Creating a culture of academic integrity in the university.

Abstract

What is academic integrity? Academic integrity involves “[u]nderstanding what it means to be honest in the particular culture of the academic world and being able to apply the scholarly conventions of acknowledgement,” such as proper citation of sources (7). Research has shown that students today, while familiar with the term academic integrity, do not have as strong of a grasp as they should of all that this concept entails. One research study found that a significant amount of plagiarism occurs simply because students lack sufficient understanding of what constitutes plagiarism (3), such as how to cite sources. In a more extreme form, academic dishonesty in its broadest definition includes “any form of fraud in an academic setting” (5). Instances include plagiarism, cheating on tests, deception,fabrication, exchanging work with other students or purchasing work; the latter has its own term: contract cheating, which refers to paying contractors to write the work (10; 1). Additionally, a 2015 research study showed that an estimated 17% of U.S. college students misuse ADHD drugs to enhance studying (11). (from Introduction)