Chapter 3. Putting Ideas into Your Own Words and Paragraphs

3.4 Choosing Integrity

Chapter Overview

This chapter aims to help you understand what academic integrity is, how to use sources ethically, and how to avoid plagiarism and its consequences. Plagiarism is defined as using someone else’s text, language, ideas, content, or visuals without acknowledging the source.

What is academic integrity?

Vital to success in college is the ability to demonstrate academic integrity, a term that can be viewed from a number of different perspectives, as the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) makes clear. This organization, which promotes academic integrity initiatives around the world, defines the term “as a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage” (ICAI, 2017, para. 1). The ICAI emphasizes that students can add worth to their own assignments by upholding these values (ICAI, 2013, p. 16) and explains how the values impact academic work. Specifically,

  • “Academic communities of integrity advance the quest for truth and knowledge through intellectual and personal honesty in learning, teaching, research, and service” (p. 18).
  • “Academic communities of integrity both foster and rely upon climates of mutual trust. Climates of trust encourage and support the free exchange of ideas which in turn allows scholarly inquiry to reach its fullest potential” (p. 20).
  • “Academic communities of integrity establish clear and transparent expectations, standards, and practices to support fairness in the interactions of students, faculty, and administrators” (p. 22).
  • “Academic communities of integrity value the interactive, cooperative, participatory nature of learning. They honor, value, and consider diverse opinions and ideas” (p. 24).
  • “Academic communities of integrity rest upon foundations of personal accountability coupled with the willingness of individuals and groups to lead by example, uphold mutually agreed-upon standards, and take action when they encounter wrongdoing” (p. 26).
  • “To develop and [sustain] communities of integrity, it takes more than simply believing in the fundamental values. Translating the values from talking points into action—standing up for them in the face of pressure and adversity—requires determination, commitment, and courage” (p. 28).

While facilitating an activity at Montana Technological University, the institution’s writing instructors found that students, faculty, and staff expanded the ICAI’s definition in various practical ways, as the following responses illustrate.

Activity prompt: What does academic integrity mean to you?

  • “Doing the right thing at the right time or getting help if you need it.”
  • “It means always doing your own work and asking for help instead of cheating.”
  • “Doing the right thing when no one is watching.”
  • “Assigning credit to the author of any work.”
  • “Respecting yourself [and] your school.”
  • “Completing your own work honestly.”
  • “Being honest [with] yourself [and] those around you [at] all times.”
  • Activity prompt: When people demonstrate academic integrity, they…
  • “Take pride in their own work by completing the work themselves.”
  • “Ask for help from their professors when they need it.”
  • “Academic integrity means being honest, earning your grade through hard work, and appreciating yourself and your accomplishments.”

Having read through how others define academic integrity, how would you interpret it? In other words, how would you respond to the activity prompts? Record your answers below.

 

As the discussion in this textbook section indicates, academic integrity influences and impacts much of what happens in college.

How does a writer use sources ethically?

The following infographic, produced by Indian River State College Libraries (2019), provides further detail about paraphrasing, quoting, and citing. Infographics combine text, visuals, and numbers to communicate dense information in quick and easy-to-read formats. Read the infographic carefully, and answer these questions about it.

  1. According to the infographic, why should writers cite and reference sources?
  2. What other reasons can you think of for citing and referencing sources?

     

  3. Why might an infographic be a useful tool for reaching a general audience of readers?

     

Draw upon the information in this infographic and textbook section to use sources ethically when completing your own work.

What constitutes plagiarism?

To help you understand what constitutes plagiarism, review another infographic produced by Turnitin, a company that sells text-matching detection software and conducts research on academic integrity topics. While reviewing the infographic entitled “The Plagiarism Spectrum” (Turnitin, 2016), which can be found at https://www.turnitin.com/static/plagiarism-spectrum/, notice what kind of activities are classified as plagiarism. What do you find surprising about the infographic?

 

The following case studies, which are adapted from Lumen Learning’s online course English Composition (n.d., “Defining Plagiarism”), detail other instances of plagiarism. Review these case studies.

Plagiarism Case Studies

Case 1:

You have cut and pasted information from articles you found on websites into a file on your computer. While writing your essay, you patch together pieces from different sources and occasionally lose track of which ideas are your own and which are from various articles. You consider going back to the original sources, but the prospect is daunting. In any case, you figure that if your professor queries your sources, you can say you did not intentionally plagiarize and this will result in a lesser punishment.

In reality, unintentional plagiarism is still intellectual theft, and poor note-taking skills are not a mitigating circumstance when punishment is decided. Here are some tips for avoiding unintentional plagiarism. If you take notes on a computer rather than on paper, create a special folder for citation information. In fact, it would be a good idea to create a number of folders: one for your paper, another for sources, and another for the notes you take from each source. Maintain all the information for the reference list as you go, and even complete citations and references as you are writing to save time and effort later. When taking notes, identify your sources, enclose direct quotes in quotation marks, and duplicate every punctuation mark. Avoid using the author’s language when paraphrasing or summarizing information, unless, of course, you quote verbatim from the original. Here is a tip for keeping your ideas separate from those in your sources: either identify each idea as your own, that is, cite yourself, or use a different color or font for your ideas on screen. In addition, print out your sources whenever possible, even when you have a file version on your computer. Working from the paper sources will allow you to check quotations for accuracy.

 

What do you find surprising about the five cases you read?

Now read another case, adapted from a document adapted from a document entitled “Scenario Resource: Sharing or Cheating” (Contract Cheating and Assessment Design, n.d.b, paras. 2-3).

Case Study: Sharing or Cheating?

Thomas Anderson is a highly motivated, third-year business student who has consistently achieved excellent results throughout his university studies. His younger brother, Andrew, is less academically oriented, but with Thomas’ encouragement has just enrolled in a business class at the same university Thomas attends. Having spent most of the first few weeks of the semester enjoying the business class, Andrew finds himself confused by the requirements of the first assignment just days from the submission due date. Thomas looks at the assignment and is pleased to see that while the questions are different, the content is similar to the one he completed in his first year. He offers his assignment to Andrew to give him an idea of structure and style. Andrew has every intention of completing the assignment himself, but having missed some critical classes is still unable to make much sense of the assignment. He does his best to paraphrase Thomas’ work and submits the assignment with just minutes to spare before the deadline. A few days later, Thomas and Andrew receive separate invitations to meet with the course professor to discuss the similarity between their two assignments.

 

  • What are some of the critical issues in this case?
  • Has Thomas engaged in sharing or cheating behavior?

     

  • How should the professor respond to each student?
  • How can Andrew be supported in his studies to ensure that he completes his own work and achieves the learning objectives for the course?

 

Here is another case, adapted from a document entitled “Collaborating with Integrity” (McGowan, 2016, as cited in Contract Cheating and Assessment Design, n.d.a, p. 2).

Case Study: Collaboration or Cheating?

Amara Patel is working on an assignment and pays a professional assignment writer to complete parts of it for her. She knows that businesses regularly outsource work, so as long as she pays a fair price, she believes the work belongs to her and she can submit it as her own.
  • Does the work belong to Amara?
  • Would it be worse if Amara had outsourced the whole assignment?
  • Would it be worse if Amara had not paid money for the assignment?
  • How can Amara be supported in her studies to ensure that she completes her own work and achieves the learning objectives for the course?

To draw this section to a close, plagiarism and cheating are wrong because they are behaviors that seek to gain advantage over others by deception. They have far-reaching consequences, according to information adapted from Penn State University (2017b, “Why Plagiarism and Cheating are Wrong”), which include loss of academic and professional reputation, receipt of failing grades, expulsion from college, withdrawal of diplomas, and damage to career prospects. These behaviors also disrespect peers who complete their own work and earn their grades fairly, cause others to question the reputation of a dishonest student’s educational institution, show disrespect for instructors who trust that students will complete their own work, and prevent deceitful students from learning and practicing skills they will likely need in their future careers.

How does a writer avoid plagiarism and its consequences?

Penn State University (2017a, “How You Can Avoid Situations that Lead to Academic Dishonesty”) recommends that students avoid situations that lead to academic dishonesty by doing the following:

  • Be proactive. If you do not understand an assignment or are unclear about your instructor’s expectations, ask early in the semester.
  • Plan ahead. Look at the workload for all your courses. When are your assignments due? How much work will each take? What can you start on right away?
  • Know where to find information and resources, such as guidance on citation and referencing and university policies about academic integrity.

 

References

Contract Cheating and Assessment Design. (n.d.a). Collaborating with integrity. License: CC-BY-NC-SA. https://cheatingandassessment.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/STUDENT-RESOURCE-Collaborating-with-integrity.pdf

Contract Cheating and Assessment Design. (n.d.b). Scenario resource: Sharing or cheating? License: CC-BY-NC-SA. https://cheatingandassessment.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Scenario_sharing-or-cheating.pdf

ICAI. (2013). The fundamental values of academic integrity (2nd ed.). (T. Fishman, Ed.). https://www.academicintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Fundamental-Values-2014.pdf

ICAI. (2017). Fundamental values of academic integrity. https://www.academicintegrity.org/fundamental-values/

Indian River State College (IRSC) Libraries. (2019, March 25). Paraphrasing and quoting 101 APA style [Infographic]. License CC-BY-NC-SA.  https://irsc.libguides.com/apa/paraphrase

Lumen Learning. (n.d.). Defining plagiarism. In English composition. License: CC-BY-SA.  https://courses.lumenlearning.com/cochiseeng101/chapter/defining-plagiarism/

McKeever, R. (n.d.). Editing and proofreading strategies. Yuba College Writing & Language Development Center. License CC-BY-NC..https://yc.yccd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/EditingProofingAccessibleMarch2019.pdf

Office of Community Standards, Student Affairs. (n.d.). Sample plagiarism cases. Stanford University. https://communitystandards.stanford.edu/policies-and-guidance/what-plagiarism/sample-plagiarism-cases

Penn State University. (2017a, August 8). iStudy for success!: Excuses and penalties. License: CC-BY-NC-SA. http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/academicintegrity/academicintegrity7.html

Penn State University. (2017b, August 8). iStudy for success!: Plagiarism and cheating. License: CC-BY-NC-SA. http://tutorials.istudy.psu.edu/academicintegrity/academicintegrity3.html

Turnitin. (2016). The plagiarism spectrum [Infographic]. https://www.turnitin.com/static/plagiarism-spectrum/

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