Plagiarising the work or opinions of another person is a form of theft and is illegal under the copyright law of Australia. At Veterinary Nurse Solutions, we take this issue seriously and will not tolerate our students committing acts of plagiarism.
When you submit an assessment to VNS, it is automatically checked by an ‘academic plagiarism checker.’ This program checks your work against existing published sources and the Internet, resulting in a ‘percentage’ of how much of your work is considered ‘unoriginal.’ Every piece of work that you write will have some kind of ‘percentage,’ as it is extremely unlikely that you will ever write something that is completely original. As long as anything that has been sourced has been correctly referenced and the author has been given adequate recognition, this is completely acceptable.
Problems arise when the checker detects large amounts of ‘unoriginal’ work that has been incorrectly sourced or completely copied, or a large number of quotes. It should be noted that relying heavily on quotes can indicate a hastily made ‘cut-and-paste job,’ and does not demonstrate your understanding of the topic. These issues are covered later on.
Veterinary Nurse Solutions has policies in place should a student be considered to have partially or completely plagiarised his/her work.
- The student will receive a warning letter regarding the issue, and
- The student will be asked to resubmit the assignment in question (this uses up one attempt).
- If the student commits an act of plagiarism again while studying with VNS, whether on the same assignment or later in the course, automatic withdrawal from the course will result.
We strongly emphasise the importance of managing your time and studies so that you can complete your assessments and seek any necessary support. It is essential to allow enough time to learn and enjoy the topic and to complete each task to the best of your ability, as well as to seek help should you require it.