Complete Schedule

Presentation Type

Open Access Breakout Session

Keywords

Plagiarism--Prevention; Cheating (Education); Nurses--Education;

Abstract

The Graduate Nursing program employs a comprehensive, interprofessional approach to facilitate academic integrity for Master’s of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice students. This panel presentation will address the various facets of this approach, focusing specifically on plagiarism prevention.

An Academic Integrity Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) addresses expectations for students in regard to all aspects of academic integrity, including plagiarism. In addition, this SOP establishes a mechanism for dealing with instances of plagiarism when they occur. As a condition of the SOP, students sign the plagiarism policy at program orientation and annually thereafter. During their “Academic Success and Readiness” orientation the Retention Coordinator presents a writing workshop that includes strategies for plagiarism prevention.

A required one-credit hour Seminar course taken during the first semester of attendance in the program focuses on graduate-level writing and communication skills. Students complete a “Primer on Plagiarism,” which includes the online Student Lingo Plagiarism Workshop and a Turnitin tutorial that involves practice submitting a paper to Turnitin and reviewing and interpreting originality reports. Each student’s originality report for the course’s academic writing assignment is closely scrutinized, and if plagiarism is detected, students receive individual written and verbal counseling about avoiding plagiarism. At the end of the course, students formally acknowledge their understanding of assignment feedback and the expectation that they paraphrase sufficiently and quote accurately and correctly in future academic writing assignments.

The Graduate Nursing Curriculum Committee has also addressed the issue of academic integrity. The Committee established an expectation that all graduate-level academic papers will be submitted through Turnitin as part of the plagiarism screening process. To facilitate student pre-screening of papers, a Blackboard course has been established with a Turnitin link where students submit papers for originality review prior to submission to course faculty for formal evaluation. The Blackboard course also includes additional student resources for plagiarism prevention. This process is managed by the College’s Instructional Designer.

Finally, when students do have an occurrence of plagiarism, the approach to dealing with the issue is student-centered and focused on education and prevention of further violations of the Academic Integrity SOP. While the consequences of the violation are spelled out in the Academic Integrity SOP, there is a range of options available so that it is possible to individualize the response for each individual situation. Counseling occurs with a third party present, usually the retention coordinator, as a means to facilitate education and referral for additional writing assistance. The Retention Office provides writing resources for students in face-to-face, telephone, or online formats to further reinforce writing development and prevention of plagiarism.

Overall, this Graduate Nursing program is similar to other programs in that first offense academic integrity plagiarism violations occur. The current interprofessional process in place, however, facilitates education for prevention of plagiarism, early detection of such plagiarism, and counseling for prevention of subsequent violations after an initial violation occurs.

Start Date

18-9-2015 2:00 PM

End Date

18-9-2015 3:00 PM

Event Host

Center for Academic Ethics, University of Northern Iowa

Comments

Location: Maucker Union - Breakout rooms

File Format

application/pdf

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Sep 18th, 2:00 PM Sep 18th, 3:00 PM

An Interprofessional Approach to Plagiarism Prevention

The Graduate Nursing program employs a comprehensive, interprofessional approach to facilitate academic integrity for Master’s of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice students. This panel presentation will address the various facets of this approach, focusing specifically on plagiarism prevention.

An Academic Integrity Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) addresses expectations for students in regard to all aspects of academic integrity, including plagiarism. In addition, this SOP establishes a mechanism for dealing with instances of plagiarism when they occur. As a condition of the SOP, students sign the plagiarism policy at program orientation and annually thereafter. During their “Academic Success and Readiness” orientation the Retention Coordinator presents a writing workshop that includes strategies for plagiarism prevention.

A required one-credit hour Seminar course taken during the first semester of attendance in the program focuses on graduate-level writing and communication skills. Students complete a “Primer on Plagiarism,” which includes the online Student Lingo Plagiarism Workshop and a Turnitin tutorial that involves practice submitting a paper to Turnitin and reviewing and interpreting originality reports. Each student’s originality report for the course’s academic writing assignment is closely scrutinized, and if plagiarism is detected, students receive individual written and verbal counseling about avoiding plagiarism. At the end of the course, students formally acknowledge their understanding of assignment feedback and the expectation that they paraphrase sufficiently and quote accurately and correctly in future academic writing assignments.

The Graduate Nursing Curriculum Committee has also addressed the issue of academic integrity. The Committee established an expectation that all graduate-level academic papers will be submitted through Turnitin as part of the plagiarism screening process. To facilitate student pre-screening of papers, a Blackboard course has been established with a Turnitin link where students submit papers for originality review prior to submission to course faculty for formal evaluation. The Blackboard course also includes additional student resources for plagiarism prevention. This process is managed by the College’s Instructional Designer.

Finally, when students do have an occurrence of plagiarism, the approach to dealing with the issue is student-centered and focused on education and prevention of further violations of the Academic Integrity SOP. While the consequences of the violation are spelled out in the Academic Integrity SOP, there is a range of options available so that it is possible to individualize the response for each individual situation. Counseling occurs with a third party present, usually the retention coordinator, as a means to facilitate education and referral for additional writing assistance. The Retention Office provides writing resources for students in face-to-face, telephone, or online formats to further reinforce writing development and prevention of plagiarism.

Overall, this Graduate Nursing program is similar to other programs in that first offense academic integrity plagiarism violations occur. The current interprofessional process in place, however, facilitates education for prevention of plagiarism, early detection of such plagiarism, and counseling for prevention of subsequent violations after an initial violation occurs.