Academic honesty is important in academics at any level. There are two main reasons for keeping academic integrity intact and they are to stop students from misrepresenting others works as their own and to cite original works giving the source the proper credit. It is important for students to understand the impact that dishonesty has on the educational process. It is also an integrity issue that encompasses the faculty and students as a whole.
Academic honesty is the responsibility of all students and faculty. There are so many ways that students can be morally and lawfully dishonest in a college setting, but the student then needs to understand what exactly academic dishonesty is and in what ways they violate the code of conduct put forth by all universities. Academic honesty includes staying away from these dishonest acts: cheating plagiarism (Plagiarism is to present someone else’s work, ideas, creativity sayings as your own ) copying or copy and pasting from the Internet altering authorized academic records helping other students to perform an act of academic dishonesty also known as collusion.
The most effective and widely used way of cheating is through the Internet. This tool has long been the easiest way to find information and it can be very helpful in research and writing. However, it can be very easy to be tempted into passing off another 's ideas as your own. Research overwhelmingly confirms that the Internet provides an array of opportunities for students to cheat—whether intentionally or not (Jones, 2011). Faculties are hard pressed to come up with ways to find cheating even through the clever methods available online. As a student, it is the responsibility of that person to understand that anything that is not your idea should be cited to give that person proper credit. Copy and pasting is a major player in Internet cheating and can be very tempting. It is imperative that students understand when they are researching on line that they have a standard to uphold in what they retrieve from the internet.
It is important to understand where dishonesty comes from and that comes from the upbringing of the student. They are treated by parents a certain way and that can lead to securities or insecurities. For instance, if a parent is scolding and firm about grades, then a young student will have fear in bringing home a bad grade and may resort to cheating if they are not confident in their own abilities and the pressure of pleasing a parent. This then leads to self-esteem issues where the student all the way into their adult life feel that they are not good enough or smart enough to do the work and need to use cheating as a crutch to get them through.
Faculty and staff have a responsibility to students to work with them and give them all the knowledge of trying to avoid having to resort to academic dishonesty. For instance, if it is obvious that more tutoring is needed, a instructor cannot overlook a trend of bad grades. They need to reach out to the student and give them help. This apathy can result in plagiarism due to feeling that no one is in their corner. An article on cheating found the following information, which is important to consider. “Rates of cheating are higher when instructors trust students to be honest, and rates are lower when students perceive a strong threat of being caught and punished” (Hollinger, 1996). This is important to note because if dishonesty is not taken seriously, then a student feels empowered to continue. It is like a person who habitually steals from one store. If that person understands he will not get caught, what is the incentive to stop? Another important point displays the type of student who may be more prone to cheating. “Students who attend college to obtain a credential or license are more inclined to cheat than those who attend for other reasons” (Hollinger, 1996). Sometimes in the race to gain a license or credential, it becomes important to not fall behind and sometimes academic dishonesty becomes attractive in an easy way to save time and get the goal they are attaining.
The problem of academic dishonesty is more glaring for adult students due to several factors. These include the distance adult students may have from understanding the basics of citing and what constitutes plagiarism. They are also more in a hurry and pre-occupied with life, which gives the adult learner more rationale for maybe doing a little cheating. Through understanding of these issues and making resources available to the adult student to understand what constitutes dishonesty and what principles are acceptable when trying to become an academically honest student, it is very possible to turn this trend around and give adult students the chance to understand what they are turning in and how it may be viewed by faculty. Additionally, they need to become familiar with plagiarism checkers and WritePoint type features such as the University of Phoenix makes available, to have something to go by before turning in suspect work. Finally, it is always best to contact the instructor when in doubt on certain issues. Student support can also be helpful as well as considering tutoring options when necessary. “The affect on our college campuses of students’ understanding of academic honesty is significant and will necessitate all stakeholders to shore-up their knowledge and skills in protecting the academic integrity of a healthy teaching/learning environment.” (Gambescia, 2007)
On the road of fulfillment and excellence, it is important to achieve things through hard work and gaining of knowledge. Academic dishonesty is not a fulfilling goal, it is a lie and even though a goal may be obtained, it is not done properly but bred of misconduct. Moral actions become imperative as we go through our adult life. It is important to consider a life spent through hard work and perseverance rather than one filled with lies and untruths. There has been a lot written here on academic dishonesty, however the title of this paper is academic honesty. The basic principle to follow if you feel you may be about to do something dishonest in the academic landscape, is to ask yourself if what you are doing will give you a sense of accomplishment or will you feel more relieved. We always want to feel accomplished and fulfilled in everything we do. Academic honesty includes integrity, fairness and morality. These attributes will help a student understand the difference between being honest or dishonest...academically speaking.
Description :
Universities and institutions of higher learning have codes of conduct, plagiarism, and academic honesty policies which students must adhere to for academic success. It is essential to the integrity of students, educational institutions, and faculty that academic honesty policies are followed as written to prevent incidence of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and violations to the code of conduct. In spite of the policies and procedures for student conduct, academic honesty, and plagiarism violations to the code of conduct occur frequently. However, to have academic honesty, academic dishonesty must be avoided. What is considered academic dishonesty? What causes students to commit acts of academic dishonesty? What preventative measures can be implemented to decrease the incidents of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and violations of the code of conduct? And lastly who is ultimately affected by violating, regulations, rules, and policies related to academic dishonesty. This paper will focus on the cause and effect of academic dishonesty.
Current studies have shown that there is a significant rise in the occurrence of academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism and test taking infarctions. According to Deddes, (2011) 85% of students admitted to episodes of academic dishonesty by text messaging containing answers to questions sent to another student during test taking and committing acts of plagiarism by submitting papers written by others and claiming the work as their own. According to Sikes, (2008) a survey conducted in the UK of 93 educational institution uncovered 9229 plagiarism cases within a year. With the emergence and increased use of the internet students easily retrieve data and use as their own this leads to academic dishonesty which is on the rise not only in the United States but globally (Bartlett, 2009). Academic dishonesty is a serious offense and not only destroys the reputation of the individual committing the act, but is an insult to faulty as well as the educational institution or university (Gambescia, 2007).
What is considered academic dishonesty? Academic dishonesty take many forms as previously stated cheating while testing, texting answers, plagiarism either accidental or intentional, having another student or individual write papers and submitting the work as your own, and submitting a previously submitted paper without the expressed consent of the instructor or professor or common occurrences of academic dishonesty (Gambescia, 2007). Plagiarism-what is it? “Plagiarism is passing off others’ work, words or ideas as one’s own by failing to attribute them to their creator/originator and it is, perhaps the commonest type of authorial offence” (Sikes, 2008). Plagiarism is the worst of all offenses considered academic dishonest and a crime against educational institutions and universities. What causes students to commit acts of academic dishonesty?
According to Sparks (2011) acts of academic dishonesty occur because of poor time management skills, unfamiliarity with course content, low self-esteem, competition with peers, and the strive to achieve high grades. Other contributors to academic dishonesty are data from the world- wide-web, original essays, and internet based essay writing sites (Geddes, 2011). The ability to cut and paste information for internet sites can lead to plagiarism if not adequately cited (Gambescia, 2007). Boston University has ongoing efforts to make the public aware of students using these sites and ultimately closing the sites (Bartlett, 2009). These internet based essay writing sites are prevalent in the United State and abroad so accessibility is not difficult. What preventative measures can be implemented to decrease the incidents of academic dishonesty, use of essay writing sites, plagiarism, and violations of the code of conduct?
Measures to prevent academic dishonesty can include the following; (a) motiving student to follow to code of conduct, (b) engaging student participation in the classroom, (c) have the students define academic dishonesty or academic honesty, (d) teach student what is considered academic dishonesty, (e) emphasizing the importance of effort and improvement (Geddes, 2011). To prevent plagiarism it is essential to follow the rule of citation, giving credit to the original writer, not using words of others as your , (Sikes, 2008). Currently use of technology to prevent plagiarism is available at universities and other educational institutions for student to provide a means for academic honesty (Geddes, 2011).
Who is ultimately affected by violating, regulations, rules, and policies related to academic dishonesty? According to Gambescia (2007) academic dishonesty affects the individual students committing the act because it becomes a permanent infraction in their academic transcript. Not only does it affect the individual it is a personal insult to instructors, universities and other educational institutions for which students attend for higher education.
The focus of this paper was academic honesty and the cause and effect of academic dishonesty. If academic success is to be achieved academic honesty and the avoidance of academic dishonesty is essential. Knowledge of the rules and regulation of plagiarism is key to academic honesty and academic success.
References
Bartlett, T. (2009). Cheating Goes Global as Essay Mills Multiply. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(28), A1-A5.
Gambescia, S. F. (2007, Winter). A Best Practice Protocol for Handling Academic Honesty Issues With Adult Students. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 55(1), 47-55.
Geddes, K. A. (2011, Spring). Academic Dishonesty Among Gifted and High-Achieving Students. Gifted Child Today, 34(2), 50-56.
Sikes, P. (2008, March). Will the Real Author Come Forward? Questions of Ethics, Plagiarism, Theft and Collusion in Academic Research Writing. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 32(1), 13-24.
Sparks, S. D. (2011). Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learning. Education Week, 30(26), 1-5.
References: Bartlett, T. (2009). Cheating Goes Global as Essay Mills Multiply. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(28), A1-A5. Gambescia, S. F. (2007, Winter). A Best Practice Protocol for Handling Academic Honesty Issues With Adult Students. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 55(1), 47-55. Geddes, K. A. (2011, Spring). Academic Dishonesty Among Gifted and High-Achieving Students. Gifted Child Today, 34(2), 50-56. Sikes, P. (2008, March). Will the Real Author Come Forward? Questions of Ethics, Plagiarism, Theft and Collusion in Academic Research Writing. International Journal of Research & Method in Education, 32(1), 13-24. Sparks, S. D. (2011). Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learning. Education Week, 30(26), 1-5.
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