NRS-430 Summary of Current Course Content Knowledge

Academic engagement through active participation in instructional activities related to the course objectives is paramount to your success in this course and future courses.  Through interaction with your instructor and classmates, you will explore the course material and be provided with the best opportunity for objective and competency mastery.  To begin this class, review the course objectives for each Topic, and then answer the following questions as this will help guide your instructor for course instruction.

1. Which weekly objectives do you have prior knowledge of and to what extent?
2. Which weekly objectives do you have no prior knowledge of?
3. What course-related topics would you like to discuss with your instructor and classmates?  What questions or concerns do you have about this course?

Topic 1 DQ 2

Aug 22-26, 2022

Review the “Academic Integrity” and “GCU Plagiarism Prevention Tutorial,” located in the topic Resources. List three examples of plagiarism and discuss how plagiarizing as a student affects the integrity of a baccalaureate degree, the public perception of the nursing profession, and evidence-based practice. Describe two APA resources you will use to ensure academic integrity in your work.

Simply put, plagiarism is the complete opposite of academic integrity. Plagiarism limits accountability and discredits the integrity of a baccalaureate degree. When one plagiarizes, the research is not evidence based and it is not quite clear whether in fact the content is truly understood. In the nursing profession we study science and science is based on facts.

Examples of plagiarism include utilizing a direct quote without quotation marks, leaving out an in text citation and submitting a full text that is simply not that of your own. Plagiarism of any sort does little to facilitate public trust in medicine and those who practice it. We have seen it during the pandemic. Many were hesitant to get vaccinated against Covid-19 due to the ever-changing and evolving theories surrounding such. It was a new virus that we knew little about and we were all learning as time went along. Public perception was very skewed and many displayed little trust and confidence in scientists. Should plagiarism and faulty research have been discovered, that would’ve created even more hysteria.

LopesWrite and the GCU Library Academic Writing and Study Skills Guide are two resources available for utilization to assist preventing plagiarism. These are tools that can be used to aid in the writing process to help ensure accuracy and legitimacy. We should use the works of others to reinforce our research and opinions, and give credit where credit is due. Hold yourself accountable and not be lackadaisical.

Plagiarism not only undermines the integrity of bachelors degree but also undermines the integrity of an educational institution and learning system. Plagiarism essentially makes any higher educational degree questionable and open to doubt and undermines the whole process.

Plagiarism also undermines the perception of the general public towards the profession of nursing. It depreciates the confidence and undermines the trust that the public entrusts in the nursing profession. As such the public would be hesitant to turn over their personal health and care to nurses if the ethics of nursing were called in question. as nursing has long been the most trusted and intimate of professions as stated “For decades, nursing has been awarded the title of most trusted profession.” (Milton 2017). The public entrusts us with this care and information, and it is a disservice if ethics were to be called into question for any reason.

Plagiarism greatly impacts evidence based practices by undermining its effects on the nursing profession. Health care professionals will be far less likely to follow evidence based practices when they know the practices are plagiarized or not authentic. The effect of plagiarism especially on evidence based programs might and most likely will affect funding for new research if the studies that were being funded were questionable for any reason (Buckwalter et al., 2015).

Two things I would do to ensure academic integrity in my work is to utilize plagiarism checker program like Turnitin.com, and making sure that I utilize all and every resource provided by my school weather it be the tutors, instructors, classmates, online resources, library, etc.

References

Milton, C. L. (2017). Will Nursing Continue as the Most Trusted Profession? An Ethical Overview. Nursing Science Quarterly, 31(1), 15–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894318417741099

Buckwalter, J.A., Tolo, V.T., & O’Keefe, R.J. (2015). How do you know it is true? Integrity in research and publications: AOA critical issues. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. 97(1). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25568400/