School can sometimes be challenging. Your career can sometimes be challenging. Things that are expected of you on a daily basis can sometimes be challenging. One rule to remember is when it comes to cheating, you are only cheating yourself. Dishonesty, academic integrity and academic honesty are the key points I will discuss during this paper. I will allow you to learn the things I have learned about the research I have done pertaining work credibility. I will discuss personal mistakes I have committed as well as what shall happen moving forward.
Faculty of education members says, “Attitudes toward cheating, perceived behavioral control, and moral obligation are positively related to the intention to cheat, but only the subjective norm against cheating is significantly related to self-reported cheating behavior”. The most common definition of plagiarism is the act of copying someone else’s work without giving them any credit. Although this is true, the act of plagiarism can take on many forms and be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
This then brings the question what is defined as plagiarism? By taking someone else’s idea and putting them off as your own thoughts and beliefs can be considered a violation of plagiarism. By also taking someone else’s work even if it’s only a part of it and developing an entirely new fictitious piece of work is an act of plagiarism. Also, by having someone do your work for you is also an act of plagiarism because it is not your original thoughts and ideas. While plagiarism can be taken on in many forms, the consequences of plagiarizing are also countless.
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There are four types of plagiarism. They are as follows, direct plagiarism, mosaic plagiarism, and accidental plagiarism. Direct plagiarism is what I have described above- taking someone’s ideas word for word without any recognition. Self plagiarism means submitting the same work that has been done in the past without any permission.
Writer and mathematician Jeff Offutt would beg to differ. In his “Editorial: Self‐plagiarism is not a thing”, he goes on to say, “The definition of plagiarism makes it quite simple … copying from ourselves is not plagiarism. We are not using “someone else’s” work, we are using our own. There could be a copyright problem, depending on who owns the copyright for the paper. But that’s very different from plagiarism and not usually something reviewers should be concerned with”. People have different ideas about self-plagiarism, but I think the main objective is the dishonesty.
Mosaic plagiarism when a writer uses someone else’s ideas but refrains from using quotation marks to imply that it belongs to someone else. Accidental plagiarism is the same as any other form of plagiarism except it wasn’t the author’s intention. Dr. Joob says, “The interesting question is whether there is an actual unintentional plagiarism. In fact, it is the responsibility of the author to verify that their work contains no plagiarized data”. Just like you proofread for spelling and grammar mistakes, you must check for plagiarism as well.
According to Capella University’s Policy 3.01.0, plagiarism is defined as, “Presenting someone else’s ideas or work as one’s own. Plagiarism also includes copying verbatim or rephrasing ideas without properly acknowledging the source by author, date, and publication medium”.(Learner Affairs). When you fail to cite your sources or when you cite them inadequately, you commit plagiarism, an offense that is taken extremely seriously in academic world and is a misconduct. (Dahmmi)
According to Capella University’s Policy 3.03.06 Research Misconduct, they state, “Capella University expects that research will be conducted with integrity and individuals engaged in research will review this policy and otherwise make themselves aware of what constitutes ethical and responsible conduct in research”. In order to begin research you have to go into it with a clear mind. You must understand what is appropriate and what is not. Research misconduct is under the umbrella of fabrications, plagiarism and other impermissible uses of text.
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty go hand in hand. Academic dishonesty can affect your life in a negative way. When an individual plagiarizes, the outcome is never a good experience. Plagiarism is when someone fraudulently makes use of someone else’s work and attempt to take credit for it as if it was their own. It is never good to pilfer someone else thoughts or ideas and attempt to take credit for it. The consequences in the act of plagiarism can result in failure or an assignment or course, follow an individual for the rest of their career, and expelled from a college.
Academic Integrity is your moral standard. It is a challenge that you are facing every day while studying. Today, with unlimited access to the internet it is essential to keep yourself within the boundaries of the Student Code of Academic Integrity. One of the most common ways how you can violate this code is plagiarism. There is a lot of ways how you can cross these boundaries, it includes using information from a source without the citation, not citing it correctly or uploading someone’s work like it’s yours. Another way to violate a student code is a fabrication. Fabrication includes things like making up a source that doesn’t exist or citing a source that you didn’t use. The final example would be unauthorized assistance. This term means that a student uses unapproved resources to get answers to the assignments in their class. This could be another student or a faculty member. “The reasons of plagiarism can be due to unawareness on the ethics, integrity policies, cultural values, and poor language proficiency. [3] Ignorance to plagiarism cannot be provided as an excuse” (Chander).
Sources in simplest terms is your research. Gordon Harvey writer of “Writing with Sources: A Guide for Students states: What is a source? Almost any record of experience can be one, if it can be consulted by others: a painting or video clip or letter, a video broadcast or a blog entry, a review of a defunct magazine or statistics from a weather balloon. It becomes a live source, however, only when it becomes a source of something for somebody, when it plays a particular role in a particular scholar’s work. (Harvey)
References are essential to almost every work of writing. It makes your work creditable especially when you have “back up”. In order to use a reference, the correct way, you must cite it either throughout your writing or at the end. “Good referencing includes attention to detail such as correct page numbering, the spelling of author’s names and the accuracy of relevant facts that will be stated in the paper. Attention to referencing not only makes you a better researcher but enhances your reputation amongst editors, reviewers and readers” (Ario Santini).
Quoting, paraphrasing and summarizing are similar in that they allow a writer to integrate the work of another writer into his own work. However, the application methods are different. Quotations are identical from the original text. You have to use quotation marks at the beginning and end of the section you want to use. After the quote you must you an in text citation to let the reader know it is a direct quote. Paraphrasing is when you put a passage in your own words from the source material. Just like with a quotation an in-text citation much me used. Summarizing is when you put the text or the main idea into your own words. This information should still be cited but does not need an in-text citation. “Quoting should only be done sparingly in order to show your professor and audience that you have your own” (NMU).
There are many ways to avoid plagiarism such as citing all of your sources, scrutinize your sources, avoid writing blind and plagiarism trackers. The instructor of your course can give you the plagiarism guidelines at the beginning of your course. When a student is quoting from a source, it important to cite all of their sources. The student must understand the format of their academic assignment. There are also many online sources and books that can be exceedingly helpful for writing assignments. Turnitin is a helpful tool that can assist academics to detect plagiarism. This software is also a way for students to check their paper for plagiarism before they submit it to their instructor.
Capella University has some tips on how to avoid plagiarism. They recommend keeping s bibliography tracking list. This is an easy system to have your sources as you continue to write instead of going back and creating a list after your paper is done. They recommend, “Put direct quotes in quotation marks…Note the page number(s) where the quotes can be found” (Capella). They have also recommended that whenever you have paraphrased make a note to ensure that you do not forget to cite it later on.
After reading the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct”, some principles stuck out to me the most. Principle C from the General Principle category talks about the overall integrity of the professional. The first section states, “Psychologists seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in the science, teaching, and practice of psychology. In these activities psychologists do not steal, cheat or engage in fraud, subterfuge, or intentional misrepresentation of fact” (Apa). Psychologist are supposed to create a safe environment for their patients. Their patients must feel confident enough confided in them.
Another principle that stuck out to me was from Resolving Ethical Issues. I chose section 1.01 Misuse of Psychologists’ Work. Psychologist can come across the opportunities to misrepresent or misuse their work. As someone who in fact sees a psychologist bi-weekly, I would want to make sure my doctor is giving me accurate information. I think it is safe to say, someone whom is honest and well rounded in their craft is held on a higher platform than a fraud.
After reading the, “Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association”, I took away a few points. I learned how to cite different types of sources including but not limited to, newspaper articles, advertisements, electronic book and more. As I stated before, all evidence or sources must be cited either during or after your work. It puts a credibility stamp on your work.
Having integrity is a key value that affects both academic and professional life. If you cheat to gain an advantage in academia, you can also suffer consequences for your actions, not only from the knowledge. Such activities could mean demotion or even termination of your job in the professional setting. As an individual I have to do my own work, use credible sources and I must be honest with myself and others about my actions. I do not want to be labeled as a liar, fraudulent or overall someone who can not be trusted. I would rather overly cite my work moving forward than leave pieces out.
I am a full-time student, a full-time employee and I am transitioning to becoming an adult. I have always been sheltered and my parents have always done everything for me. I am learning things about the world that I have been blind to for a long time. I can no longer hide behind my parents because I am an adult. It is now my responsibility to deal with the repercussions based on the decisions I make. As I worked on this essay I learned that you can not cheat your way to success. This is something that I have learned from. I do believe that whatever is hidden will eventually be brought forth.
I was lucky enough to have Dr. Jean Hunt as my professor. I got a chance to have an open and honest conversation with her about what I have done. I let her know what I did and why I did it. Dr. Hunt was able to share some information about herself that helped me realize that I am not alone during my academic journey. I thought maybe plagiarizing was quicker and easier just to have something to submit to my professor. I have learned that one mistake can ruin everything. So, moving forward I have chose to work smarter. It was easy to copy and paste information that was not mine, but the consequence can hover over me for the rest of my life. Every single day as a student I can make a choice to be honest with myself and others. I believe this is important value to practice and uphold in personal, academic and professional environments. I would like to graduate with an honest Psychology degree because that holds more weight than a fraudulent degree.
One of the most famous tragedy play writers, Sophocles once said “I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating”. I do not want to lose myself, my freedom or dignity. I would rather play a fair game in life and know where my strengths and weaknesses are rather than lie to myself and everyone else. Writing this essay has been an overall learning experience for me. I do not want to fall into the same negative traps. I want to continue to learn, grow and refrain from negativity. Be said I will continue to work smarter with everything I do no matter how difficult it may be. I vow to put academic honesty before any assignment I submit and be honest with myself.
References
- Carla S. Myers (2018) Plagiarism and copyright: Best practices for classroom education, College & Undergraduate Libraries, 25:1, 91-99, DOI: 10.1080/10691316.2017.1391028
- Cartwright, M. (2019, February 10). Sophocles. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/sophocles/
- Chander, N. (2017). Plagiarism sensitized. Journal of Indian Prosthodontic Society, 17(4) doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.4103/jips.jips_256_17
- Chester Chun Seng Kam, Ming Tak Hue & Hoi Yan Cheung (2018) Academic dishonesty among Hong Kong secondary school students: application of theory of planned behaviour, Educational Psychology, 38:7, 945-963, DOI: 10.1080/01443410.2018.1454588
- Detlef Urhahne. (2018) Primary education and secondary education. Educational Psychology 38:7, pages 857-858.
- Dhammi, I., & Ul Haq, R. (2016). What is plagiarism and how to avoid it? Indian Journal of Orthopaedics, 50(6) doi:http://dx.doi.org.library.capella.edu/10.4103/0019-5413.193485
- Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. (2017, January 1). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
- Harvey, G. (2017). Writing with sources: A guide for students. Indianpolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
- Joob, B., & Wiwanitkit, V. (2018). Plagiarism: Either intentional or unintentional, it is still plagiarism! Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/openview/01f89652054f759091f09922e392f8d1/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2035655
- Learner Affairs. (2017, November 1). University Policy 3.01.01. Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://www.capella.edu/content/dam/capella/PDF/policies/3.01.01.pdf
- Learner Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2019, from https://www.capella.edu/content/dam/capella/PDF/policies/3.03.06.pdf
- Learner Affairs. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2019, from https://www.capella.edu/content/dam/capella/PDF/policies/3.03.06.pdf
- Offutt, J. (2018, February 09). Editorial: Self‐plagiarism is not a thing. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/stvr.1666
- Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nmu.edu/writingcenter/quoting-paraphrasing-and-summarizing-0
- Santini A. (2018). The Importance of Referencing. Journal of critical care medicine (Universitatea de Medicina si Farmacie din Targu-Mures), 4(1), 3-4. doi:10.1515/jccm-2018-0002
- Wolfersberger, M. (2018, January 18). Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0629
