2.5 Academic Integrity
Questions to consider:
- What are the steps to a good research study?
- What are the parts of a research study in a peer-reviewed journal article?
- How should you read a peer-reviewed article?
Why Academic Integrity Matters
A degree, diploma or certificate achieved without compromising your own integrity and simultaneously upholding campus academic integrity standards, is a true representation of all the hard work and dedication you put into your studies. You will also be well prepared for success in your career as you have put the necessary time and effort into your work, gained much knowledge and developed many valuable skills, such as research, critical thinking and writing skills, and much more.
What does Academic Integrity Mean?
The International Center for Academic Integrity (2013), defines academic integrity as a commitment to uphold six fundamental values in the academic community, which are defined below:
Honesty
Honest students respect university policies, follow the instructions of their professors and do their work on their own, without any unauthorized help. Dishonest behavior, such as lying, cheating, fraud, theft, impersonating another person, falsification of data and the like, are morally and ethically not acceptable to a person of integrity.
Trust
If you are always honest, you will be able to build a relationship of trust both with your peers and with your instructors. Trust is established over time and is based mostly on your actions.
Fairness
A person of integrity is fair. You are fair to your peers when you do your own work, to authors when you acknowledge their work you use by citing it, to the university when you respect and follow academic integrity standards, and to alumni when your behavior helps to support the value of their degree.
Respect
You show respect when you adhere to your assignment instructions, when you actively participate in learning and show interest in gaining new knowledge, when you contribute your thoughts to the academic discourse while accepting that others may disagree with you, when you credit others for their ideas, and when you show that you are putting your best efforts forward.
Responsibility
You show responsible behavior when you lead by example, when you resist negative peer pressure, and when you discourage others from violating academic integrity principles. Being responsible means being accountable to yourself and others and to do your work to the best of your abilities.
Courage
To uphold academic integrity standards requires the courage to resist temptations for the “easy way out” and to speak up against wrongdoing.
Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures
Alamo Colleges Academic Integrity Policy: College personnel with administrative authority may initiate disciplinary proceedings against a student accused of scholastic dishonesty. “Scholastic dishonesty” includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion.
Academic integrity violations cover conduct involving scholastic dishonesty. It is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct to engage in or to assist others to engage in the following conduct:
- Sale of Academic Product. Preparing, selling, offering or advertising for sale, or delivering to another person an Academic Product, in exchange for anything of value.
- Academic Enticement or Influence. Influencing or attempting to influence an employee, faculty member or administrator.
- Academic Misconduct. The intentional violation of college policies, such as tampering with grades, misrepresenting one’s identity, or taking part in obtaining or distributing any part of a test or assessment.
- Cheating. The use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids; or an act of deceit by which a student attempts to misrepresent academic skills or knowledge; or unauthorized copying or collaboration.
- Fabrication. Intentional misrepresentation or invention of any information, such as falsifying research, inventing or exaggerating data, or listing incorrect or fictitious references.
- Collusion. Assisting another to commit an act of academic dishonesty, such as paying or bribing someone to acquire a test or assignment, taking a test or doing an assignment for someone else, or allowing someone to do these things for one’s own benefit.
- Plagiarism. The unauthorized or undocumented use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.
Consequences for violating the Academic Integrity Policy can range from a warning to failing the course. See the Student Code of Conduct in the Student Handbook available on the SAC website for more details.
What is the best way to avoid committing a violation?
- Be honest in all areas
- Do your own work
- Submit original work
- Only work with others if your instructor permits it
- If permitted to work in groups, acknowledge contributions of others
- Acknowledge all your sources of information by citing them properly
- Learn to quote, paraphrase and summarize properly
- Get help if needed
- Do not help another person commit a violation
Understanding Plagiarism
Plagiarism is one of the most frequent academic integrity violations. It ranges in severity from blatant to inadvertent. Plagiarism is defined as the misrepresentation of something as your own. There are many definitions of the word plagiarism. Using someone’s words, ideas or other works without giving credit is plagiarism. A student could submit a whole work that is not their own, for example, a paper purchased online. Or a student may get distracted or overwhelmed and forget to cite sources. This is still plagiarism.
Plagiarism often starts at the note-taking stage of the research process. Thus, when taking notes, be sure to distinguish between paraphrases and direct quotations. When you are copying an exact quotation, note all the information you will need for the citation. It is a good idea to make a system for yourself, perhaps color coding, when doing your research. Make direct quotations one color and your own paraphrasing of ideas another color. Both quotations and paraphrases need to be cited with sources, both within the paper and at the end in a reference page.
Avoiding Plagiarism
You certainly have heard about plagiarism and how important it is not to let yourself participate in it. It is so easy to read through many other people’s work and grab a sentence here and there to put into your work. When struggling to come up with ideas, you may also find yourself borrowing from others. Neither of these is a good idea.
While the process of writing authentically and avoiding plagiarism must be focused from the start, you can avoid a world of trouble by double-checking your near-final work with a source identification site or plagiarism detector. Doing so can help you avoid any unintentional reuse of others’ work and may simply identify a source you forgot to cite. You must follow best practices to ensure that you don’t plagiarize. At SAC, you can get help in the Library or the Writing Center.
| Tips for avoiding plagiarism | Don’t procrastinate |
| Take careful notes about where ideas are from | |
| Ask for help |
Figure 2.9 Tips for avoiding plagiarism include not procrastinating, taking careful notes on sources, and asking for help.
Reusing your work
Sometimes you might be tempted to reuse old papers or projects you’ve completed for another class, especially if that work is applicable for your current assignment. Recycling is a form of plagiarism called self-plagiarism. This refers to submitting your own previous work, entirely or partially, in another course as new and original. This type of recycled work could be flagged as plagiarism by plagiarism detection software, and is unacceptable in many courses. Different disciplines have differing attitudes toward this kind of recycling, ranging from tolerance in very specific situations to absolutely forbidding it in all cases.
Before you resubmit work or assignments you have completed for a different course or purpose, you should always discuss with your instructor whether it is permitted to recycle your own work like this, whether in part or in its entirety.
Activity 2.4
Consider the following scenarios and provide the best course of action for each.
- You are a new student and are juggling to keep up with your courses while also working a part-time job. You are a bit stressed about an upcoming exam. A student who is a year ahead of you offers you a copy of an exam and informs you all the exams for this course can be found online. What action would be acceptable?
- You are having difficulties with one of your courses. You have been stuck on your essay for a whole week already. You are afraid that you may fail the course if you can’t turn this situation around. What should you do?
Appropriate Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Every class has a syllabus that tells you about the plan for learning and the professor’s expectations. In most courses, professors will also include rules for using AI. Read the syllabus carefully and if AI isn’t mentioned, ask the professor about it right away.
Expect that AI policies will very between professors, courses and even by projects and class assignments. Some faculty members will encourage or even require you to use AI, while other will prohibit it. Those decisions are based on the learning goals for the course. Keep track of the policies for each course and assignment so that you don’t get confused.
To apply the highest ethical standards when using AI, keep the following points in mind.
- Originality: Ensure all work submitted is your own, representing your unique voice and ideas. When permitted, you can use AI tools for help but not to do the work for you, unless your professor says it’s okay to use AI in a specific way.
- Acknowledgement and attribution: Follow your professors’ and your institution’s rules for acknowledging or citing AI use. If you are uncertain, ask about it. The APA and MLA source guides provide guidelines for citing generative AI work.
- Data security and safety: Any information you share with an AI tool is no longer private and may be used in ways you can’t control. Guard your data vigilantly – never share sensitive, personal or confidential information about yourself, others or your organization with AI systems.
Quick Quiz 2.5
- What does academic integrity mean?
- How do you avoid plagiarism in your academic work?
- What is the responsible way to use artificial intelligence?