What is Academic Honesty? (And why you should care!)

Academic Honesty Doing your own work Taking pride in the work you turn in Citing source material in your papers Doing your own homework Writing all your papers in your own words

What is academic dishonesty? Plagiarism Cheating (copying homework, cheating on tests etc.) Taking pictures of test material Copying and pasting from the internet and passing it off as your own Not citing research

Definition: Plagiarism is the act of presenting the words, ideas, images, sounds, or the creative expression of others as your own.

Students. If: You have probably plagiarized! you have copied, included, downloaded, the words and ideas of others in your work that you neglected to cite, you have had help you wouldn’t want your teacher to know about,

Two types of plagiarism: Intentional Copying a friend’s work Buying or borrowing papers Cutting and pasting blocks of text from electronic sources without documenting Media “borrowing” without documentation Web publishing without permissions of creators Unintentional Careless paraphrasing Poor documentation Quoting excessively Failure to use your own “voice”

(Job, big game, too much homework!) Excuses Everyone does it! No one gets caught! It’s okay if I don’t get caught! I was too busy to write that paper! (Job, big game, too much homework!) This assignment was BORING! I don’t know the material My teachers expect too much! What do you think of these excuses? Are they valid? My parents expect “A”s!

Rationale for academic integrity (as if it were necessary!) Is your academic reputation valuable to you? When you copy you cheat yourself. You limit your own learning. The consequences are not worth the risks! It is only right to give credit to authors whose ideas you use Citing gives authority to the information you present Citing makes it possible for your readers to locate your source Education is not an “us vs. them” game! It’s about learning to learn! Cheating is unethical behavior How would you assess the level of “academic integrity” at our school? Do you believe our students understand and take these rationale seriously?

Possible school consequences: First Offense: Teacher notifies parent Student fails assignment Referral to Academic Board Second Offense: OCS for 1 day Zero on assignment Third Offense In addition to the consequences outlined in “First Offense” the following may occur: Referral to administrator for suspension (2-3 days) with parent conference Is it worth the risk? What do you think? Is plagiarism worth the risk?

No need to document when: You are discussing your own experiences, observations, or reactions Compiling the results of original research, from science experiments, etc.

original ideas without few words, I’m okay, right? What’s the big deal? Wrong! Paraphrasing original ideas without documenting your source is plagiarism too! If I change a few words, I’m okay, right?

You can “borrow” from the works of others in your own work, as long as you give it credit!

Remember: Your teacher knows your work Your teachers discuss student work with each other Your teacher checks suspicious work against search engines and other student papers We expect honesty from our students because PRIDE MATTERS!