Academic Honesty in the education world is something that differentiates rapidly among students. Some choose to engage in dishonest practices and other’s do not. According to studies that have been done, graduate and under-graduate students find certain types of dishonesty or cheating as”serious” or “moderately serious.”(Academic Honesty, Kim D. Kirkland, 2009) Although the United States sees certain forms of test taking or studying as dishonest practice, “in other cultures helping another on a paper or even a test is considered support, not dishonesty.”(Reframing Academic Honesty, A.G. Rud, 2009) Even though other cultures find this type of behavior acceptable, in the US, it is considered being educationally dishonest. Academic Dishonesty is not only a factor in traditional classroom settings, it occurs in the online learning environment also.
One of the main issues concerning academic honesty for online students is plagiarizing. Since the majority of assignments required by online universities are summaries and research papers, plagiarism is the number one issue concerning online learning. Another issue concerning online learning is students making false citations, and claiming false research. Although there are many different reasons why students choose to be dishonest in their studies, it needs to be known that Academic Honesty is key to the success of students in online learning. A key way to staying Honest and on track with your education is to have a list of steps to make sure that your papers are legitimate. The first step is to actually conduct research for your papers and use the research that you have found. Be honest in your research and findings, it will help you to much better understand the subject topic that you are learning about. By using true citations and research your teacher can easily review your work and see that you have actually put time and effort into your work. The second step would be to use peer
References: Published: December 1, 2009 Peer Reviewed: Yes