Today’s college students, thanks to technology, have many advantages that former generations of students never could have dreamed of. In days gone by students in need of research spent many in hours in the library pouring over books and watching old film reels to gather information for academic papers and projects. In 2014 things are very different, now students have the World Wide Web and instant access to more information than any library could ever hold. However, this endless well of information has led to, not a new problem, but a rapidly growing one with today’s college student—academic dishonesty. When it comes to academic honesty it seems that the lines have blurred and many scholars seem even view it as a gray area. To understand why academic dishonesty is such a prevalent problem we must first understand that there are two types of students who plagiarize and cheat on assignments. The first group is what you would expect, these are students that intentionally cheat on tests or plagiarize and wrongly claim the work to be their own. The next category of student is the one tha...
The essay, “Standing Up for the Power of Learning,” by Jay Mathews explained how one of many students was accused of academic dishonesty. During the regular school session of the year 2001, three fourths of 187 students at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) were found guilty of cheating. This was because they collaborated on an assignment in a computer science (CS) course with friends. By communicating with others about the project, the students violated the course honor code that prohibited the discussion among students for that particular class.
Moeck, P. G. “Academic Dishonesty: Cheating Among Community College Students.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 26 (2002). 479-91.
The awareness in regards to academic integrity is growing across campuses worldwide. This is a very serious subject in which students and faculty should take additional steps to educate themselves. A great example of this exposure includes Mississippi State University hosts an annual Academic Integrity week during the last week of October. “This program has been put in place to educate students on plagiarism and academic honesty and prevent future cases” (msstate.edu). Intentionally or unintentionally stealing or using another individual’s work verbatim without paraphrasing is considered plagiarism. Rules and regulations are set in place to inform students how to cite, when and where to cite, and the consequences available if the rules are not followed. “The differentiation between cultures can often confuse the true meaning of plagiarism” (Vessal, K). In this research paper I will highlight the details of Academic Integrity, the consequences if rules and regulations are not followed, and lastly tools available to avoid plagiarism.
That stomach churning feeling of guilt for many seems to appear as a small price to pay when completing an act of academic dishonesty. Colleen Wenke wrote an essay on cheating eighteen years ago called “Too Much Pressure”. In the past fifty years, the number of students who admit to cheating has increased fifty to seventy percent(Gaffe). Many people wonder what leads the students to make this unjust decision. Today, the reason for a rise in cheaters is because of how easy it has become, leading many students to the false conclusion that they aren’t breaking any rules; It is simply viewed as a shortcut to success in the classroom and beyond.
The first thing observers will notice is the “readability issue” when they read George Brown College’s student code of conduct and discipline, in particular, the part of the definition of plagiarism. It is full of long and wordy sentences, which can make readers confused and disoriented. Seneca College’s academic honesty, on the contrary, has a highly ordered structure so that readers can see the flow of the rules. It is arranged in order that why the academic honesty policy has been written and what types of things might be regarded as academic honesty
Who is hurt by academic dishonesty? Who cares if you steal test answers, falsify experimental data, cheat on an exam, or download information from a web site and turn it in as your own work?
... Students. Plagiary: Cross‐ Disciplinary Studies in Plagiarism, Fabrication, and Falsification , 1 (4), 1-8.
Honesty and integrity play a large role in academics in different levels of expertise: Elementary, High School, and College. During elementary school, children are not only developing their physical bodies, but there minds as well. They a... ... middle of paper ... ...
Academic integrity is defined as the moral code or ethical policy of academia. With all morals and regulations, it is easy to fall short of them sometimes. This is primarily evident in the education system. Cheating is an often broken rule of academic integrity. The struggle to maintain academic integrity throughout college students has been an ongoing battle between cheating versus honesty, habitual repeat offenders versus commitment to integrity, and collusion versus cooperation.
Cheating on academic work is a serious issue that most students admit to doing at some point in their academic career. Elite students are surprisingly the culprits of cheating, but hide it well. (Romm, para 5) Cheating is such a large issue that “70% of students from a sample of 1,800 from nine campuses said they had cheated at least once during their college careers.” (Schneider, para 9) Students cheat on academic work because of different, ongoing pressures in their lives. Understanding the student’s motives and pressures are essential to preventing cheating from occurring in the future. Students cheat for different reasons specific to them regarding their priorities, pressures and because of how easy it has become. Even though eliminating cheating will not happen, there are actions that educational professionals can and should take to prevent most of it from happening so often. Therefor cheating problems are minimized and have a positive impact on the student’s education and understanding of concepts.
Academic dishonesty, specifically cheating and plagiarism, recently has increased in popularity. Students often justify unethical academic behavior. Technological innovations, like the cellular telephone, have provided students with new methods of cheating. Plagiarism has also been influenced through technologies, specifically internet companies have emerged that provide unethical solutions to academic assignments.
Morris, J, E, 2009, Approaches and strategies to foster a culture of academic honesty: how can we help students develop an understanding of good academic practice? Oxford, United Kingdom Higher Education Academy
Plagiarism is a serious offense and a growing trend in our society today. Some may associate plagiarism with the idea of taking someone else’s writing and making it their own. In fact plagiarism involves anything that is copied or taken and said to be of your own work. Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work, as by not crediting the author”. In fact this definition covers all types of cheating and misrepresentation of ones own work. There are many numbers and statistics that can be found on the amount of individuals that have admitted to cheating. Perhaps the most astounding number is one that was reported by Moeck in 2002 aloft of 40% of higher education students commit academic dishonesty. This number I’m sure has grown since this report and will continue to grow with the development of the Internet. There are a number of ideas and strategies that can be employed in order to stop this ever-growing phenomenon. As teachers and adults, we are responsible for stopping this trend and educating students about the consequences and dangers of plagiarism. I believe there are a variety of reasons individuals plagiarize. First, students are insecure with their own ability; they don’t believe they can do the work therefore they take others. Second, students believe they can get away with the act because they know others who have plagiarized, and there were not any consequences. Lastly, students are uneducated on what plagiarism is and do not know the consequences of their actions if they commit an act. These ideas will be the focus of the position taken on plagiarism in today’s academic society.
Jones, D. R. (2011). Academic Dishonesty: Are More Students Cheating?. Business Communication Quarterly, 74(2), 141-150. Retrieved from EBSCOhost
The failure of our education system is demonstrated by the fact that students are sacrificing their integrity for a handful of points on an assessment. Despite the efforts of honor codes, scholars have become numb to their purpose; they break such a promise of honesty to themselves, their teachers, and their peers without second thought. America’s children have lost the value of trust, compromising invaluable relationships with excuses regarding societal pressure and their excessive workloads. We cannot let such actions continue; if educators continue to tolerate cheating, our world may transition into one socially, economically, and politically operated by dishonest individuals. Society’s obsession with creating good academic performers has led to the subsequent creation of deceitful children and the possibility of a fraudulent