Stick figure animation on academic integrity and dishonesty. Transcript: Academic Integrity What is it? It is used very often buy rarely defined. It means acting with truth and honesty in all learning situations; doing your own work, acknowledging the work of others, and reporting honestly your findings and discoveries. The opposite of academic integrity is academic dishonesty. What is academic dishonesty? Academic dishonesty is using the work of others as your own, reporting false or misleading findings, or copying others' work and submitting it as your own original work. Copying includes copying from the internet. Remember that professors use Google, too. And they know the websites that offer papers and assignments for sale. Using even a sentence of someone else's words without referencing the source is cheating – called plagiarism. Plagiarism includes taking credit for someone else's ideas (like claiming you thought up the Theory of Relativity). Plagiarism is also taking sentences or paragraphs from someone else's work and rearranging a few words so it will look like your own. Academic dishonesty also includes giving someone the answers or obtaining the answers from someone in advance. Some students believe that hard exams or pop quizzes are an excuse to cheat. Cheating is cheating, no matter what the excuse. Professors know all the tricks. Remember they were students once upon a time. Do not have someone take your exams, nor take exams for someone else. Claiming that you "didn't know it was cheating" is not an excuse. Every student is responsible for knowing and following the rules. So what might happen if you are dishonest? You will fail the assignment and probably fail the class, Be put on academic probation and not be able to enrol in some programs; You can be kicked out of the University; And have it on your academic records forever. That means any employer, graduate or professional school that asks must be told you were guilty of academic dishonesty. So what should you do? Know the University's policy on academic integrity and follow the rules. Make sure you understand the guidelines in each class. Different professors have different policies on group work, studying from old tests, and take-home exams. At a minimum, you are expected to spend 2 hours of study time for every hour of class time. So schedule and plan ample time to study and complete assignments. Learn to build your knowledge. There is no shortcut to becoming smarter. Do your own work. Take your own exams. Once you cheat, you have to keep cheating as the material becomes more and more difficult. Report cheaters, because they effect class standings, the grading curve, and the reputation of your program or major. If you use another person's idea, give him or her credit. The only time you don't need to cite your source is when you are using common knowledge like 2+2=4 or "The Grand Canyon is one of the world's natural wonders." And if you have too much work due on a particular day, talk with your professors. When you finally receive your diploma, you will be confident that the skills and knowledge that have been rewarded has been earned and really belong to you.