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.
I think you should worry about yourself. Same for the other poster who is bitter over receiving the same grade as someone who cheated one time. Yes, plagiarism and cheating are serious and shouldnt be taken lightly, but I also don't think every student should just be failed on the spot and have academic dishonesty put on their record for one mistake. Multiple offenders is a whole different story. Expel them because they just didn't learn the first time. But think about this. We are all stressed out nursing students. None of us are perfect. What if the person who plagiarized was tight on time, had a sick kid to care for, had some sort of emergency that prevented them from doing their homework. Hell, what if they saved the document and turning in the verbatim assignment was purely and accident. They should definatly get a 0 on the assignment and some coaching and then a second chance to continue. If they continue to cheat, then gone because that's their own fault. Its not right to judge a persons entire academic career and effect the rest of their life without know the whole story and giving no chances to make up for their mistake.
Also being mad about someone elses grade because it was the same as yours is just petty. What they get doesn't affect you. Concern yourself with yourself. DO you also get upset when a student who failed a block, gets to repeat the class and then continues on to graduate and get the same license as you. I think not. And if you do, then that is your own problem. We all face our own challenges and some deal differently than they should. If someone can learn from their mistake and move on to be a better student for it, then I say let them. At the end of the day, it is not my problem what grade they get or whatever because I am only responsible for the grade I get.
I'm not saying that at all... I do not cheat, however, if it came down to self preservation, I'm gonna go with cheat and deal with the consequences if caught. Fortunately for me, I am an extremely driven person so it won't come down to that. But I can see how someone would.
Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.
I depends on context a bit. Also, just because someone isn't immediately expelled doesn't mean that there isn't some harsh punishment going on. My dad used to teach at a local university and caught several of his students plagiarizing. After meeting with the dean and other faculty the punishments were dolled out. In the case of 1 of them the plagiarism was quite minor and as the student was not from the U.S. and perhaps unfamiliar with the U.S. educational system, points were docked on the assignment and the student given remedial education in proper citation. Other than that one student in the end I think that the punishment for most of those caught, while they wouldn't be immediately kicked out of the school as it was a first offense for all of them, they wouldn't pass the class. All of them had to have regular meetings with the dean or some other academic figure for the following semester to keep them on track, and a whiff of plagiarism happening again it would be expulsion. The university also stepped up on looking for plagiarism and incorporated a unit on avoiding plagiarism into the mandatory freshman English class.
The other students in the class likely had little to no idea what was going on behind the scenes in terms of faculty meetings over the issue and what punishments were dolled out to the students, because they were allowed to continue sitting in on the class, even if the chances of almost all of them for actually passing it were destroyed.
If a student buys a paper and turns it in as their own, then yes. Expel them! I cant stand cheaters! Do the work, or don't do it....but please do not cheat!!! It's absolutely ok for that poster who is upset that they did actual hard work and others who cheated slid by with the same grade. That's not fair on any level! I have a 4.0 and I maintain that through incredibly hard work and good time management. You bet it gets on my nerves when people cheat on their 10 point quizzes in class...why should they get 10 points when really they should only get 6? I got 10 points because I actually STUDIED!! 10 points is 10 points and no it doesn't affect my grade, but it's annoying to know that these people are sliding under the radar, barely making it through, and you know they are just gonna struggle tremendously in nursing school itself. I have a family and other commitments, I make sure I don't leave things to the last minute. I work on things little by little. Just because something comes up in someone's life does not mean it's ok to pay for a paper and turn it in as their own. Own up to it, take the hit on your grade, tell the teacher x and y came up and you had no time, and work harder next time to make sure you manage your time better!! (You being a general term, not directed at anyone here)
So to answer OP's question, buying a paper and turning it in with their name on it they should be expelled on the spot, shame on them! Plagiarizing a sentence in an entire essay where perhaps it's not clear whether the person did It deliberately then no, they should not be expelled unless it happens all the time.
I think what other people do is their problem. You should worry about yourself.
I am scared to death of plagiarism. I use whatever resources I can to make sure my papers don't have it. I did it for psych and I am now doing it for nursing. I use sites where you actually submit your paper and it does an internet search to look for potential plagiarism.
This is one of those grey areas. My take is that by the time one is accepted into nursing school, usually they have had the plagiarism lullaby sang more than once especially in the prereq courses. You are still held to the same standards in nursing school. Surely you cannot convince me enough that when you sit down to write a paper you don't feel convicted using another person's work (whether plagiarism was explained to you or not).
If a student buys a paper and turns it in as their own, then yes. Expel them! I cant stand cheaters! Do the work, or don't do it....but please do not cheat!!! It's absolutely ok for that poster who is upset that they did actual hard work and others who cheated slid by with the same grade. That's not fair on any level! I have a 4.0 and I maintain that through incredibly hard work and good time management. You bet it gets on my nerves when people cheat on their 10 point quizzes in class...why should they get 10 points when really they should only get 6? I got 10 points because I actually STUDIED!! 10 points is 10 points and no it doesn't affect my grade, but it's annoying to know that these people are sliding under the radar, barely making it through, and you know they are just gonna struggle tremendously in nursing school itself. I have a family and other commitments, I make sure I don't leave things to the last minute. I work on things little by little. Just because something comes up in someone's life does not mean it's ok to pay for a paper and turn it in as their own. Own up to it, take the hit on your grade, tell the teacher x and y came up and you had no time, and work harder next time to make sure you manage your time better!! (You being a general term, not directed at anyone here)
So to answer OP's question, buying a paper and turning it in with their name on it they should be expelled on the spot, shame on them! Plagiarizing a sentence in an entire essay where perhaps it's not clear whether the person did It deliberately then no, they should not be expelled unless it happens all the time.
But again, besides being annoying, how exactly does this affect YOU. It doesn't. So its really none of your business and you shouldn't care. Whatever grade they get, and however they get there, we all have to pass NCLEX for any of it to matter. It is darn near impossible to cheat on NCLEX. So people cheating now will have wasted their time and money if they cant pass NCLEX. As for paper writing, one bad choice shouldn't dictate a students entire career. They should be punished if its a first offense and aloud a second chance to make up for that poor choice. Im sure everyone here has made bad choices before and been caught (not just in school). It doesn't make any one of us a bad person.
And as a side note, so people don't get the wrong impression, I have NEVER cheated or intentionally plagiarized in my entire academic career, so that is not why I have this opinion on the matter. I just don't feel it is fair to judge a person off of a single mistake.
And if people are cheating on quizzes and you know about it. If it bothers you that much then say something. Send an email to the instructor and let them deal with it, then move on and focus on yourself and your own grades.
I also want to say that I am not trying to attack anyones personal opinion on this topic. I just truly don't understand why people get so worked up about if someone else should be expelled or not. Unless it affects your grade, then it shouldn't matter. Or if you personally are expelled for something that another student wasn't. We have to individually make a conscious choice to let those things bother us. When you let it bother you, it CAN affect your grade because you are worried about other people. When you choose to let the faculty deal with issues and just focus on yourself, then there is nothing to be annoyed or bothered by. Whether another students cheats or not, will not change how I study, or what grade I earn. So I choose not to really care.
As an example, the reason I choose to "not care" is because last semester, there was a group of students cheating on tests in the row behind me. I had no idea, faculty did and was watching them, but another student heard about it and told a group of us about the cheaters. I started to go down the rabbit hole of "That's not fair they get grades like mine when cheating" and "why aren't they expelled if faculty is aware" and such. Wouldn't you know I nearly failed my test a couple days after that because I let it affect me. I had aced my previous 2. I chose to just not care, and I aced my 4ths test and got a high B on the final. Now, in this semester, all but one of those students from the cheater row are not in class with me. They were probably caught and expelled, or failed, or who knows. But anyway, faculty dealt with it, and the class moved on. Just stop caring about how others do and worry about yourself.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I find it bothersome because someday if they cheat their way through school and somehow pass boards....I would have concerns about their safety as a nurse and caring for patients. If they put in half an effort and didn't learn the material....are the a safe nurse? Would you consider them safe enough to be you child/family caregiver?
I also want to say that I am not trying to attack anyones personal opinion on this topic. I just truly don't understand why people get so worked up about if someone else should be expelled or not. Unless it affects your grade, then it shouldn't matter. Or if you personally are expelled for something that another student wasn't. We have to individually make a conscious choice to let those things bother us. When you let it bother you, it CAN affect your grade because you are worried about other people. When you choose to let the faculty deal with issues and just focus on yourself, then there is nothing to be annoyed or bothered by. Whether another students cheats or not, will not change how I study, or what grade I earn. So I choose not to really care.
As an example, the reason I choose to "not care" is because last semester, there was a group of students cheating on tests in the row behind me. I had no idea, faculty did and was watching them, but another student heard about it and told a group of us about the cheaters. I started to go down the rabbit hole of "That's not fair they get grades like mine when cheating" and "why aren't they expelled if faculty is aware" and such. Wouldn't you know I nearly failed my test a couple days after that because I let it affect me. I had aced my previous 2. I chose to just not care, and I aced my 4ths test and got a high B on the final. Now, in this semester, all but one of those students from the cheater row are not in class with me. They were probably caught and expelled, or failed, or who knows. But anyway, faculty dealt with it, and the class moved on. Just stop caring about how others do and worry about yourself.
I certainly don't get bothered to that point. I still get my A's. When I'm doing my test I'm not focused on anyone else. But I think it's understandable and perfectly ok for people to be mad when others are doing half the work and reaping the full reward that others do when they bust their butts.
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mrsboots87
1,761 Posts
I think you should worry about yourself. Same for the other poster who is bitter over receiving the same grade as someone who cheated one time. Yes, plagiarism and cheating are serious and shouldnt be taken lightly, but I also don't think every student should just be failed on the spot and have academic dishonesty put on their record for one mistake. Multiple offenders is a whole different story. Expel them because they just didn't learn the first time. But think about this. We are all stressed out nursing students. None of us are perfect. What if the person who plagiarized was tight on time, had a sick kid to care for, had some sort of emergency that prevented them from doing their homework. Hell, what if they saved the document and turning in the verbatim assignment was purely and accident. They should definatly get a 0 on the assignment and some coaching and then a second chance to continue. If they continue to cheat, then gone because that's their own fault. Its not right to judge a persons entire academic career and effect the rest of their life without know the whole story and giving no chances to make up for their mistake.
Also being mad about someone elses grade because it was the same as yours is just petty. What they get doesn't affect you. Concern yourself with yourself. DO you also get upset when a student who failed a block, gets to repeat the class and then continues on to graduate and get the same license as you. I think not. And if you do, then that is your own problem. We all face our own challenges and some deal differently than they should. If someone can learn from their mistake and move on to be a better student for it, then I say let them. At the end of the day, it is not my problem what grade they get or whatever because I am only responsible for the grade I get.