Request From a Former Student
I
Nelson Nice is on the engineering faculty at State
University. Three years ago he headed a research project that
involved an undergraduate student assistant. At first Jason
Smart was enthusiastic about the project. He certainly felt
honored to be selected by Professor Nice as his undergraduate
assistant. However, as time passed Jason grew impatient with
the laboratory work and write-ups. Nelson Nice found that he
had to do more and more of the work himself. Eventually Jason
left the project before the work was completed.
One year later Jason, then a graduate student at another
university, wrote to Nelson Nice and asked him if he would send
him a copy of the final report of the work they had done
together. Jason explained that he had matured considerably
since his undergraduate days and was now working in a related
area. "Now," he said, "I think I'm ready for more serious work.
It would help me a lot if I could see how things finally worked
out in the project."
Should Nelson Nice send the report to Jason Smart?
II
Nelson Nice was not anxious to share the report with Jason
Smart. Disappointed with the results of the research, Nelson
had turned his attention elsewhere. As far as he was concerned,
the project was dead. He also had to admit to himself that he
still was unhappy with Jason's performance on the project.
However, he was impressed with Jason's acknowledgement of his
earlier immaturity and his apparent desire to do serious work.
So he decided to send it. He pointed out to Jason that,
although the research was now complete, it had not turned out
as he had hoped, and he had no plans to do further work in the
area. However, he wished Jason well in his graduate work and
hoped that this report might be of some help in giving him new
ideas.
Several years later Nelson Nice discovered that Jason Smart
used the report as his Master's Thesis -- adding only a couple
of introductory paragraphs, a concluding section, and an
updated bibliography. No reference to Nelson Nice appeared
anywhere in the thesis!
What should Nelson Nice now do about this? Is there anything
that he could have done earlier that might have prevented this
from happening? What might he do in the future to decrease the
chances that this sort of thing will happen?