Nurse educators have a professional obligation to identify and address acts of plagiarism. Staying abreast of the various types of plagiarism, any mitigating factors, and prevention strategies will assist the educator in identifying infractions and choosing a response. Plagiarism is unethical and therefore needs to be called out and dealt with immediately. This is a depiction of a plagiarism scenario from the perspective of a new nurse nursing educator. Ethical principles involved in acts plagiarism, resources available to assist nurse educators in deciding what action to take, and the probable consequences depending on what course of action is taken will be discussed.
Situation
A new nurse educator …show more content…
These would be considered intentional purely by the nature of the acts, setting out to deceive to gain. Pressure to attain high academic grades is the reason most frequently stated as to why one commits an intentional act of plagiarism (Smith, 2016). These instances would warrant a varying degree of consequences in line with academic policies and potentially even legal action for violations against the Code of Ethics for Nurses. Although most incompetent, unethical, or illegal practices may be handled with a warning by means of talking to the persons involved prior to more punitive consequences (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2015).
Unintentional
Examples of probable unintentional acts of plagiarism are poor referencing skills or note taking, copying text without using quotes, citations, or references, and paraphrasing improperly or without citation (Smith, 2016). These are unintentional by nature because they may happen inadvertently, without the knowledge of the offender. These incidents should warrant remediation to prevent any further infractions going forward. Addressing unintentional cases in a non-punitive manner is an educational strategy that will assist in improving students referencing skills (Greenwood et al., 2014).