studies or where they
Another common cause of plagiarism is a are concerned with securing a qualification
misunderstanding of primary and secondary with a minimum amount of effort. Some
sources (Box 2). A secondary source is one that students may ask fellow students to share their
offers a summary or commentary on what essays, or may buy essays from the internet or
other authors have written. Commentaries of auction sites and present these as their own.
this kind tend to be appealing because they In some instances, more accomplished and
4 If you were to change
often summarise quickly and clearly other unscrupulous scholars have been persuaded
Prices (2013) words in
authors work. They reduce the learning to write essays on the students behalf. Any
Box 2 to reinterpret this
effort required of a student. It is tempting for person who assists the student to cheat in this
commentary, what would
a busy student to rely on secondary source way is guilty of collusion and may be open to
you do to avoid
commentaries, copying words without clear professional discipline.
plagiarising this work?
attribution of source.
Complete time out activity 4
5 List two or three Searching and note taking
things you could do
Plagiarism may also occur if the student, To limit the risk of plagiarism, there is a need
to improve web and
panicked by difficulties studying the course to study in a well-organised and diligent way.
literature searching and
or pressurised by the lack of available time, Literature searches and preparation must be
note taking activity that
intentionally seeks to deceive the examiner done well if the course assignment or essay is
might limit the risk of
by presenting the work of others in whole not to include plagiarised material. Part-time
plagiarism.
or in part as his or her own work, in other students, in particular, need to assess their study
capacity carefully and should be especially
cautious about studying more than one course
BOX 2 at a time. Being over-optimistic about study
Misused secondary sources capacity can lead to plagiarism. The more time
the student has allocated to searching and note
The following short italicised extract from Price (2013) contains primary
and secondary sources of material. The authors referenced in the passage taking activity, the less risk there is that panic
are primary sources: Lacovara et al (2011) and Tse et al (2012). The text will ensue and plagiarised essays will result.
itself, a commentary on others work, is a secondary source and it too must Complete time out activity 5
be properly represented using inverted commas if the text is to be used
word for word in coursework. The secondary source must be included in the One of the greatest risks of plagiarism arises
reference list of the coursework. when source material and notes become
The education of cancer patients has never been far from the oncology separated in some way. This is a common
literature. There is a long-standing tradition of writing about education that problem with regard to internet material,
enables patients to make an informed decision about how to live their lives where it is difficult to download and print
after diagnosis (Lacovara et al 2011). A great deal of the literature focuses source material that captures exactly what
on educating patients to manage symptoms, especially pain (Tse et al 2012), interested the student. However, it can also
with much of it focusing on complex patient education programmes.
be problematic if a student has read a lot of
The correct way to present the above text word for word in an assessed articles or textbooks and becomes confused
piece of work, is: about what information was found where. A
The education of cancer patients has never been far from the oncology good way to minimise the problem of source
literature. There is a long-standing tradition of writing about education that and note separation is to print or photocopy
enables patients to make an informed decision about how to live their lives the seminal source articles and to staple the
after diagnosis (Lacovara et al 2011). A great deal of the literature focuses on pages of notes to the original source copy. It
educating patients to manage symptoms, especially pain (Tse et al 2012), with is important that the student ensures that the
much of it focusing on complex patient education programmes (Price 2013). source material provides clear reference details,
Note that the whole passage appears in inverted commas and the source, often at the foot of the page. Using photocopies
Price (2013), is added in brackets at the end. It is not enough that the in this way can be expensive and copyright
primary source material is represented by references. The student has not issues might limit what can be taken as part of
necessarily read those, relying instead on Prices commentary. To represent private study from any one issue of a journal,
the above passage without clear reference to Price and the use of inverted
however this should be less of a problem when
commas, is to plagiarise the work and gain advantage for what the student
has not personally reasoned.
students realise the need to be critical about
which sources are relevant to their work.
source of the original commentary, uses the his or her work. Sian used the example of
Journal students own words, discusses Prices (2013) individualised care and the targets set by
Club
#NursingJC findings, and adds some questions at the end, the trust for moving patients through acute
Join a discussion on Twitter which are the students ideas. care (September 2013 group wiki). Amal
about this article Complete time out activity 6 identified policies on the prevention of cross
on Friday March 7 infection and the importance of lay carer
Using #NursingJC Poor paraphrasing can be identified using psychological support in hospital (September
software such as Turnitin. The software does 2013 group wiki). My colleagues posts
not judge whether the work is paraphrased illustrate that leadership cannot be limited to
adequately, it simply highlights the close directing staff to policies, but must help them
matches. Academic conduct officers then manage the resulting conundrums.
assess whether the paraphrasing is adequately In the first of these two examples, the first
different to the original. This is not done by half of the paragraph is about attributing
counting the percentage of matched words and source, recognising what the group has done.
their locations, but by ascertaining whether It is after the word subsequently that the
the student has demonstrated an additional student claims his or her own contribution,
perspective to that originally found. It is for drawing certain inferences from the work
this reason that version 3 in Box 3 is likely done. In this case, it is about what is really
to be considered good paraphrasing of the possible regarding informed consent. In
original work. the second example, the contributions of
Sian and Amal are acknowledged as the
authors of the source material. It is in the last
Judicious use of shared information sentence that the student adds his or her own
There is a good chance in coursework that deduction, this time about the implications
students will need to refer to shared project for leadership. The main point to remember is
work at some point. The project work may that examiners need to understand what was
have taken the form of seminar material, a sourced elsewhere and what the student has
debate, a wiki or a group presentation. What subsequently added.
6 Select a passage
is important in discussing these sources is that
from one of the articles
the original contributors are acknowledged
in this issue of Nursing Responding to a plagiarism investigation
and that co-owned work resulting from the
Standard and write it
project is clearly defined. There needs to be In the event that the student is challenged to
out verbatim. Now make
a clear separation between what the group explain a piece of his or her work, examining
the same points as the
discovered or did and what the student now the matches found with other sources, it is
original author did, but
thinks about that discovery. important not to panic and to set aside time
using your own words.
Below are two examples of text that show to examine carefully the concerns expressed
Show the result to a
clear attribution of source material and identify by the academic conduct officer. While it is
colleague to establish
the students or any new commentary: natural to feel shocked, alarmed or angry
if he or she thinks you
Our tutor group forum (September 11 2013) by possible investigation, it is important to
have developed an
discussed the ethics of entering patients into remember that this is an enquiry. Nothing
original piece of writing.
drug trials and made a series of points about has been judged. Academic conduct officers
As you think about this
the need to advance research and still respect can and do dismiss plagiarism concerns
exercise, determine
the rights of individual patients. Colleagues expressed by others, they try to understand
what you did. Did you
debated patient motives for agreeing to the circumstances of a case and they have at
first ascertain what
become research participants, whether that their disposal a range of penalties, the majority
the original author said,
was to benefit others or to please the nurse of which need not compromise a students
perhaps in just one
who had asked them to assist. Subsequently, reputation. It is important to learn from this
or two lines? Did you
I have carried that debate further and enquiry process and any mistakes that the
then prepare lines that
considered whether patients can give student may have made.
captured that, but which
truly informed consent to participate in a Frequently, students believe that the enquiry
added your perspective?
research study unless they have a thorough centres almost exclusively on student intent
If you simply changed
understanding of all the procedures and whether he or she deliberately sought to
some words around, was
what the possible consequences might be. deceive. Students sometimes explain that
your colleague confident
Our wiki consisted of a series of posts, their error was brought about by a lack of
that your piece was
illustrating where healthcare policies understanding of what was required. They
sufficiently different
competed with one another and made it report that they never intended to deceive.
from the original?
more difficult for the nurse to prioritise In practice, it is sometimes difficult for the
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