If someone is caught plagiarizing, should they be failed on the spot or get a zero

Published

I won't go into much details but I've seen this happen twice ever since I've been in school. One time was in English class & in my nursing program. Both times, to my knowledge neither student was failed on the spot or expelled from the program, because I at least still still saw them coming to class everyday.

In my English class the student supposedly bought a paper from one of those websites & the teacher caught in on the spot & I stayed after class to ask a question & overheard the whole story & on top of that I heard I'm just going to give you a warning this time because we haven't really gone over plagiarism yet & I think to myself EVEN THOUGH IT'S IN THE #!(@ SYLLABUS & COMMON SENSE NOT TO DO IT!

This student in our nursing program decided to turn in an assignment not just word for word that another student used to help others to add things what they may have forgot & on top of that they turned in that actual document & forgot to remove the other persons name on the paper. I assume they received a zero on the assignment but I still see them in class, so I guess they're given another chance.

If I can't post this, you may remove it as you wish but what's everyone's thoughts on this? I always hold myself academically responsible & if I don't understand something or bomb a test I normally take it out on myself, so personally I think students like these should be expelled in my honest opinion in situations like I have explained, however if you forget to quote something I'd understand that.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

It is a school situation. Most schools know that some of the students come from backgrounds in which "academic integrity" was a phrase they never heard, much less integrated it into their own sense of values. Most schools are committed to teaching -- and are willing to give such students a 2nd chance. First-time offenders usually get some education/counseling, some punishment, and a chance to show that they have learned their lesson and can/will behave better in the future.

As a faculty member, I am OK with that. We are there to teach, after all. We need to leave a little room for students to make a mistake. It's the repeat-offenders who need to be weeded out.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Everyone deserves a second chance and it depends on he student and how they respond. If hey are nonchalant then I might not be so forgiving.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I agree with both Esme and llg as far as second chances go, but I want to add something else. You say you overheard a teacher speaking to on of the students, and don't mention how you found about the second paper, but in both situations your classmates' issues are really not any of your business. Whether or not the school gives a student a second chance, or why they make that decision, or what grade the students receive, or even the fact that the student is guilty of plagiarism is not information that should concern you. Students have the right to keep their academic records from their classmates. Be concerned with yourself, keep being honest yourself and do your best, and stop concerning yourself with your classmates' work unless it directly effects your own work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

+1 on second chances, and I would suggest you suggest your program to jump into the 21st century. My school uses a website called turnitin.com - it takes a research paper, scours the internet and tells the instructor right away if a paper is plagiarized or not by seeing if whole texts were copied/pasted in verbatim.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac, ER, Pediatrics, Corrections.

I say FAIL. I do not want a dishonest nurse. Why should some students work their butt off on a paper and someone else take the easy way out and cheat? It is lying, cheating, and dishonest. Not the kind of qualities a good nurse has.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac, ER, Pediatrics, Corrections.

Sorry, I am a little bitter. Many of my classmates did this and barely got a slap on the wrist. How was it fair I worked all night long on the 8 page paper and we still passed with A's? Grrr Still bitter about it after 2 years. Our school was so biased towards certain students

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

The decision is up to the department head and the dean of students. As an instructor I had 11 students (senior level Toxicology lab) blatantly plagiarize - like copy/paste Wikipedia plagiarize - on an incredibly easy assignment. They all received 0 on the assignment for my part of the punishment. Therefore the highest grade any of them could receive in the course was a C. I had to bring it to the attention of the Dept head and the Dean. Their decision was to allow them to remain in the program, complete the assignment again and receive no higher than a C in the course. If it was up to me, all of them would have been dismissed from the program being that they were seniors, it was an easy assignment and their plagiarism was blatant, they put forth no effort to even disguise it

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Oh god... Relax... Life happens.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Also, you would be surprised at how many people don't know where "plagiarism" starts and "citing from the literature" ends. Some of the finer points may surprise you. That's why most schools give a little leeway and focus on counseling/teaching/penalizing first time offenders and save the expulsions for repeat offenders.

And none of us is perfect. Every nursing student will make mistakes in her career -- and one of the things a nursing student needs to learn is how to handle his/her own mistakes as well as how to handle the mistakes made by others.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Every class I have ever taken goes over academic dishonesty and the start of the class. English Comp we had a week long project on it. Now, I can tell you when I first started I did not understand all of plagiarism. I knew you couldn't buy papers and your work had to be your own but the whole citing thing threw me for a loop. I didn't know you could plagiarize yourself. So if you don't have an indepth class lesson on it, they may not know. That being said, it's up to the school to educate the students and if they sufficiently do that I feel that there should be a zero tolerance policy on it. If you are kicked out at my school it goes on your record for when you apply to other schools and you won't get accepted. I think that could be a reason many places give students second chances. They don't want to ruin their lives completely over it because it is a serious offense in college world. Heck they give criminals second chances all the time. Look at how many DUI's or drug charges somebody gets before they go to jail.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Oh god... Relax... Life happens.

I'm not following you here; are you saying that you don't consider cheating to be a problem, it's okay to do it?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion