FlopperAnn

That's a good question, but there is nothing that could personally identify that person; I made certain of that. If I post an email that was posted en masse on a mailing list and forwarded to me, it is not the intellectual property of the person who sent it. And there is certainly no reasonable expectation of privacy. Incidentally, ******, the nurse whom I quoted directly, gave me permission to use her name here and anything else she posted.

I wonder how many people here have taught nursing research. The articles must always be obtained on one's own for a research project. As *****, and so many other academicians observed (although not here on this forum), the point of research is to DO research, not to get other people to do your research for you. The matter really is not equivocal. And YES...if people here are in the habit of getting others to do their research for them, shame on you. If a professor supplies a particular article for analysis, say, as a means of teaching the students about independent and dependent variables or statistical significance, of course there is no need to search for that article. I don't have to have a personal stake in this. I have a job. But the nursing employment situation is absolutely dire for new graduates. It is in fact the worst in history. That is not my opinion, but a matter of public record. Anyone who doesn't agree can go do some research of their own. Just google nursing workforce; you will come up with a lot of hits.

My personal stake is to uphold the standards of the profession. Duh...I guess I must have really nefarious motives for doing so. And her nursing department knows now. It's up to them to take action or not. You would like a consensus on this, but this is only local and temporal. On my facebook wall, my colleagues, some of whom are nursing educators, agree with me. I will leave the rest of you to carry on, justifying behavior which in fact is undermining our profession.

She sent the email all over the place, and asked her friend to forward it. That should be obvious. And just because people here are defending her egregious behavior doesn't make it right. Shame on you guys. Your ethical standards are really, really low.

Reposted from Facebook, with author's permission: ******** "For nursing students to be asking people to find them research articles is really defeatng the purpose of teaching them about the research process and literature review that is involved. This is really a shame. In the midst of doing research, allocating articles and books in the library, there is a lot of learning taking place…one can not substitute."

It looks like no one here has read her original email. She is doing a public policy research project. YES...a person doing so at the undergraduate level is supposed to do their own research. What have so many of you forgotten here? They are supposed to learn to do this. If they get others to do it, there is no learning. Yet they get the BSN.

What else is going on? There doesn't have to be anything else going on. Saying something like that is condescending. Like I said, we are supposed to do our own research, and I personally have been approached far too many times to do someone else's work. If the nursing profession is weeding people out, they should first of all eliminate people who are violating school policies, since they are not likely to be diligent nurses either. Incidentally, I have a Facebook thread going on about this, and other nurses who have posted there agree with me. All research projects at the university level involve finding the articles. Perhaps you have forgotten this. Asking a librarian for search tips is always acceptable. That's not the same as sending a mass email asking for help in your research. If people here have been doing the same thing, you have gotten away with doing something that you shouldn't. Happens all the time.

I happen to know where her friend went to nursing school. The person in question may or may not be a student there. I've decided to contact that university and leave it to them to decide whether or not this requires disciplinary action. Incidentally, I got pretty tired of having nursing students, before and after I graduated, ask me to write their papers and/or find articles for them. I've also worked in groups where one or more of the members blatantly plagiarized. Doing any of these things is, in fact, grounds for expulsion at my university.

you have no basis whatsoever for assuming the class is not well organized. as she states, her work will have to pass a review board. in a nursing research class, the point is that the student needs to (duh) do his or her own research. what she is asking for can be obtained via her university library, or even a google search. in fact, it took me 5 minutes to find dozens of appropriate articles. below is the email. anyone who reads it should find it clear that she understands the assignment, but that she doesn't want to bother looking for references herself. she has not indicated any attempt whatsoever to find articles, where she looked, etc. this is a request for help in finding articles related to giving live stock antibiotics prophylactically.

Hello, The reason I have originated this topic is that I've just discovered an instance of highly unethical behavior in a nursing student, which perhaps could, and should, get her expelled. Apparently she taking a nursing research course. Yet, she is soliciting assistance in finding peer-reviewed articles for her research topic. This is a BSN-level class; yet, she is too lazy to do her own research. I have a copy of the email she sent out, which was forwarded to me. I believe that her university should be informed, or even the commission which accredits her university. I don't think she should be soliciting such assistance or obtaining the services of others to write her paper. The idea that she might do so with impunity makes me furious, to say the least. It's not my decision, of course, but I don't think that people who would act in this manner should be allowed to graduate. I have been a registered nurse since 2010. Fortunately, I recently obtained employment as an RN, but many people who graduated before and after me have not been so lucky. Recent surveys on the nursing workforce corroborate that this is, perhaps, the worst time in history for new graduate nurses to get a job. Please advise me if her actions sound like something that any nursing program would object to. I can supply additional information about this (her email) if required.