Academic Integrity
Academic Integrity
Transcript
What is academic integrity? Academic integrity is abiding by the expectation that you will do your academic work in an honest and responsible way, and that it will be a reflection of your own understanding and your own effort. Essentially, what academic honesty means is that when you put your name on a piece of paper, or on an assignment, or on an essay, the understanding is that that work is your work, original to you, done by you. Academic integrity is a crucial value for the university, and it's really important for a couple of reasons.
The first is that it facilitates good learning, and it facilitates accurate evaluation of your learning. If you submit your own work and that work is an expression of your understanding, then the professor can evaluate that work to understand how well you understand the material. But if you're submitting someone else's work, or that work has been informed by someone else's understanding, then it's difficult to get an accurate evaluation of what you know and what you don't know. So in order to understand what you know, and in order to get good feedback from your professors, it's important that your work is original to you and done by you.
Second, academic integrity is an expression of the values of the university. Remember, the university is based on collaboration, production of knowledge, and sharing of knowledge. People generate intellectual property, and then they share it with each other in the interest of generating new, additional knowledge. But in order for that to work in a collaborative and ethical way, people need to get credit for the work that they've done, and they need to get credit for their own intellectual property. And so it's very important at a university that when you use someone else's ideas, or when you build off of someone else's understanding, that person gets the appropriate credit for it. The same would be true if you did your own research or you generated your own intellectual property. Of course, it goes without saying that your degree means much more if the work that led to that degree is done by you. When you get your degree at the end of your studies, you know that you earned it. And finally, integrity is an important value beyond school.
And so it's important to do your work in an academically integrous way, because when you go out into the world, people are going to be expecting integrity there as well. What forms does academic dishonesty take? It can look a couple of different ways. The most obvious is plagiarism, using someone else's words, or utilizing someone else's ideas, without giving appropriate credit to that person for their ideas. It's about appropriate, correct citation. It's absolutely reasonable to quote somebody else, and it's absolutely reasonable to use someone else's idea in your paper or as part of an exam. But it's important to give credit where credit is due. If you don't, if you claim someone else's words or someone else's ideas as your own, you can be charged with plagiarism.
Another form of academic dishonesty is unauthorized collaboration, turning solitary work into group work without the professor's permission. Collaboration is a bit of a tricky one, because collaboration is one of the primary values of a university, people working together and sharing ideas. But sometimes, a professor doesn't want you collaborating, because they want to test your knowledge, not everybody's knowledge. The good news is this: in every single class, your professor will outline clearly in the syllabus what their rules and regulations are around appropriate, authorized collaboration.
So if you have a question about what you're supposed to work on together versus what you're supposed to work on alone, check your syllabus, and if you have a question, reach out to your professor. Of course, cheating of any form is academic dishonesty, as is fabrication, the falsification or the making up of data, research, or other information that informs your academic work. And finally, facilitating any of these behaviors also counts as academic dishonesty. You may not copy someone else's paper, but if you allow your paper to be copied, you are guilty of academic dishonesty. So what kinds of things can you do, what kind of steps can you take, to make sure you keep yourself safe and do your work in an academically integrous way? The first one is simple. Know your school's honor code or their policy around academic integrity. If you don't know the rules, you can't follow them. And what we don't want to see is situations where students commit academic dishonesty without knowing that they've done it. Second, make sure to collaborate carefully. When you're working in a group in a class, make sure that you're abiding by the rules that the professor has set out for collaboration in the syllabus.
Again, collaboration is key to good academic work, but you need to do so in strict accordance with the rules that the professor has set out. Also, try to manage your time as effectively as you can. One of the main reasons that students commit acts of academic dishonesty is because they haven't given themselves enough time to complete their assignments. They're up against a deadline, they feel tremendous pressure, and rather than not complete the assignment, they cheat. So if you give yourself the time you need, you'll be less likely to be in a situation where you'll make a mistake.
Remember, if you need help, if you're feeling desperate, if you're feeling like you might make a bad choice, reach out to your professor, reach out to your academic advisor, or reach out to a friend. Better to reach out proactively than to make a mistake reactively and pay for it later. And finally, and this is probably the most important thing, if you have a question about what constitutes academic honesty or dishonesty, ask your professor. Go to office hours and ask a clarifying question about what good collaboration looks like. Write an email making sure that doing this or doing that is going to be okay according to the syllabus. You can get this clarification from your professor, and be mindful that different professors are going to have different expectations around academic dishonesty.
So it's really good practice to make sure that you know what each professor thinks about this as you complete assignments for their course. Finally remember, if it feels wrong while you're doing it, it's probably wrong. So if you have a question, reach out, get support, and make a responsible decision.
The first is that it facilitates good learning, and it facilitates accurate evaluation of your learning. If you submit your own work and that work is an expression of your understanding, then the professor can evaluate that work to understand how well you understand the material. But if you're submitting someone else's work, or that work has been informed by someone else's understanding, then it's difficult to get an accurate evaluation of what you know and what you don't know. So in order to understand what you know, and in order to get good feedback from your professors, it's important that your work is original to you and done by you.
Second, academic integrity is an expression of the values of the university. Remember, the university is based on collaboration, production of knowledge, and sharing of knowledge. People generate intellectual property, and then they share it with each other in the interest of generating new, additional knowledge. But in order for that to work in a collaborative and ethical way, people need to get credit for the work that they've done, and they need to get credit for their own intellectual property. And so it's very important at a university that when you use someone else's ideas, or when you build off of someone else's understanding, that person gets the appropriate credit for it. The same would be true if you did your own research or you generated your own intellectual property. Of course, it goes without saying that your degree means much more if the work that led to that degree is done by you. When you get your degree at the end of your studies, you know that you earned it. And finally, integrity is an important value beyond school.
And so it's important to do your work in an academically integrous way, because when you go out into the world, people are going to be expecting integrity there as well. What forms does academic dishonesty take? It can look a couple of different ways. The most obvious is plagiarism, using someone else's words, or utilizing someone else's ideas, without giving appropriate credit to that person for their ideas. It's about appropriate, correct citation. It's absolutely reasonable to quote somebody else, and it's absolutely reasonable to use someone else's idea in your paper or as part of an exam. But it's important to give credit where credit is due. If you don't, if you claim someone else's words or someone else's ideas as your own, you can be charged with plagiarism.
Another form of academic dishonesty is unauthorized collaboration, turning solitary work into group work without the professor's permission. Collaboration is a bit of a tricky one, because collaboration is one of the primary values of a university, people working together and sharing ideas. But sometimes, a professor doesn't want you collaborating, because they want to test your knowledge, not everybody's knowledge. The good news is this: in every single class, your professor will outline clearly in the syllabus what their rules and regulations are around appropriate, authorized collaboration.
So if you have a question about what you're supposed to work on together versus what you're supposed to work on alone, check your syllabus, and if you have a question, reach out to your professor. Of course, cheating of any form is academic dishonesty, as is fabrication, the falsification or the making up of data, research, or other information that informs your academic work. And finally, facilitating any of these behaviors also counts as academic dishonesty. You may not copy someone else's paper, but if you allow your paper to be copied, you are guilty of academic dishonesty. So what kinds of things can you do, what kind of steps can you take, to make sure you keep yourself safe and do your work in an academically integrous way? The first one is simple. Know your school's honor code or their policy around academic integrity. If you don't know the rules, you can't follow them. And what we don't want to see is situations where students commit academic dishonesty without knowing that they've done it. Second, make sure to collaborate carefully. When you're working in a group in a class, make sure that you're abiding by the rules that the professor has set out for collaboration in the syllabus.
Again, collaboration is key to good academic work, but you need to do so in strict accordance with the rules that the professor has set out. Also, try to manage your time as effectively as you can. One of the main reasons that students commit acts of academic dishonesty is because they haven't given themselves enough time to complete their assignments. They're up against a deadline, they feel tremendous pressure, and rather than not complete the assignment, they cheat. So if you give yourself the time you need, you'll be less likely to be in a situation where you'll make a mistake.
Remember, if you need help, if you're feeling desperate, if you're feeling like you might make a bad choice, reach out to your professor, reach out to your academic advisor, or reach out to a friend. Better to reach out proactively than to make a mistake reactively and pay for it later. And finally, and this is probably the most important thing, if you have a question about what constitutes academic honesty or dishonesty, ask your professor. Go to office hours and ask a clarifying question about what good collaboration looks like. Write an email making sure that doing this or doing that is going to be okay according to the syllabus. You can get this clarification from your professor, and be mindful that different professors are going to have different expectations around academic dishonesty.
So it's really good practice to make sure that you know what each professor thinks about this as you complete assignments for their course. Finally remember, if it feels wrong while you're doing it, it's probably wrong. So if you have a question, reach out, get support, and make a responsible decision.