Explaining Plagiarism for Nursing Students: An Educational Tool

Abstract

Plagiarism is a concern among nursing students. Students may sometimes plagiarise intentionally; however, students also plagiarise unintentionally, as they demonstrate a poor understanding as to what constitutes plagiarism. Here, we provide a tool for nurse educators to use with students which demonstrates the concept of plagiarism in visual form Four categories of plagiarism are identified: Copy-and-Pasting, Minimalist Paraphrasing, Pathworking, and The Twisted Grapevine. Three original pieces of art are presented. These pieces are then altered in order to give students visual examples of the four categories of plagiarism. Text-based examples of plagiarism are also provided, in order to give students a comprehensive insight into this area.