academic integrity Essay Examples

Academic Integrity Essay Example

Introduction

Academic integrity encapsulates the primary core values of honesty, fairness, trust, responsibility, and respect. From a student’s point of view, it equates to not cheating, or stealing. Academic integrity is the foundation of high ethics, honesty and scholarly values to advance credible intellectual analysis and learning. t is also the foundation of the establishment and practicality of an academic group which consists of the administrators, instructors, and students. It characterizes standards upheld by those in the group. Even so, the principle of academic honesty extends beyond the confines of a classroom. Good students are truthful to themselves, their teachers, friends, and community. This integrity helps students respect each other’s rights and property, thus, creating a suitable environment in which students can prosper through the fruits of their labor.

Importance of Academic Integrity

Students are given assignments as part of their learning experience. These assignments are designed to gauge the students’ understanding of the coursework, as well as reinforce what has been taught in class. The grades that they get show how well they have understood the material. It is likely that in an assignment, a student may need to research information from books, encyclopedias, journals, newspapers, official reports or online publications and websites and compile it. Academic integrity calls for honesty when writing and presenting assignments and other scholarly work. Whether you are writing a lab report or a research paper, it is vital that you do not get overpowered by your work. Avoid cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaborations or any other form of academic dishonesty. This will help you submit genuine work that can be accredited to you. Having scholarly integrity is also essential because it offers you peace of mind. Believing in doing the right things and acting on those beliefs helps reduce stress from your life, making you more productive and satisfied. Also, a lot of people respect persons with integrity because everyone knows that it is hard to do the right thing and be honest, and at times, making the correct choices may clash with what seems to be in our best interests. Plagiarism is stealing another person’s ideas and passing them on your own or copying ideas from a source without citing the source. Unauthorized collaboration is when you converse with a student who sat for an exam before you to know the questions asked in the test. Rather than doing this, you can believe in your intellect and abilities to carry out your work honestly without assuming credit for things you did not create. This will provide value to your degree. It will also help you develop good ethical habits that will be useful in the job industry. Employers prefer hiring graduates with credible degrees and high integrity. They prefer to put a lot of resources into someone who will have a positive impact on the organization and whom they can rely on to carry out the company’s goals. Academic programs that do not uphold strict integrity principles are a disservice to students and the community at large. They provide hollow degrees and poison the educational environment. Leaders of reputable institutions implement educational integrity values since they appreciate the importance of an earned degree from their schools. A degree from such an institution has a high marketplace and professional value. Therefore, to keep up desirable accreditations, schools must insist on strict integrity principles. It is better to be associated with a school that has a good reputation and offers credible degrees than one that churns out degrees of low academic value. When you complete your degree honestly, you play an essential role in upholding the reputation of the university that you graduate from, and that is something to be proud of. Academic integrity allows fairness for all students. Students who cheat on tests gain a short-lived advantage the other students, and that is unfair. Submitting the work of a published author when others are handing in their writing or having a cheat-sheet in an exam when others are depending on memory is not fair. Therefore, cultivating integrity in the education sector will create an environment where all students have an equal chance at getting an education. Fraudulent academic acts undermine the learning process in different ways. They stunt the advancement of vital skills such as reading, writing, comprehension, research, and analysis. They also prevent students from recognizing their strengths and weak points in these areas. Students are also unable to develop the self-confidence that originates from accomplishing a task on their effort. For these reasons, it is evident that deceptive scholarly behavior defeats the educational objectives of an institution.

Conclusion

Academic integrity is vital to education and scholarly establishments. As a learner, it is best to believe in yourself and conduct yourself with integrity. Do not be pressured into committing dishonest acts as this only degrades the professional and academic value of your degree.