How ironic that this is an issue in an ethics class

Nursing Students General Students

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Our first essay (the final copy) in our ethics class is due two weeks from today. What the professor had us do was bring 2 hard copies to class last week, one goes to him, the other you trade with someone else to edit it, and bring back to class next week.

Well the person's i took home, her wording wasn't easy to understand, so typed in a string of words at a search engine to see if i could clarify a few things, and the first result got it word for word at a website (another site popped up a result as an "essay for sale"). When i clicked on the link and compared, apparently this person has plagiarized their WHOLE essay word for word and signed it as their own (the persons "works cited", which i checked throughly as we were told to, does not contain anything other than some magazine articles).

Now, it's likely that the professor didn't just fall off the turnip truck, and might do some checking of his own and discover this (since we have an honor code, and rules spelled out for this sort of thing), but now i'm kinda stuck on what to do. I don't feel right looking over this like i'm not aware that this isn't original work, yet it doesn't seem like it's my place to be a whistleblower.

But yet in the nursing world, if you know something wrong is going on and you don't say anything, you're just as guilty. :stone

Any suggestions?

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Marie,

I just saw this on out local news website. Thought you might find this interesting....

http://www.kotv.com/news/?111689

OSU's New "F Shriek" Grade

We need that :stone

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

He sent an email back along the lines of "thank you for alerting me to this. She will not know that we had this conversation, as it is not necessary, since the information you found is available online for everyone to see. "

Hmm.

Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

Edited since I see you've already informed the professor.

Specializes in Public Health, DEI.
Marie,

I just saw this on out local news website. Thought you might find this interesting....

http://www.kotv.com/news/?111689

Never mind... the last line of the article addressed my objection!

Specializes in ICU.
He sent an email back along the lines of "thank you for alerting me to this. She will not know that we had this conversation, as it is not necessary, since the information you found is available online for everyone to see. "

Hmm.

Students who cheat only really cheat themselves since education is not about passing but about LEARNING.

Specializes in NICU, High-Risk L&D, IBCLC.

I really hope that this student doesn't go on to become a nurse.

Specializes in Utilization Management.

Glad you did that, Marie. When you work hard for a grade and someone else steps in with a loser idea like that and gets full credit, it just burns my shorts.

Specializes in acute care for elders, general medicine.

Good for you! I'd be interested in knowing if you see her around after this, or if she "mysteriously" disappears.

Specializes in Level III cardiac/telemetry.

I think you did the right thing. I hate being in dilemas like that. But you know what they say - what is right is not always popular.

Wow, Marie. You did the right thing.

Let us know how this turns out. As with a few of the other posters I wondered whether this was a sort of ethical dilemma designed by the prof.

Either that, or it was a variation on the dreaded group project.... oh the ways to be tortured in nursing school....

:eek:

Specializes in ICU.

I had a dilemma in school about if I should or shouldn't say something. It was a huge group project and I was the one putting it all together. I got this one girl's part two days before it was due. I was checking her sources to make sure they were right because I am a freak about plagiarism. A couple of them seemed off so I went on the internet and ended up finding her whole essay. I didn't have time to get her to fix it, so I just wrote it myself and turned it in on time. The thing is, I couldn't accuse her of plagiarism because her part never got turned in, and she could accuse me of being a control freak and not letting her do her part of the assignment if I claimed that she didn't do her part and didn't deserve a grade. Plus, this came out of nowhere with this girl. I'd worked with her before and she'd always been completely reliable and I didn't want to see her fail her last semester. On the other hand, nurses who cheat are scary! I was furious too because if I hadn't caught this, our entire group could have been accused of plagiarism and failed. What the world should I have done in that situation? It still bothers me six months later.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I won't find out anything more till Monday.

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