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CAREERS STUDENT LIFE
How to avoid plagiarism Steer clear of the common pitfalls in preparing work for assessment with tips from Nathalie Turville Academic assessments are a challenging part of nurse education. Students are expected to review and analyse literature from many sources and integrate this evidence into their assignments. Failure to acknowledge or cite sources, known as plagiarism, is regarded by higher education institutions as a serious form of academic misconduct, often accompanied by the instigation of disciplinary proceedings. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) also says plagiarism demonstrates a lack of integrity and insight. Unintentional plagiarism can be due to poor understanding of paraphrasing or referencing sources. This occurs when the student has used the original author’s words without identifying the quote or the original author. In other cases, plagiarism can occur if the student attempted to paraphrase but there are only minimal differences between the paraphrased and the original text, or the original source is not cited. Although there is
usually no deliberate intention to deceive, it is still regarded as academic misconduct. Intentional plagiarism includes deliberately copying another person’s work, buying a pre-written essay or paying for an essay to be written from a website.
Working with peers
Other forms of plagiarism include collusion that is unauthorised or excessive collaboration on an assessment. Self or auto-plagiarism occurs when a student submits work for assessment that has been submitted previously by the same student for another assessment. Students plagiarise for many reasons. One of the most common is a lack of academic skills and poor understanding of the conventions of citing and referencing sources. Online information is easy to cut and paste and students may forget or be unaware of citation conventions. Intentional plagiarism often arises from poor time management, pressure to succeed and personal problems, preventing students from engaging with their studies.
Nursing students must demonstrate academic and professional integrity as they prepare for qualification and registration. Here are some ways to ensure your work is original: Clear annotation when taking notes, with full bibliographic references, enables easy identification of direct quotes or own ideas. Paraphrasing skills involve changing original sentence structure and using different words. One method is to read the source material, close the book and write notes in your own words. Then check that the new version is different, but retains the original idea. Source material must still be referenced. Library services advise on literature searching and guidance on correct referencing techniques. Allowing plenty of time for preparing drafts and developing a structured approach reduces the risk of plagiarism and leaves time to seek tutorial support. Plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin and Ithenticate, may be used to avoid plagiarism and to develop academic writing. Avoid collusion by not sharing work with struggling students. Direct them to the module team. When students undertake a group assessment, guidance on joint working must be followed. Contact the programme team if exceptional circumstances prevail NS Nathalie Turville is senior lecturer in the school of nursing, midwifery and social work, Birmingham City University RESOURCES Turnitin tinyurl.com/AboutTurnitin Ithenticate www.ithenticate.com Student life online journals.rcni.com/page/ns/ students/student-life
66 march 25 :: vol no 30 :: by 2015 STANDARD Downloaded from29 RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 25, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
CAREERS STUDENT LIFE
How to avoid plagiarism Steer clear of the common pitfalls in preparing work for assessment with tips from Nathalie Turville Academic assessments are a challenging part of nurse education. Students are expected to review and analyse literature from many sources and integrate this evidence into their assignments. Failure to acknowledge or cite sources, known as plagiarism, is regarded by higher education institutions as a serious form of academic misconduct, often accompanied by the instigation of disciplinary proceedings. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) also says plagiarism demonstrates a lack of integrity and insight. Unintentional plagiarism can be due to poor understanding of paraphrasing or referencing sources. This occurs when the student has used the original author’s words without identifying the quote or the original author. In other cases, plagiarism can occur if the student attempted to paraphrase but there are only minimal differences between the paraphrased and the original text, or the original source is not cited. Although there is
usually no deliberate intention to deceive, it is still regarded as academic misconduct. Intentional plagiarism includes deliberately copying another person’s work, buying a pre-written essay or paying for an essay to be written from a website.
Working with peers
Other forms of plagiarism include collusion that is unauthorised or excessive collaboration on an assessment. Self or auto-plagiarism occurs when a student submits work for assessment that has been submitted previously by the same student for another assessment. Students plagiarise for many reasons. One of the most common is a lack of academic skills and poor understanding of the conventions of citing and referencing sources. Online information is easy to cut and paste and students may forget or be unaware of citation conventions. Intentional plagiarism often arises from poor time management, pressure to succeed and personal problems, preventing students from engaging with their studies.
Nursing students must demonstrate academic and professional integrity as they prepare for qualification and registration. Here are some ways to ensure your work is original: Clear annotation when taking notes, with full bibliographic references, enables easy identification of direct quotes or own ideas. Paraphrasing skills involve changing original sentence structure and using different words. One method is to read the source material, close the book and write notes in your own words. Then check that the new version is different, but retains the original idea. Source material must still be referenced. Library services advise on literature searching and guidance on correct referencing techniques. Allowing plenty of time for preparing drafts and developing a structured approach reduces the risk of plagiarism and leaves time to seek tutorial support. Plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin and Ithenticate, may be used to avoid plagiarism and to develop academic writing. Avoid collusion by not sharing work with struggling students. Direct them to the module team. When students undertake a group assessment, guidance on joint working must be followed. Contact the programme team if exceptional circumstances prevail NS Nathalie Turville is senior lecturer in the school of nursing, midwifery and social work, Birmingham City University RESOURCES Turnitin tinyurl.com/AboutTurnitin Ithenticate www.ithenticate.com Student life online journals.rcni.com/page/ns/ students/student-life
66 march 25 :: vol no 30 :: by 2015 STANDARD Downloaded from29 RCNi.com ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 25, 2015. For personal use only. NoNURSING other uses without permission. Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
