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Discuss the meaning and importance of ‘Academic Integrity’ in assignment completed by undergraduate students. Introduction On a research paper, how much information can you “borrow” with or without citing the original author? How do you cite the resources you “borrowed” or quoted from the original author? Will anyone know if you submit a friend’s research paper? No one can see you taking an online test from your living room – should that change how you take a test? 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? To take an easy example, would you want to be operated on by a doctor who cheated his way through medical school? Or would you feel comfortable on a bridge designed by an engineer who cheated her way through engineering school? Would you trust your tax return to an accountant who copied his exam papers from his neighbor?
All the above examples are reflective of a concept called academic integrity. This essay will be discussed two questions based around the general topic of ‘Academic Integrity’ in assignment completed by undergraduate students. The two questions to be discussed are what are the meaning of ‘Academic Integrity’? What is the important of ‘Academic Integrity’ in assignment completed by undergraduate students? What are the meanings of ‘Academic Integrity’? Integrity is important in all areas of life. Academic Integrity: A Letter to my Students*by William M. Taylor Professor of Political Science Oakton Community College Des Plains, Illinois) Academic integrity is a commitment, even in the face of adversity, that is based on five fundamental values including honesty, trust, fairness, respect and a responsibility for your actions. The Center for Academic Integrity 1999 (http://www. academicintegrity. org/fundemental_value_project/index. php) Academic integrity can also be defined, in one word, as honesty. The rinciple of academic integrity stretches beyond the limits of a classroom. Good students are honest with themselves, their professors, their roommates, and their community. “Academic integrity is the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and responsible manner. All students should act with personal integrity, respect other students’ dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can succeed through the fruits of their efforts. ” — www. psu. edu/ufs/policies/47-00. html#49-20
As part of student learning experience student will have a number of assignments to complete. Assignments are designed to help student learning and understanding of their subject by requiring student to demonstrate, through the completion of an assessment task, how well you have engaged with and understood the material you have studied. Assessment tasks will vary from subject to subject and can range from problem-solving to reporting on experimental data to the development and presentation of coherent and cogent arguments.
It is expected that in producing an assignment, student may need to read and gather information from a range of sources including books, journals, official reports, newspapers or material from the Internet as well as ideas generated in discussion with colleagues and other students. When presenting the assignment on a topic it is really important to do: • Must take full responsibility for all your submitted work; • Must ensure that all submitted work is your own; and • Must make a full and proper acknowledgment of the sources of your work and of their intellectual property.
These actions are the basis of good practice in the presentation of your assignment and they show academic integrity on your part. It means that you are being honest about showing how the work of others has helped you to form your own understanding and explanation of a topic. Violations of academic integrity include but are not limited to: CHEATING , COPYING ON A TEST , PLAGIARISM , ACTS OF AIDING OR ABETTING , UNAUTHORISED POSSESSION , SUBMITTING PREVIOUS WORK , TAMPERING WITH WORK , GHOSTING or MISREPRESENTATION , ALTERING EXAMS and COMPUTER THEFT.
What are the important of ‘Academic Integrity’ in assignment completed by undergraduate students? Integrity is “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. ” (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary) Integrity is an important quality in all aspects of life. Academic integrity is an essential part of your educational success. Academic work in a university depends on the practice of Academic Integrity as a core value. It is not only affects the climate at the university but it can also affect every other area of life for both staff and student.
The objective of university education is not only to further knowledge and academic excellence, but also to nurture human beings with high moral standards, who will be responsible citizens. The Fundamental values of Academic Integrity make clear, academic integrity is essential to the success of our mission as educations. It also provides a foundation for responsible conduct in our students’ lives after graduation. Academic integrity is of paramount importance at every educational institution.
A research institution has an obligation to provide an atmosphere based on scrupulous adherence to the rules of honesty. This climate of impeccable integrity must encompass every aspect of academic activity. The university’s role within the greater culture as provider of new knowledge and educator of future leaders demands no less. Whether your future career lays in academic institutions, in an independent professional role or in industry, government or community-based organizations, the people you interact with will respect the honesty and trustworthiness demonstrated in your professional life.
In universities, academic integrity is important because, without honesty and trust, true academic discourse becomes impossible, learning is distorted and the evaluation of student progress and academic quality is seriously compromised. As a student at university will be face many challenges, and opportunities to demonstrate integrity in your work. The sort of knowledge you are dealing with in University doesn’t just happen and it is not simply a set of facts! Knowledge is created progressively by the work of academics and students in analyzing, evaluating and interpreting existing theories and data presented by others.
Academics and students work and rely heavily on established sources of knowledge to generate new ideas, but in doing so they observe academic integrity by giving credit formally, to the ideas they have used. Cheating, plagiarism, and copyright violations are all considered violations of university academic integrity policy. Academic dishonesty hurts everyone in the community. It not only damages your personal reputation but also the reputation of the entire university. Unfortunately, many students commit accidental violations of academic integrity simply because they don’t know that what they are doing is wrong.
Others say they “had” to cheat because they didn’t have enough time to complete all of the work, or because “everyone else” is cheating and they won’t get a good grade unless they cheat too. Finally, Academic integrity, as with as much in life, involves a system of interconnected rights and responsibilities that reflect our mutual dependence upon one another. The success of our individual efforts in this course, as with so much in life, depends on all of us conscientiously exercising our rights and living up to our responsibilities.
And the failure of any of us–even just one of us–to do what is required will diminish, however slightly, the opportunity for the rest to achieve their goals. That is why it’s essential for all of us in this class to practice academic integrity, n both senses of the word practice. For practice today will lay a solid foundation for practice tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, so that through daily practice integrity will come to woven throughout the fabric of our lives, and thus through at least a part of the fabric of society.