Academic Integrity

In a society that promotes taking the easy way out and being part of a generation that is known for wanting instant results without the struggle, I have found myself to be an outlier while in college. I am one of the few students who would rather take a ‘C’ on an exam due to my failure in intellect than an ‘A’ due to cheating. Most academic dishonesty occurs not because of immorality, but because desperation sets in. I know better than anyone what that feels like, especially when it is a matter of passing or failing a class. However, it takes a truly honest and responsible person to preserve academic integrity when cheating and plagiarism are readily available. Although there are several definitions for academic integrity, to me academic

A person’s academic work and assignments reflect academic integrity, which is either responsible and honest or irresponsible and dishonest. In addition to academic work, someone’s choices and behavior show whether they are upholding academic integrity. Some may argue that academic integrity is futile since the outcome could be the same without demonstrating it, but there are several reasons why academic integrity is important. First of all, a person’s reputation depends significantly on whether they have integrity or not. If someone’s reputation is tarnished, it will follow them for the rest of their life. Their future will be severely impacted because of it, making it difficult to find a career and even more difficult to repair. The same goes for academic integrity as this is a determining factor if whether someone is prepared for the workplace and the business world. Another reason is that having a good reputation means that someone is capable of being a leader since they have proven to be honest and respectable. Being a leader also means that a person can be trusted, which is what academic integrity is all about. These types of people are the ones who successful both academically and professionally. Furthermore, academic

This is not only a tedious task, but a meticulous one as well. There have been times where I simply cannot reword something or put it into my own words and the thought of copying and pasting seemed enticing. It would be easier to do this, making the writing process much less time-consuming. Yet, giving credit to the original source is not any more difficult. In every paper I have written, I have properly cited my sources and credit others for their ideas. I know of cases where students have had others write their papers for them, which is something I could never fathom of doing. I trust my writing skills and know that practicing is the only way it can improve. Even if I get a low grade, that will only serve for me to learn and correct my mistakes. Having someone else write your paper hurts more than it helps as it does not prepare you for the professional world. The final instance where I showed academic integrity was last semester when I took Italian. I am not fluent in Spanish, so I had no crutch I could lean on going into Italian. It would be an understatement to say I struggled with this class. I constantly worried about my grades and received scores lower than what I am used to on the exams. I legitimately believed I would not pass the class. Other students told me how they took their exams; they would cheat. They would use their phones or look off someone