The construction of plagiarism in a school of nursing

Despite clear policies for handling reported occurrences of plagiarism, and the inclusion of antiplagiarism statements in course syllabi and university calendars, reports of both student and faculty plagiarism in universities has increased dramatically in the past decade. Critics indicate that current approaches to prevent plagiarism in universities are limited by their focus on the individual and by their failure to consider the contextual influences in university settings. Eight faculty members and 10 students in a university school of nursing were interviewed about their understanding of, and response to, plagiarism. The participants viewed plagiarism primarily as a student problem caused by moral breakdown or ignorance. Faculty indicated that they most often overlooked university policy for reporting plagiarism if the offence was deemed as unintentional or caused by personal stress. Students were aware that plagiarism was wrong, but undergraduate students frequently conceptualized it as an ‘academic quirk’. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the research findings to university schools of nursing.