Plagiarism: Intentional or Unintentional Academic Dishonesty

As we struggle to uphold our own sense of morals and high ethical standards, we also forget that upholding such values and abiding by a strong sense of character; we sometimes fall short of realizing how important ethics matter on a professional and academic level. To borrow a quote from Potter Stewart, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he stated, “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do” (Coffey, 2013, para. 1). The problem that people may have is distinguishing what they believe is right while others may view that same idea as something wrong.

The same ethical compass we traverse through life should be set on the same path we traverse during our professional careers as well as during our academic path. When it comes to professional ethics, this may be viewed as a means to manage a moral situation an individual is faced with in regards to other professional colleagues and even conduct within the workplace. On an academic standpoint, this is similar to that of professional ethics, but this is steered toward the moral decision students and faculty members face when they accomplish to do the right thing. While both academic and professional ethics play out differently based on how each one is managed, they are both nonetheless extremely important building blocks of a person’s moral character and trustworthiness.

Upholding a good moral sense of ethics in an academic setting may seem less stressful oppose to the stresses one would experience in a professional setting, but staying on this straight path regarding certain rules is something many academic institutions are attempting to ingrain in the minds of every student who is attending. Thes...

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...ons and they may be interpreted differently from one person to the next, each of these character building words compliments the other in some manner. These are the foundations of how we depict ourselves and of how we want others to view us; therefore, we strive to be morally, ethically, integral human beings.

References

Coffey, R. (2013, December 31). Ethics for Community Planning. Retrieved from http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/ethics_for_community_planning

Friedman, L. (1978). The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions. Chelsea House Publishers, 5, 291-292.

Kaplan University (n.d.). Kaplan University's Plagiarism Policy. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from https://kucampus.kaplan.edu/MyStudies/AcademicSupportCenter/WritingCenter/WritingReferenceLibrary/ResearchCitationAndPlagiarism/KaplanUniversitysPlagiarismPolicy.aspx