academic integrity plagiarism essay

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Central to any academic writing project is crediting (or citing) someone else' words or ideas. The following sites will help you understand academic writing expectations.

Academic integrity is truthful and responsible representation of yourself and your work by taking credit only for your own ideas and creations and giving credit to the work and ideas of other people. It involves providing attribution (citations and acknowledgments) whenever you include the intellectual property of others—and even your own if it is from a previous project or assignment. Academic integrity also means generating and using accurate data.

Responsible and ethical use of information is foundational to a successful teaching, learning, and research community. Not only does it promote an environment of trust and respect, it also facilitates intellectual conversations and inquiry. Citing your sources shows your expertise and assists others in their research by enabling them to find the original material. It is unfair and wrong to claim or imply that someone else’s work is your own.

Failure to uphold the values of academic integrity at the GSD can result in serious consequences, ranging from re-doing an assignment to expulsion from the program with a sanction on the student’s permanent record and transcript. Outside of academia, such infractions can result in lawsuits and damage to the perpetrator’s reputation and the reputation of their firm/organization. For more details see the Academic Integrity Policy at the GSD. 

The GSD’s Academic Integrity Tutorial can help build proficiency in recognizing and practicing ways to avoid plagiarism.

• Avoiding Plagiarism (Purdue OWL) This site has a useful summary with tips on how to avoid accidental plagiarism and a list of what does (and does not) need to be cited. It also includes suggestions of best practices for research and writing.
• How Not to Plagiarize (University of Toronto) Concise explanation and useful Q&A with examples of citing and integrating sources.

This fast-evolving technology is changing academia in ways we are still trying to understand, and both the GSD and Harvard more broadly are working to develop policies and procedures based on careful thought and exploration. At the moment, whether and how AI may be used in student work is left mostly to the discretion of individual instructors. There are some emerging guidelines, however, based on overarching values.

• Always ask first if AI is allowed and specifically when and how.
• Always check facts and sources generated by AI as these are not reliable.
• Cite your use of AI to generate text or images. Citation practices for AI are described in Using Sources and AI.

Since policies are changing rapidly, we recommend checking the links below often for new developments, and this page will continue to update as we learn more.

• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) from HUIT Harvard's Information Technology team has put together this webpage explaining AI and curating resources about initial guidelines, recommendations for prompts, and recommendations of tools with a section specifically on image-based tools.
• Generative AI in Teaching and Learning at the GSD The GSD's evolving policies, information, and guidance for the use of generative AI in teaching and learning at the GSD are detailed here. The policies section includes questions to keep in mind about privacy and copyright, and the section on tools lists AI tools supported at the GSD.
• AI Code of Conduct by MetaLAB A Harvard-affiliated collaborative comprised of faculty and students sets out recommendations for guidelines for the use of AI in courses. The policies set out here are not necessarily adopted by the GSD, but they serve as a good framework for your own thinking about academic integrity and the ethical use of AI.
• Prompt Writing Examples for ChatGPT+ Harvard Libraries created this resource for improving results through crafting better prompts.
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Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

Information about what plagiarism is, and how you can avoid it.

The University defines plagiarism as follows:

“Presenting work or ideas from another source as your own, with or without consent of the original author, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition, as is the use of material generated wholly or in part through use of artificial intelligence (save when use of AI for assessment has received prior authorisation e.g. as a reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability). Plagiarism can also include re-using your own work without citation. Under the regulations for examinations, intentional or reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.”

The necessity to acknowledge others’ work or ideas applies not only to text, but also to other media, such as computer code, illustrations, graphs etc. It applies equally to published text and data drawn from books and journals, and to unpublished text and data, whether from lectures, theses or other students’ essays. You must also attribute text, data, or other resources downloaded from websites.

Please note that artificial intelligence (AI) can only be used within assessments where specific prior authorisation has been given, or when technology that uses AI has been agreed as reasonable adjustment for a student’s disability (such as voice recognition software for transcriptions, or spelling and grammar checkers).

The best way of avoiding plagiarism is to learn and employ the principles of good academic practice from the beginning of your university career. Avoiding plagiarism is not simply a matter of making sure your references are all correct, or changing enough words so the examiner will not notice your paraphrase; it is about deploying your academic skills to make your work as good as it can be.

Students will benefit from taking an  online course  which has been developed to provide a useful overview of the issues surrounding plagiarism and practical ways to avoid it.

Forms of plagiarism

Verbatim (word for word) quotation without clear acknowledgement Quotations must always be identified as such by the use of either quotation marks or indentation, and with full referencing of the sources cited. It must always be apparent to the reader which parts are your own independent work and where you have drawn on ideas and language from another source.

Cutting and pasting from the Internet without clear acknowledgement Information derived from the Internet must be adequately referenced and included in the bibliography. It is important to evaluate carefully all material found on the Internet, as it is less likely to have been through the same process of scholarly peer review as published sources.

Paraphrasing Paraphrasing the work of others by altering a few words and changing their order, or by closely following the structure of their argument, is plagiarism if you do not give due acknowledgement to the author whose work you are using.

A passing reference to the original author in your own text may not be enough; you must ensure that you do not create the misleading impression that the paraphrased wording or the sequence of ideas are entirely your own. It is better to write a brief summary of the author’s overall argument in your own words, indicating that you are doing so, than to paraphrase particular sections of his or her writing. This will ensure you have a genuine grasp of the argument and will avoid the difficulty of paraphrasing without plagiarising. You must also properly attribute all material you derive from lectures.

Collusion This can involve unauthorised collaboration between students, failure to attribute assistance received, or failure to follow precisely regulations on group work projects. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are entirely clear about the extent of collaboration permitted, and which parts of the work must be your own.

Inaccurate citation It is important to cite correctly, according to the conventions of your discipline. As well as listing your sources (i.e. in a bibliography), you must indicate, using a footnote or an in-text reference, where a quoted passage comes from. Additionally, you should not include anything in your references or bibliography that you have not actually consulted. If you cannot gain access to a primary source you must make it clear in your citation that your knowledge of the work has been derived from a secondary text (for example, Bradshaw, D. Title of Book, discussed in Wilson, E., Title of Book (London, 2004), p. 189).

Failure to acknowledge assistance You must clearly acknowledge all assistance which has contributed to the production of your work, such as advice from fellow students, laboratory technicians, and other external sources. This need not apply to the assistance provided by your tutor or supervisor, or to ordinary proofreading, but it is necessary to acknowledge other guidance which leads to substantive changes of content or approach.

Use of material written by professional agencies or other persons You should neither make use of professional agencies in the production of your work nor submit material which has been written for you even with the consent of the person who has written it. It is vital to your intellectual training and development that you should undertake the research process unaided. Under Statute XI on University Discipline, all members of the University are prohibited from providing material that could be submitted in an examination by students at this University or elsewhere.

Auto-plagiarism You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full), either for your current course or for another qualification of this, or any other, university, unless this is specifically provided for in the special regulations for your course. Where earlier work by you is citable, ie. it has already been published, you must reference it clearly. Identical pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be auto-plagiarism.

Why does plagiarism matter?

Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity. It is a principle of intellectual honesty that all members of the academic community should acknowledge their debt to the originators of the ideas, words, and data which form the basis for their own work. Passing off another’s work as your own is not only poor scholarship, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning process. Plagiarism is unethical and can have serious consequences for your future career; it also undermines the standards of your institution and of the degrees it issues.

Why should you avoid plagiarism?

There are many reasons to avoid plagiarism. You have come to university to learn to know and speak your own mind, not merely to reproduce the opinions of others - at least not without attribution. At first it may seem very difficult to develop your own views, and you will probably find yourself paraphrasing the writings of others as you attempt to understand and assimilate their arguments. However it is important that you learn to develop your own voice. You are not necessarily expected to become an original thinker, but you are expected to be an independent one - by learning to assess critically the work of others, weigh up differing arguments and draw your own conclusions. Students who plagiarise undermine the ethos of academic scholarship while avoiding an essential part of the learning process.

You should avoid plagiarism because you aspire to produce work of the highest quality. Once you have grasped the principles of source use and citation, you should find it relatively straightforward to steer clear of plagiarism. Moreover, you will reap the additional benefits of improvements to both the lucidity and quality of your writing. It is important to appreciate that mastery of the techniques of academic writing is not merely a practical skill, but one that lends both credibility and authority to your work, and demonstrates your commitment to the principle of intellectual honesty in scholarship.

What happens if you are thought to have plagiarised?

The University regards plagiarism in examinations as a serious matter. Cases will be investigated and penalties may range from deduction of marks to expulsion from the University, depending on the seriousness of the occurrence. Even if plagiarism is inadvertent, it can result in a penalty. The forms of plagiarism listed above are all potentially disciplinary offences in the context of formal assessment requirements.

The regulations regarding conduct in examinations apply equally to the ‘submission and assessment of a thesis, dissertation, essay, or other coursework not undertaken in formal examination conditions but which counts towards or constitutes the work for a degree or other academic award’. Additionally, this includes the transfer and confirmation of status exercises undertaken by graduate students. Cases of suspected plagiarism in assessed work are investigated under the disciplinary regulations concerning conduct in examinations. Intentional plagiarism in this context means that you understood that you were breaching the regulations and did so intending to gain advantage in the examination. Reckless, in this context, means that you understood or could be expected to have understood (even if you did not specifically consider it) that your work might breach the regulations, but you took no action to avoid doing so. Intentional or reckless plagiarism may incur severe penalties, including failure of your degree or expulsion from the university.

If plagiarism is suspected in a piece of work submitted for assessment in an examination, the matter will be referred to the Proctors. They will thoroughly investigate the claim and call the student concerned for interview. If at this point there is no evidence of a breach of the regulations, no further disciplinary action will be taken although there may still be an academic penalty. However, if it is concluded that a breach of the regulations may have occurred, the Proctors will refer the case to the Student Disciplinary Panel.

If you are suspected of plagiarism your College Secretary/Academic Administrator and subject tutor will support you through the process and arrange for a member of Congregation to accompany you to all hearings. They will be able to advise you what to expect during the investigation and how best to make your case. The OUSU Student Advice Service can also provide useful information and support. 

Does this mean that I shouldn’t use the work of other authors?

On the contrary, it is vital that you situate your writing within the intellectual debates of your discipline. Academic essays almost always involve the use and discussion of material written by others, and, with due acknowledgement and proper referencing, this is clearly distinguishable from plagiarism. The knowledge in your discipline has developed cumulatively as a result of years of research, innovation and debate. You need to give credit to the authors of the ideas and observations you cite. Not only does this accord recognition to their work, it also helps you to strengthen your argument by making clear the basis on which you make it. Moreover, good citation practice gives your reader the opportunity to follow up your references, or check the validity of your interpretation.

Does every statement in my essay have to be backed up with references?

You may feel that including the citation for every point you make will interrupt the flow of your essay and make it look very unoriginal. At least initially, this may sometimes be inevitable. However, by employing good citation practice from the start, you will learn to avoid errors such as close paraphrasing or inadequately referenced quotation. It is important to understand the reasons behind the need for transparency of source use.

All academic texts, even student essays, are multi-voiced, which means they are filled with references to other texts. Rather than attempting to synthesise these voices into one narrative account, you should make it clear whose interpretation or argument you are employing at any one time - whose ‘voice’ is speaking.

If you are substantially indebted to a particular argument in the formulation of your own, you should make this clear both in footnotes and in the body of your text according to the agreed conventions of the discipline, before going on to describe how your own views develop or diverge from this influence.

On the other hand, it is not necessary to give references for facts that are common knowledge in your discipline. If you are unsure as to whether something is considered to be common knowledge or not, it is safer to cite it anyway and seek clarification. You do need to document facts that are not generally known and ideas that are interpretations of facts. 

Does this only matter in exams?

Although plagiarism in weekly essays does not constitute a University disciplinary offence, it may well lead to College disciplinary measures. Persistent academic under-performance can even result in your being sent down from the University. Although tutorial essays traditionally do not require the full scholarly apparatus of footnotes and referencing, it is still necessary to acknowledge your sources and demonstrate the development of your argument, usually by an in-text reference. Many tutors will ask that you do employ a formal citation style early on, and you will find that this is good preparation for later project and dissertation work. In any case, your work will benefit considerably if you adopt good scholarly habits from the start, together with the techniques of critical thinking and writing described above.

As junior members of the academic community, students need to learn how to read academic literature and how to write in a style appropriate to their discipline. This does not mean that you must become masters of jargon and obfuscation; however the process is akin to learning a new language. It is necessary not only to learn new terminology, but the practical study skills and other techniques which will help you to learn effectively.

Developing these skills throughout your time at university will not only help you to produce better coursework, dissertations, projects and exam papers, but will lay the intellectual foundations for your future career. Even if you have no intention of becoming an academic, being able to analyse evidence, exercise critical judgement, and write clearly and persuasively are skills that will serve you for life, and which any employer will value.

Borrowing essays from other students to adapt and submit as your own is plagiarism, and will develop none of these necessary skills, holding back your academic development. Students who lend essays for this purpose are doing their peers no favours.

Unintentional plagiarism

Not all cases of plagiarism arise from a deliberate intention to cheat. Sometimes students may omit to take down citation details when taking notes, or they may be genuinely ignorant of referencing conventions. However, these excuses offer no sure protection against a charge of plagiarism. Even in cases where the plagiarism is found to have been neither intentional nor reckless, there may still be an academic penalty for poor practice.

It is your responsibility to find out the prevailing referencing conventions in your discipline, to take adequate notes, and to avoid close paraphrasing. If you are offered induction sessions on plagiarism and study skills, you should attend. Together with the advice contained in your subject handbook, these will help you learn how to avoid common errors. If you are undertaking a project or dissertation you should ensure that you have information on plagiarism and collusion. If ever in doubt about referencing, paraphrasing or plagiarism, you have only to ask your tutor.

Examples of plagiarism

There are some helpful examples of plagiarism-by-paraphrase and you will also find extensive advice on the referencing and library skills pages.

The following examples demonstrate some of the common pitfalls to avoid. These examples use the referencing system prescribed by the History Faculty but should be of use to students of all disciplines.

Source text

From a class perspective this put them [highwaymen] in an ambivalent position. In aspiring to that proud, if temporary, status of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society. Yet their boldness of act and deed, in putting them outside the law as rebellious fugitives, revivified the ‘animal spirits’ of capitalism and became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force. Therefore, it was not enough to hang them – the values they espoused or represented had to be challenged.

(Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213. [You should give the reference in full the first time you use it in a footnote; thereafter it is acceptable to use an abbreviated version, e.g. Linebaugh, The London Hanged, p. 213.]

Plagiarised

• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London, posing a serious threat to the formation of a biddable labour force. (This is a patchwork of phrases copied verbatim from the source, with just a few words changed here and there. There is no reference to the original author and no indication that these words are not the writer’s own.)
• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen exercised a powerful attraction for the working classes. Some historians believe that this hindered the development of a submissive workforce. (This is a mixture of verbatim copying and acceptable paraphrase. Although only one phrase has been copied from the source, this would still count as plagiarism. The idea expressed in the first sentence has not been attributed at all, and the reference to ‘some historians’ in the second is insufficient. The writer should use clear referencing to acknowledge all ideas taken from other people’s work.)
• Although they did not question the inegalitarian hierarchy of their society, highwaymen ‘became an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London [and] a serious obstacle to the formation of a tractable, obedient labour force’.1 (This contains a mixture of attributed and unattributed quotation, which suggests to the reader that the first line is original to this writer. All quoted material must be enclosed in quotation marks and adequately referenced.)
• Highwaymen’s bold deeds ‘revivified the “animal spirits” of capitalism’ and made them an essential part of the oppositional culture of working-class London.1 Peter Linebaugh argues that they posed a major obstacle to the formation of an obedient labour force. (Although the most striking phrase has been placed within quotation marks and correctly referenced, and the original author is referred to in the text, there has been a great deal of unacknowledged borrowing. This should have been put into the writer’s own words instead.)
• By aspiring to the title of ‘Gentleman of the Road’, highwaymen did not challenge the unfair taxonomy of their society. Yet their daring exploits made them into outlaws and inspired the antagonistic culture of labouring London, forming a grave impediment to the development of a submissive workforce. Ultimately, hanging them was insufficient – the ideals they personified had to be discredited.1 (This may seem acceptable on a superficial level, but by imitating exactly the structure of the original passage and using synonyms for almost every word, the writer has paraphrased too closely. The reference to the original author does not make it clear how extensive the borrowing has been. Instead, the writer should try to express the argument in his or her own words, rather than relying on a ‘translation’ of the original.)

Non-plagiarised

• Peter Linebaugh argues that although highwaymen posed no overt challenge to social orthodoxy – they aspired to be known as ‘Gentlemen of the Road’ – they were often seen as anti-hero role models by the unruly working classes. He concludes that they were executed not only for their criminal acts, but in order to stamp out the threat of insubordinacy.1 (This paraphrase of the passage is acceptable as the wording and structure demonstrate the reader’s interpretation of the passage and do not follow the original too closely. The source of the ideas under discussion has been properly attributed in both textual and footnote references.)
• Peter Linebaugh argues that highwaymen represented a powerful challenge to the mores of capitalist society and inspired the rebelliousness of London’s working class.1 (This is a brief summary of the argument with appropriate attribution.) 1 Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213.

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Academic Integrity vs Academic Dishonesty

Published on 15 July 2022 by Tegan George and Jack Caulfield. Revised on 13 April 2023.

Academic integrity  is the value of being honest, ethical, and thorough in your academic work. It allows readers to trust that you aren’t misrepresenting your findings or taking credit for the work of others.

Academic dishonesty (or academic misconduct) refers to actions that undermine academic integrity. It typically refers to some form of plagiarism , ranging from serious offences like purchasing a pre-written essay to milder ones like accidental citation errors – most of which are easy to detect with a plagiarism checker .

These concepts are also essential in the world of professional academic research and publishing. In this context, accusations of misconduct can have serious legal and reputational consequences.

Table of contents

Types of academic dishonesty, why does academic integrity matter, examples of academic dishonesty, frequently asked questions about plagiarism.

While plagiarism is the main offence you’ll hear about, academic dishonesty comes in many forms that vary extensively in severity, from faking an illness to buying an essay.

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Most students are clear that academic integrity is important, but dishonesty is still common.

There are various reasons you might be tempted to resort to academic dishonesty: pressure to achieve, time management struggles, or difficulty with a course. But academic dishonesty hurts you, your peers, and the learning process. It’s:

• Unfair to the plagiarised author
• Unfair to other students who did not cheat
• Damaging to your own learning
• Harmful if published research contains misleading information
• Dangerous if you don’t properly learn the fundamentals in some contexts (e.g., lab work)

The consequences depend on the severity of the offence and your institution’s policies. They can range from a warning for a first offence to a failing grade in a course to expulsion from your university.

• Faking illness to skip a class
• Asking for a classmate’s notes from a special review session held by your professor that you did not attend
• Crowdsourcing or collaborating with others on a homework assignment
• Citing a source you didn’t actually read in a paper
• Cheating on a test
• Peeking at your notes on a take-home exam that was supposed to be closed-book
• Resubmitting a paper that you had already submitted for a different course (self-plagiarism)
• Forging a doctor’s note to get an extension on an assignment
• Fabricating experimental results or data to prove your hypothesis in a lab environment
• Buying a pre-written essay online or answers to a test
• Falsifying a family emergency to get out of taking a final exam
• Taking a test for a friend

Academic integrity means being honest, ethical, and thorough in your academic work. To maintain academic integrity, you should avoid misleading your readers about any part of your research and refrain from offences like plagiarism and contract cheating, which are examples of academic misconduct.

Academic dishonesty refers to deceitful or misleading behavior in an academic setting. Academic dishonesty can occur intentionally or unintentionally, and it varies in severity.

It can encompass paying for a pre-written essay, cheating on an exam, or committing plagiarism . It can also include helping others cheat, copying a friend’s homework answers, or even pretending to be sick to miss an exam.

Academic dishonesty doesn’t just occur in a classroom setting, but also in research and other academic-adjacent fields.

Consequences of academic dishonesty depend on the severity of the offence and your institution’s policy. They can range from a warning for a first offence to a failing grade in a course to expulsion from your university.

For those in certain fields, such as nursing, engineering, or lab sciences, not learning fundamentals properly can directly impact the health and safety of others. For those working in academia or research, academic dishonesty impacts your professional reputation, leading others to doubt your future work.

Academic dishonesty can be intentional or unintentional, ranging from something as simple as claiming to have read something you didn’t to copying your neighbour’s answers on an exam.

You can commit academic dishonesty with the best of intentions, such as helping a friend cheat on a paper. Severe academic dishonesty can include buying a pre-written essay or the answers to a multiple-choice test, or falsifying a medical emergency to avoid taking a final exam.

The consequences of plagiarism vary depending on the type of plagiarism and the context in which it occurs. For example, submitting a whole paper by someone else will have the most severe consequences, while accidental citation errors are considered less serious.

If you’re a student, then you might fail the course, be suspended or expelled, or be obligated to attend a workshop on plagiarism. It depends on whether it’s your first offence or you’ve done it before.

As an academic or professional, plagiarising seriously damages your reputation. You might also lose your research funding or your job, and you could even face legal consequences for copyright infringement.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

George, T. & Caulfield, J. (2023, April 13). Academic Integrity vs Academic Dishonesty. Scribbr. Retrieved 31 May 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/preventing-plagiarism/academic-integrity/

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Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Usc libraries academic integrity and plagiarism tutorials.

• Additional Resources
• Reference Page
• Academic Integrity - USC Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards Policy regarding academic integrity for undergraduate students
• Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism: Module 1 (What is plagiarism? What is citation?) After completing this tutorial, you will be able to explain the purpose of formal citation practices in an academic environment. The tutorial should take about 10 minutes to complete.
• Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism: Module 2 (Citing to avoid plagiarism) After completing this tutorial, you will be able to: Identify when a citation is needed Recognize the difference between paraphrasing and quoting The tutorial should take about 15 minutes to complete.
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Academic Integrity at MIT

A handbook for students, search form, what is plagiarism.

During your academic career at MIT, you will write original papers and give oral presentations that require research in libraries and laboratories and accessing electronic resources. It is important to understand that standards for reusing other people’s creative output vary from discipline to discipline and culture to culture. For example, in the United States our copyright law does not protect ideas or facts, but does protect the particular, original expression of an idea in words or images when they are expressed in a tangible form.

In some cultures, the concept of “owning” words that are arranged in a particular sequence may seem strange. Students from these cultures may have been encouraged to repeat the words of others and incorporate them into their own writing without quoting or otherwise indicating that they came from another source. Other cultures accept the practice of copying phrases or sentences into a paper without using quotation marks as long as the writer shows where they came from. These practices are not acceptable in North American academic culture.

Creative expression of ideas through words, images, and other media is the lifeblood of this academic culture. For this reason, we expect that our original expressions should not be used by others without attribution and acknowledgment.

Plagiarism occurs when you use another’s words, ideas, assertions, data, or figures and do not acknowledge that you have done so.

If you use the words, ideas, or phrasing of another person or from published material, you must

• Use quotation marks around the words and cite the source, or
• Paraphrase or summarize acceptably and cite the source.

If you use charts, graphs, data sets, or numerical information obtained from another person or from published material, you must also cite the source.

You must always acknowledge your sources by citing them . In this way, you have the right to use another’s creative output by giving that person credit for the work s/he has done.

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Introduction to Academic Integrity

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Quick Tips For Avoiding Plagiarism

• Read carefully :  Read through your assignment instructions carefully.  Understand your sources by reading them closely.
• Take good notes :  Print out sources and write notes on the pages or take notes digitally.  Keep track of where your information is coming from.
• Avoid procrastination :  It can be tempting to take shortcuts when you run out of time to do your assignment.
• Quoting vs paraphrasing vs summarizing :  See the advice on this page and know when it is appropriate to quote, paraphrase, or summarize your source.

What To Do When You're Struggling To Write

What Is Plagiarism?

The Council of Writing Program Administrators defines plagiarism in an instructional context as "occur[ing] when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.  This definition applies to texts published in print or on-line, to manuscripts, and to the work of other student writers."  Plagiarism and citing sources incorrectly are two different situations.  If writers make every effort to cite sources accurately but do not cite adequately or do not use the correct citation style, they are not plagiarizing.  Plagiarism occurs when a writer intentionally takes credit for someone else's ideas or words.

Types of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is perhaps the most common form of academic dishonesty.  However, there are many types of plagiarism, and most plagiarism is not intentional. Frequently, it is the result of taking insufficient notes when reading your sources. Below are several types of plagiarism of which you should be aware.

Accidental Plagiarism

• Forgetting to place quotation marks around another's words
• Omitting a source citation for another's idea because you are unaware
• Carelessly copying a source which you mean to paraphrase

Intentional Plagiarism

• Copying a phrase, sentence, or passage from a source and passing it off as your own
• Summarizing or paraphrasing someone else's ideas without acknowledging your debt
• Handing in a paper you bought or had a friend write or copied from another student

The library has created a graphic representation to show you the range of intentional and unintentional plagiarism activities .

Avoiding Plagiarism

There are many online tools to help you with the research and writing processes.  Learning a few new tips can save you time, lead to better research notes, and help avoid plagiarism.

• Sweetland Writing Guide : How Do I Effectively Integrate Textual Evidence? Advice on how to quote, paraphrase, and summarize other people's writing into your own.
• Sweetland Writing Guide : How Do I Incorporate Quotes? This guide specifically focuses on integrating quotes into your work and illustrates why it is important to do so.
• Beyond Plagiarism : Best Practices for the Responsible Use of Sources Collaboratively created by the University of Michigan's Sweetland Writing Center and Library, this online tutorial will teach you how to use resources effectively and responsibly.
• Plagiarism.Org A wealth of resources created to not only help you understand plagiarism but also to provide exercises and resources to avoid plagiarism.
• Library Guide For International Students : What Is Plagiarism From a Research Guide created by the library, this resource focuses on identifying resources and strategies that center on Western European and North American plagiarism standards.
• Ask a Librarian Services Consider meeting in person with a librarian or using one of the many virtual ways of contacting a librarian to help you identify plagiarism and learn how to incorporate evidence without plagiarizing.

In addition, consider asking your instructor or professor how you might avoid plagiarism in your work.  It can be difficult to avoid plagiarism without practice and your professor/instructor may have some specific advice to help you in this area.

Plagiarism Tutorials

These instructional tools provide more tips and practice on both recognizing and avoiding plagiarism.  Use these resources to identify what you have already mastered and what skills or concepts you might need to strengthen.

• Academic Integrity Quiz An academic integrity tutorial designed to introduce you to UM's LSA community standards of academic integrity.
• How to Recognize Plagiarism: Tutorials and Tests Indiana University's tutorial on identifying plagiarism

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Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic integrity at unsw.

UNSW is committed to improving and transforming lives through excellence in research, outstanding education and advancing a just society. Underpinning this commitment and the pursuit of knowledge at the University are the principles of academic and research integrity.  Plagiarism involves a person using words or ideas of others and passing them off as their own or republishing their own previously submitted work and presenting it as new findings or work without referencing the earlier work. It undermines academic and research integrity and is not tolerated at the University.

The UNSW Student Code  provides a framework for the standard of conduct expected of UNSW students with respect to their academic integrity and behaviour. It outlines the primary obligations of students and directs staff and students to the Code and related procedures.

In addition, it is important that students understand that it is not permissible to buy essay/writing services from third parties as the use of such services constitutes plagiarism because it involves using the words or ideas of others and passing them off as your own. Nor is it permissible to sell copies of lecture or tutorial notes as students do not own the rights to this intellectual property.

Contract cheating , or 'ghostwriting', is when a student engages another person to complete work for them, and then submits the work as their own, regardless if money was paid or not.

Where a student breaches the Student Code with respect to academic integrity, the University may take disciplinary action under the Student Misconduct  Procedure.

Go through this Self-Check List to make sure that you are working with academic integrity. 

'Working with Academic Integrity' online module

‘Working with Academic Integrity’ is a six-lesson interactive self-paced Moodle module exploring and explaining all of these terms and placing them into your learning context. It will be the best one-hour investment you’ve ever made. 

Further Information

• Avoiding plagiarism

Plagiarism is presenting another person's work or ideas as your own. Plagiarism is a serious breach of ethics at UNSW and is not taken lightly. So how do you avoid it? Watch this one-minute video for an overview of how you can avoid plagiarism.

Examples of plagiarism

Examples of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, are:

See next: What is plagiarism?

• Academic Integrity & Plagiarism
• Academic integrity online module
• What is plagiarism?
• How does plagiarism happen?
• Other plagiarism resources

News and notices

Ethical and Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW Published:  17 May 2024

Study Hacks Workshops | All the hacks you need! 28 May – 25 Jul 2024

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• 1. What is Plagiarism?
• 2. Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism
• 3. Research & Writing Tools
• 4. Getting Help
• Finding Books & Films
• Finding Articles & Journals
• Faculty Resources
• Conversation Starters
• Plagiarism "Resistant" Essay
• Plagiarism "Prone" Essay
• University of Washington Libraries
• Library Guides
• Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Prevention Resources

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Prevention Resources: Plagiarism "Resistant" Essay

Example of a plagiarism resistant assignment:.

• Plagiarism Resistant Essay Prompt

This assignment was designed by Professor David Goldstein at UW Bothell for his BIS300 class. Instructions for this assignment are designed to prevent plagiarism.

Assignment Prompt

BIS 300A Interdisciplinary Inquiry

David S. Goldstein, Ph.D. Essay Assignment

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The purpose of this essay is to help you use writing to think about what you read regarding the complex topic of interdisciplinarity and to provide you the opportunity to develop further some ideas discussed in class. It is meant to contribute to the following course learning goals:

• Understand and appreciate the interdisciplinary production of knowledge and the ways in which it underwrites different aspects of the IAS Program;
• Become better critical thinkers and writers, capable of posing, answering, and reposing a variety of complex questions;>
• Become better researchers, able to use the resources at UWB and elsewhere in order to identify existing and complementary scholarly work while producing original knowledge through data gathering and interpretation.

Start by reading this "prompt" (the question that is intended to stimulate your ideas):

You wrote some paragraphs in class about a great course you once took. Now that you have a detailed description of an educational experience that you feel was "good," use this experience to test what Paolo Freire says about education and approaches to education. This may be a bit different from the approaches you are used to taking in writing about essays and texts written by others. The "authority" in this essay is your experience, not Freire. Freire is what you examine. That is, Freire makes a number of assumptions and assertions about education that he wants you to accept. Based on your experience, should we accept them? Think about how your experience relates and does not relate to what you think Freire is proposing. In what ways does your experience support what Freire says and in what ways does it challenge Freire? How does the "reality" as represented by your experience compare with the theory presented by Freire? [Thanks to Prof. Ralph Leary at Clarion University for this essay question.]

Now, in a formal, argumentative essay of 1000 to 1250 words (according to the word count tool in Microsoft Word), write an essay in response to the prompt. To do this, develop a thesis (main argument) that answers the prompt, which should be built into your opening paragraph. Y our thesis should incorporate your main point about how your class supports or contradicts Freire .  The rest of the essay will comprise your attempts to convince your reader of the veracity of your thesis. Your reader has not read your in-class writing about your "great course," so your essay will need to describe it with sufficient detail so that your reader knows what you are talking about. Assume that your audience is a smart, educated person who has read, but is not an expert on, Freire's essay or ideas. As you write, it might help to think of a smart friend of yours as your audience.

• As a formal piece of university writing, your essay should be typed and double-spaced throughout, using a standard font (like Times New Roman) in 12-point size, and with margins of one inch all the way around each page. You must use Microsoft Word, which is available at an unbelievably discounted price for UWB students through IT Connect .  Provide an MLA-style header and essay title as explained in #20 and #22 in "Tips for Better Prose" at < http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Prose.html >. Please do not use a cover page, footnotes, or a bibliography. If you wish to quote, do so only after reading Becky Reed Rosenberg's document, "Using Direct Quotation" at < http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Quotation.html >. If you paraphrase or quote Freire, you can provide just a page number if it is obvious that it is Freire whom you are citing.
• After your paper is carefully written, it will be time for editing and proofreading. Because all teachers have their own idiosyncratic preferences for writing, you should learn what mine are by reading "Tips for Better Prose." Reading this document is a required part of the assignment. When I return your paper to you, I will indicate common errors that I find in your paper that tend to distract your readers. I will use a list of codes such as "T1," "T2," and so forth, which refer to the numbered items of the "Tips for Better Prose" document. Of course, it would be better for you and for me if you pay close attention to the document so you can avoid some of the mechanical errors that I commonly find in student (and even professional) writing, rather than have them pointed out to you afterward. I recommend printing that document, and, after you finish writing your paper, check the items off one by one to make sure your paper is as mechanically sound as you can make it. Although the mechanics of writing are less important to me than the ideas expressed, the mechanics inevitably improve the effectiveness of your communication of ideas, which, after all, is your ultimate goal with each piece of writing that you do.
• Just before you print your final draft, do a final word count (in the Tools pull-down menu of Microsoft Word) to make sure your paper meets the length requirement.  You do not need to put the word count in your paper; I can check that myself.
• I have posted two examples of very good essays (written in a previous BIS 300 course but on a different topic) in the "Course Documents" area of Blackboard. You may read them if you want to see examples of essays that I have liked.
• Needless to say, your work must be entirely original. Using another person's ideas or words without proper attribution, whether intentional or accidental, constitutes plagiarism, and will result in a zero on this assignment. Please re-read "Maintaining Academic Integrity" at < https://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Integrity.html >.

Your essay is due in class at 11:10 a.m. sharp on [XX Date] . Because we will meet that day in our peer critique groups, your essay cannot be late . Your peer group members will have insufficient time to critique your paper if they receive it after this deadline. Your peer group will not provide you with peer critiques if you do not submit your original paper by the beginning of class on the due date , which will make your revision process more difficult (but you will still be responsible for critiquing their papers). I therefore urge you to take responsibility for submitting your paper on time. Please do not submit a rough draft. This version should be as complete and polished as you can possibly make it. Papers that seem incomplete or not seriously written will not be critiqued by peers.

Important : On the due date, you must bring THREE stapled copies of your essay to class . (The extra copy will be submitted to me, although I will not grade it.  I just want to be sure that the essays that your group members give you are sufficiently complete.  Be sure to keep a separate original for yourself. Please have the courtesy to make sure your essay copies are stapled so your peer group members and I do not lose any of your pages.  ASUWB provides staplers in the "vista" area of the lower, second, and third floors of the UW1 Building and the first and second floors of the UW2 Building.)

I will post, in our Blackboard area, instructions and questionnaires for completing peer critiques. Please budget at least five to eight hours for each critique. They require substantial time, effort, and care.

Optional Interim Revision : I recommend that you revise your essay after getting your peers' critiques.  Then the version that you submit in your midquarter portfolio on Wednesday, Feb. 17, will be as close to a polished, final draft as you can make it, and my comments will help you revise it one more time before you submit the final version for grading in your learning portfolio.

Final Revision : If you like, you may revise your essay one final time. Using what you learned from your peers' critiques of your paper and from my comments, you may revise your paper, still adhering to the length and formatting requirements outlined above for your original paper. Remember to do a word count to check the length. Then, when you submit your Learning Portfolio, choose this essay as your included sample. I will grade this final version using the criteria below.

Criteria for grading the final version of your essay . Please carefully read "Criteria for Assessing Writing" at < https://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/WritingAssess.html > for an explanation of these items:

The midquarter portfolio version of your paper will include my comments but no grade. They will be marked only as an early draft, middle draft, or late draft (see "Criteria for Assessing Writing" at < http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/WritingAssess.html > for an explanation).

Let me emphasize that I expect your best effort in this and every exercise. Your most serious work now will enable me to provide the most helpful comments, which in turn will improve your grade on later assignments. In other words, this assignment helps determine your grade in this course both directly (with the score it earns) and indirectly (with its capacity to teach you how to improve your writing), so it is worth the investment of your time and effort to do the best you can.

Some additional advice:

• Get in the habit of saving your work often (maybe every ten minutes) so you do not lose everything when your computer freezes. It also is a good idea to keep multiple copies in different places, such as on a different computer, on diskettes or Zip disks, or in your electronic "shell" on UW student computer server.
• Visit the Writing and Communication Center (see < https://www.bothell.washington.edu/wacc >). They are professionals trained to help you become a better writer, so visit them! Remember that their goal is to help you become a better writer, not to make this particular paper better, so you are responsible for applying what they teach you to this paper and others that you will write.
• I do not have time to read rough drafts, but I am very glad to discuss your paper as you work on it. You would be wise to visit me during office hours (see syllabus) to make sure you are on the right track, to see whether your thesis makes sense to me, and to get advice about any particular difficulties you might be encountering.
• Remember to keep your graded essay for your learning portfolio due at the end of this course and for the graduation portfolio that you will complete in your senior seminar (see < https://www.uwb.edu/ias/iasdegreeportfolio >).
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PowerPoint on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

Academic integrity research paper assignment description, peer reviewing activity of academic integrity paper rough draft, plagiarism and academic integrity.

This module is for lessons on plagiarism and academic integrity. International students learning in the U.S. tend to struggle both with the concept of plagiarism and the proper execution of citations and giving credit to their sources. Therefore, in INTO Mason's graduate transition courses, we spend one or two weeks on the concept of plagiarism and academic integrity with an Academic Integrity Research Paper as the assessment. Created by Steven Harris-Scott, Ph.D., and Amy Lewis, Ed.D., for INTO George Mason University with support from Mason 4-VA. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism assignment description

Students will compose a 500-600 word paper on plagiarism and academic integrity as defined in American academic culture using at least THREE scholarly/academic sources . One source should include the course reading provided and that will be discussed in class, BUT at least TWO must be scholarly sources that students find on their own through the library.

The paper should discuss the following:

• How “intellectual property,” “academic integrity/honesty,” and “plagiarism” are defined
• Why academic honesty and integrity are important in American cultures of education: students should include their experiences with concepts of ethics and fairness within the educational context they’ve experienced and compare it to American ideas on those subjects
• The various ways that plagiarism and academic dishonesty occur
• Practical steps to avoid plagiarizing and being academically dishonest in graduate school along with the consequences for plagiarism and academic dishonest

Citations and Reference List:

The use of sources within the essay must be cited using the style format for the student's discipline (MLA, APA IEEE, etc.), or simply default to APA if they don’t know which citation method their discipline uses yet. Whichever style format the students use, the same style should also be used for their reference list/bibliography that must include a minimum of 3 sources (and no more than 5).

Special Note:

When writing, students should adopt a position on ways to avoid plagiarism and academic dishonesty – this will be their overarching “thesis” – that uses research to support their stance. This SHOULD, as a result, yield a practical guide on how to avoid plagiarism and being academically dishonest, and how they will do their best to uphold American expectations for academic integrity while they are pursuing their graduate degrees.

Structure of Essay:

The essay will likely be 4-5 paragraphs long with the first paragraph framing and defining the issue of plagiarism and academic integrity, the second and third paragraphs comparing this American conception of academic honesty to their experiences with the concepts of plagiarism and academic integrity, the fourth paragraph giving some practical feedback on avoiding plagiarism in graduate school, and the fifth providing a concise conclusion to their paper with some attention to ongoing challenges of international students grappling with the concepts of plagiarism and academic integrity.

Formatting Reminders:

Students must follow the formatting requirements as noted in the syllabus: 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, 1-inch margins on all sides of the page, and use in-text citations or footnotes with a separate reference page (not included in word count). They must include a word count.

Evaluation: The rubric for this assignment will be provided on Blackboard.

Academic Integrity Research Paper Rubric

This is the rubric used for the first draft of the Academic Integrity Research Paper. The rubric for the revised final version is slightly different with an extra category for revisions made from the first to the final version of the paper.

The following is the rubric used for the first draft of the Academic Integrity Research Paper:

• Formatting and Citations = 5 points
• Structure of Essay = 5 points
• DEFINITION, IMPORTANCE: Draft fully defines academic integrity, plagiarism, etc. and also fully addresses why those terms and principles are important in Western culture and their specific discipline =  20 points
• OVERARCHING THESIS: There is an adopted position on ways to avoid plagiarism and academic dishonesty in graduate school, it is sophisticated yet practical, and it is backed up by sources = 15 points
• PRACTICAL VIEWPOINTS: Paper address the various ways plagiarism and academic dishonesty occur very well =  10 points
• SOURCE #1: There was good engagement with the source that was provided for you that was required for this paper. The engagement had good to great sophistication and analysis =  15 points
• SOURCE #2: There was good engagement with the outside sources that were required for this paper. The engagement was sophisticated and not merely summarizing. The sources are fully credible =  30 points

Peer Reviewing Worksheet for First Draft of Academic Integrity Research Paper

This worksheet is for use during the class period before the first draft of the Academic Integrity Research Paper is due. Ideally, this activity will allow the authors to receive meaningful feedback BEFORE turning in their first draft to be graded (and commented on extensively), while also giving the reviewers an opportunity to participate in a peer reviewing activity. Peer Reviewing is an important feature of INTO Mason's graduate transition courses and a short lesson on it would come a week or two prior to this activity.

Use the attached worksheet to provide a thorough peer review of your classmate's rough draft of their Academic Integrity Paper. The following are the questions for you to consider and address in the peer review:

• Source #1: How was the engagement with the source that was provided? Was the engagement sophisticated? Explain how with some examples.
• Source #2 and 3: How was the engagement with the outside sources that were required? Was the engagement sophisticated? Explain how with some examples. Also, do the sources seem reliable? Can you tell through the author’s discussion of them?
• Definition, importance: Does the draft fully define plagiarism, academic integrity, etc.? Also, does it fully address why those terms and principles are important in American culture and in their specific discipline?
• Practical viewpoints: Does the draft address the various ways plagiarism occurs in graduate school?
• Overarching Thesis: Is there an adopted position on plagiarism and academic integrity? Is it sophisticated? Does it provide sophisticated and actionable yet practical steps to avoid plagiarism in graduate school?
• If you'd like to say something about the structure of the draft or the writing, do so in general terms at the end.

Version History

What is academic integrity? | Academic integrity definition

Building an awareness of inequities, and empowering ourselves as educators to promote academic integrity and making it more inclusive, is a first step towards making education a “great equalizer.”

When students come from outside the racial, ethnic, and cultural mainstream, they have greater learning challenges. Students not familiar with the vernacular of a classroom or even the language, have to make huge adjustments to navigate learning. One way for educators to address this gap is through culturally responsive pedagogy.

By completing this form, you agree to Turnitin's Privacy Policy . Turnitin uses the information you provide to contact you with relevant information. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.

Academic integrity is more than a policy to uphold at your institution. While academic integrity should be addressed in honor codes, it is also important to understand its meaning and uphold it at all levels, from explicit instruction to formative feedback to final assessment. Academic integrity, too, is a set of values to enact throughout a student’s learning experience into the workplace with a lifelong commitment to learning.

Having a concrete definition of academic integrity to be used within a classroom setting is important in order to action the term. While it’s easy to define academic integrity as what it is not (i.e., not plagiarizing, not contract cheating, not engaging in AI Writing misconduct), it is important to define it in practical and actionable ways.

The word “academic integrity,” in sum, entails a commitment to honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.

An authoritative definition of academic integrity can be found at the International Center of Academic Integrity (ICAI) , which was founded in 1992 by leading researchers. Don McCabe spearheaded its founding and is credited as the person who popularized the term “academic integrity.” In 1999, the Center identified and described the “ fundamental values of academic integrity ” as honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility, and in 2014 added the sixth value of courage. Academic integrity, per the ICAI, is a commitment to these values.

Academic integrity is not only a definition, but a set of values to uphold. The components of academic integrity are enacted in the following ways:

• Honesty: be truthful, give credit, and provide facts
• Trust: provide transparency, trust others, give credence
• Fairness: apply rules consistently, engage with others equitably, and take responsibility for our own actions
• Respect: receive feedback willingly, accept others’ thoughts, and recognize the impacts of our own words and actions on others
• Responsibility: follow institutional rules and conduct codes, engage in difficult conversations, and model good behavior
• Courage: take a stand to address wrongdoing, be undaunted in defending integrity, and endure discomfort for something you believe in ( ICAI, 2020 )

According to research by Guerrero-Dib, Portales, and Heredia-Escorza, “Academic integrity is much more than avoiding dishonest practices such as copying during exams, plagiarizing or contract cheating; it implies an engagement with learning and work which is well done, complete, and focused on a good purpose— learning. It also involves using appropriate means, genuine effort and good skills. Mainly it implies diligently taking advantage of all learning experiences” ( International Journal for Educational Integrity, 2020 ).

Academic integrity goes beyond avoiding cheating or plagiarizing. Academic integrity is also about maintaining excellent academic standards in teaching and curriculum and fostering impeccable research processes. Academic integrity requires full institutional and instructor effort as well as the vigilance of individuals in the learning process. Not only should students not cheat, but educators offer accurate assessments, and institutions support honest research practices and when applicable, fair discipline.

In 2010, after years of active participation from international communities like Australia, Canada, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, the ICAI added “international” to its name.

The ICAI, without a doubt, has done groundbreaking work and rallied the world to uphold academic integrity. But it is also important to note that this prior work is largely rooted in the Western world, and there is still much to be done when it comes to promoting academic integrity around the world.

For starters, cultural differences can challenge the ICAI definition of academic integrity.

According to Tran, Hogg, & Marshall, research shows that students who come from rote-learning habits view plagiarism as a less serious offense. Additionally, Western-based plagiarism values may conflict with various cultures ( 2022 ).

Collectivist cultures, for example, define respect in a way that can uphold mimicry, prioritizing rote memorization above all else. Mimicry itself is a sign of respect. Professor Tosh Yamamoto of Kansai University described Japanese perspectives on academic integrity for Turnitin. Yamamoto states, “Academic integrity is, I believe, a philosophical mindset to reflect the learning mind to the mirror of honesty, sincerity, contribution to the future society, and also scientific attitude and ethics and morals. However, on the other hand, education in Japan is focused on rote memorization and regurgitation and understanding” ( Yamamoto, 2021 ).

In fact, there may be instances in which paraphrasing or adding original ideas to a text is seen as a form of disrespect. Mimicry makes plagiarism a very possible outcome. This cultural context with regards to respect, then, runs counter to intentions of the ICAI definition of academic integrity.

In other parts of the world, citations themselves may be fraught and a sign of disrespect. Quoting or paraphrasing well-known texts without attribution is common in, for instance, the Middle East. Teachers are expected to know sources to such ideas; this is otherwise known as “communal ownership of knowledge.” In fact, this expectation is endemic to such a degree that including a citation may be received as patronizing or even insulting to the instructor ( Sowden, 2005 ).

Additionally, there are areas of the world that literally do not have a word for academic integrity; like Japan, for instance. In other countries like Eritrea, copyright protection simply doesn’t exist. And in Latvia, “the Latvian academic terminology database AkadTerm does not include terms such as academic integrity,’ ‘academic honesty,’ and ‘academic misconduct’” ( Tauginiené, et al. 2019 ).

Academic integrity is a western term, one that many institutions follow, and an ideal that we should all uphold. Still, it is important to note academic integrity’s cultural roots so that educators can support students from different parts of the world to understand how to conduct work within a western framework, particularly when studying abroad.

That said, academic integrity is a global expectation. In our changing, post-industrial world, students and institutional goals include entering a global marketplace of ideas. And it is more important than ever that those ideas be original and authentic.

According to 2013 research, “The education landscape has been shifting towards a stronger emphasis on higher-order level of thinking such as creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem solving as research shows that current graduates lack transcending skills like communication skills and problem-solving skills, which are crucial in the industry. The most important skills employers look for when hiring new employees are teamwork, critical thinking, communication...or innovative thinking” ( Ju, Mai, et al. ).

Academic integrity is critical to some of the following areas:

• Fostering the positive reputations of institutions and individuals
• Future workplace behavior

Academic misconduct, simply put, shortcuts learning. When learning isn’t measured accurately because either the student’s answers are not their own or because the person who graded the essay is a ghost-grader who doesn’t provide accurate feedback, there is no way to support students towards next steps. Students don’t receive the feedback they need to learn. When the work is not the student’s own original thoughts, they lose learning opportunities.

Accurate assessment also provides instructors with data on student knowledge, such as learning gaps that can be bridged. When student’s answers are not their own, it’s impossible for educators to have an accurate measurement of learning and to provide feedback or make appropriate changes to a teaching curriculum and bridge learning gaps.

If this information exchange is muddied due to misconduct, learning is stymied.

Academic integrity also fosters respect for the learning process and is critical for life-long learning.

In their research, Guerrero-Dib, Portales, and Heredia-Escorza state, “Academic integrity is much more than avoiding dishonest practices such as copying during exams, plagiarizing or contract cheating; it implies an engagement with learning and work which is well done, complete, and focused on a good purpose – learning” ( 2020 ).

While shortcut solutions belittle education, academic integrity takes advantage of and embraces every learning opportunity. When for instance quotes are attributed, research is acknowledged, data is accurate, and knowledge exchange is upheld and respected.

Knowledge is a university’s product; academic integrity is linked to education integrity. When students graduate from an institution having learned what the institution’s diploma represents and embodies the values of that institution, reputations are upheld. An institution’s academic reputation is essential to a university community, credibility, and financial stability, whether via admissions or donations from third parties.

On the other hand, academic misconduct scandals can erode the value of a degree. If students are not learning course material, then it follows that their knowledge does not reflect a valid education. Furthermore, in fields like nursing, this deficit can have serious life and death consequences. Scandals, too, have financial impacts on institutions.

In their paper, “The Impact of College Scandals on College Applications,” Michael Luca, Patrick Rooney, and Jonathan Smith, researchers from the Harvard Business School and the College Board, state:

“Scandals with more than five mentions in The New York Times lead to a 9 percent drop in applications at the college the following year. Colleges with scandals covered by long-form magazine articles receive 10 percent fewer applications the following year. To put this into context, a long-form article decreases a college’s number of applications roughly as much as falling 10 places in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings.”

Enrollment is a university’s financial bread-and-butter, particularly for those without large financial endowments. Universities benefit in other ways from popularity. According to Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr., “The more and better students an institution can enroll, the more it can claim a level of prestige. And if the numbers of applicants increase—because of the perceived prestige—institutions become more selective in admissions. This, in turn, increases retention and graduation rates” ( 2016 ).

An institution’s reputation is more important than ever, given the trend of universities closing down, with The Hechinger Report citing declining student enrollment as the leading cause of campus closures ( Barshay, 2022 ).

Attached to a university’s academic reputation is its research component; in the field of research, scandals can stain reputations and impact factors , ending the academic careers of individuals. Research is a cumulative, interactive process, one that must prioritize academic honesty to provide innovation without fraud—as well as provide critical knowledge to bettering the world.

School is not just about learning the content of subject matter but nurturing a love of learning and ability to share knowledge in an equitable manner. And what students learn in school informs an entire life. The friends made in college, the community building within residential halls, study habits, the cultures to which students are exposed on campus, and the quality of mentorship are some of the many components of higher education that can influence a person’s life.

There is an adage, “ Past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior .”

To that end, numerous research studies show that academic dishonesty in school leads to workplace deviance ( Blankenship & Whitley 2000, Harding, et al. 2004, Lawson 2004, Nonis & Swift 2001, & Sims 1993 ). Those who engage in misconduct during university are more likely to lie, cheat, and steal later on in the workplace ( Druica, et al., 2019 ).

Which can lead to the question of whether or not academic integrity in school upholds workplace honesty. Recent 2021 research states that “Tolerating dishonest behaviors in college seems to support dishonest students who may continue to be dishonest in the future. Thus, maintaining academic integrity in college may increasingly contribute to the credibility of the workplace” ( Mulisa & Ebissa, 2021 ).

While academic dishonesty in college leads to workplace misconduct, the opposite can hold true as well: academic integrity is an indicator of future workplace integrity. It is important to nurture academic integrity early to promote future success and to make clear academic integrity’s importance to students.

Academic integrity can also be defined by what not to do.

Despite best efforts, misconduct occurs. In March 2020, ICAI researchers surveyed 840 students across multiple college campuses (the geographical region was not specified). They found that 32 percent of undergraduates freely admitted to “cheating in any way on an exam.” Additionally, they survived 70,000 high school students at over 24 high schools in the United States. In that survey, researchers found that “58 percent admitted to plagiarism and 95 percent said they participated in some form of cheating” ( ICAI, 2020 ).

Academic dishonesty, or the violation of academic integrity principles, manifests in different ways and in different forms of misconduct. Collusion , copy-paste plagiarism , usage of electronic cheating devices, access to online test banks , abuse of word spinners , self-plagiarism (including as a researcher ), contract cheating , data manipulation, and the emerging trend of AI Writing misconduct , are all examples of academic misconduct as shown on Turnitin’s Plagiarism Spectrum 2.0 infographic.

All of the above examples misrepresent knowledge, violate trust, disrespect the learning process, shirk responsibility, and are unfair to oneself and others. In sum, they violate academic integrity. And in doing so, they all shortcut learning.

Ceceilia Parnther states, “Students learn what educators value and what we don’t care about—as well as who we hold to certain standards and who we don’t” (University of Calgary, October 2020 ). When it comes to academic integrity, it is important to set expectations and then model academic integrity for students. There are several ways to uphold academic integrity, including:

• Academic policies, honor codes, and equitable discipline
• Understanding who cheats, why, and shepherding students towards academic integrity
• Variety of assessment types and assessment design

Let’s look at each of these in depth to understand how students can benefit from the framework that academic integrity provides.

Honor codes make explicit institutional expectations. It is critical to show students that academic integrity is important via policies, honor codes, assessment design, support, and equitable discipline that supports the learning journey. As stated earlier, what students learn in school informs an entire life: how educators enact academic integrity is as important as stating its importance.

When there is a university plagiarism policy that is carefully worded, students deepened their understanding of academic integrity. Furthermore, researchers found that honor codes are an effective way to impress the seriousness of academic misconduct ( Brown & Howell, 2001 ).

Ensure that disciplinary action provides opportunities for students to transform plagiarism into a teachable moment .

Instead of a “zero tolerance” policy, consider a restorative approach (Sopcak) that can help students learn from past mistakes and move forward in their learning journey and possibly become advocates for academic integrity. This approach also models academic integrity by modeling the foundational values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage

Students who feel no value in assessments may cheat. Students who excel in their studies but feel the pressure to be “perfect,” may cheat. Students who are struggling and have no vested interest in the subject matter may cheat. Students who feel peer pressure to “help” fellow students may cheat. The list goes on. There is no one profile of a student who cheats. But understanding the push and pull factors of shortcut solutions can help educators mitigate academic misconduct.

Approaches on upholding academic integrity involve systemic, institutional, parental, instructional, as well as student involvement. Building a culture of academic integrity bolsters student courage to stand up for what is right. Some approaches include:

• Provide explicit instruction on academic integrity and academic misconduct within classrooms to level-set knowledge for students coming from diverse educational backgrounds.
• Include the definition in course syllabi .
• And set a foundation for students by creating a sense of belonging .

According to Tran, Hogg, & Marshall’s 2022 research, “Explicit plagiarism training makes a difference. A training session on referencing improved Chinese students’ knowledge of referencing and plagiarism (Du, 2020 ) and a 13-week course on plagiarism-related issues enhanced international students’ academic writing skills and understanding of plagiarism (Tran, 2012 ). Perkins and Roe ( 2020 ) revealed the effectiveness of an academic English master class on Vietnamese students’ understanding of academic conventions” ( Tran, Hogg, & Marshall 2022 ).

Offer inclusive and formative assessments with a variety of formats so students with different learning styles can practice and receive feedback while failing safely .

Assessment design is widely regarded as one of the most effective ways to mitigate misconduct and help students understand the relevance of assignments, quizzes, tests, or exams. Creating assignments, quizzes, tests, exams, projects, and all the ways to measure learning outcomes are a critical component to upholding academic honesty. Ensuring that assessments are designed to be inclusive and test what has been taught is one way to model integrity. A variety of formats and frequent, low-stakes assessments ensure that students feel supported.

To that end, provide frequent, low-stakes assessments to support student learning. Consider replacing high-stakes exams with low-stakes assessments. Design assessments that test what has been taught in order to lower student stress and increase fairness. Consider designing questions specific to your course or class discussions and avoid generic questions so as to avoid contract cheating. Provide rubrics so that students understand the relevance of the assessment to their learning.

Finally, there are plagiarism detection or similarity tools like Turnitin Feedback Studio . These are a backstop solution to academic dishonesty and should not be a first step in upholding academic integrity in the classroom. They can, however, act as a deterrent and if needed, provide data for Courageous Conversations about misconduct with students.

In sum, academic integrity is a concept that must be backed up by institutional policies, curriculum, teaching interventions, assessment design, and feedback loops that strengthen a student’s bond to learning. By making learning a positive experience, academic integrity can remain in an individual’s life throughout school and into their lifelong journey.

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Peer Pressure

Time management, pressure to succeed, how to overcome plagiarism.

Plagiarism is referred to as literary theft and academic dishonesty, which usually occurs when someone copies the work, ideas and opinions of another author and expresses them as though they are his own without giving credit to the originator. It is very common among higher learning academicians especially when doing write ups for their projects, term papers or thesis.

Plagiarism is a very serious offence and it can attract penalties since copyright takes authors words as his own property and the author has rights to sue in the court of law in case of plagiarism. Plagiarizing not only involves written materials but also piracy in music and other properties.

On the other hand academic integrity refer to a situation whereby students in higher learning institution hold highly on the moral values academics and do their work honestly without cheating (Drinan and Gallant, 2010). It encourages acts of independent learning and critical thinking (White, Owens, and Nguyen 2007).

To maintain academic integrity, academicians should avoid acts of dishonesty, cheating, plagiarism among others. Institutions of higher learning should encourage academic integrity since it really helps students to develop academically and it makes it easy for them to face all kinds of challenges in their area of study.

Academicians give several reasons for plagiarizing some of which include: to help a friend, time pressure, extenuating circumstances, peer pressure, to increase the mark, monetary reward, fear of failure, everybody does it, laziness, lack of research skills, institution admission criteria, poor academic skills, student understanding of plagiarism, external pressure to succeed, careless tutors and invigilators, among others (Devlin and Gray, 2007).

Other reasons may be the advanced technology where by information is readily available online, financial problems where the student cannot afford resource materials, and low chance of being caught. Let us look at some of these reasons in details.

The following essay will show clearly what academic integrity entails, the reason behind plagiarism and how academicians may overcome it to maintain academic integrity.

Peer pressure is a very common scenario in many learning institutions and many students are not able to curb the challenge effectively (Devlin and Gray, 2007). International students are likely to fall to peer-pressure than local ones since they may be seeking comfort and friendship in a place far away from home where they are not familiar with most places and lifestyle. Peer pressure maybe as a result of several factors.

For example, a student may be working very hard to do an assignment honestly but on realizing that most of her classmates are plagiarizing, he/she may prone to do it too. In other instances, the local students in to adventure and having fun may easily influence international students and since they are new to the environment, they may have fun at the expense of the assignment leading to plagiarizing (Vermaat, 2008, Peer, 2009).

International students in higher learning institutions are usually involved in many activities such as jobs, family responsibilities and may be having many units to cover. This is because most of them are usually far away from their families thus they have to cater for their basic needs as they learn.

For instance, most of the international students in the institutions of higher learning do their studies part time after their usual economic businesses. Others are obsessed with having fun leaving very little time for their academic activities while some are generally lazy (Devlin and Gray, 2007).

Due to their big workload, they ought to have a very clear schedule for their activities. The ability of a student to manage his/her time well in college is a key to his/her success. Most of the research papers in higher learning institutions are meant to gauge the student qualification for the area he/she may be covering thus requires ample time.

Plagiarism in this case may be accelerated by procrastination whereby the student keeps on pushing the time to work on his paper until he/she is caught up with the deadline (UNSW, 2010). When students are caught up with the deadline, they are prone to panic and are therefore not able to concentrate or do enough research for their paper. They may end up getting involved in plagiarism to save the situation.

Most international students find it hard to adopt the new curriculum and may not be keen on giving enough time to their research paper because of the advanced technology. They know that they can still get the information from the internet or other books thus being reluctant.

They may also be going through financial strain as they adapt to the new lifestyle or because their guardians are far away thus looking for means to support themselves as they do their studies. This may lead them to poor time management since the job may be draining most of their time leaving them with very little time for their research paper.

Whenever a student joins any institution of higher learning, failing is never an option and the mission right from day one is to get the best grades possible. The pressure may even be more for international students since it takes some so much sacrifice and strain to seek better education at international institutions.

Pressure to succeed and fear of failure is perceived form all direction. For instance, the parents will always be proud of their child if he/she succeeds, the college always sets pass mark giving a student pressure to pass, whoever is learning also gets satisfaction and fulfillment after succeeding, the job market first absorbs the successful students, and in essence pressure to succeed comes from all direction (Sutherland-Smith, 2008)

The education system is so materialistic in a manner that there is always a reward for the successful student and therefore the student will take every action that will help him/her succeed. In this case, whenever a student is given any form of assignment, chances of plagiarism are so high since he/she to present the best work possible.

Through plagiarism, a student is assured of a better grade without putting so much effort or thinking too hard. Some students may be promised monetary gains in case of success while others may be lazy and want to get away with a good grade without sacrificing a lot. Other students may be taking courses they have a negative attitude towards, of which they have to pass thus making them prone to plagiarism (Devlin and Gray, 2007).

This mostly happens to international students when they realize hat most of their areas of study are different from what they were used to at home. This is probably because they do not understand the concept behind their area of study or else, there are just interested in passing to leave the area and do something of their interest. This comes about when students make uninformed decisions when choosing their area of study or guardians force them in to a certain profession.

Institutions of higher learning can only curb the problem of plagiarism by fostering academic integrity, which is composed of the following principles (Drinan and Gallant, 2010): Honesty- The students and tutors should have a driving force to be honest in learning, research and in exams.

Honesty gives a student satisfaction and fulfillment on the grades achieved, enabling him/her to identify and work on his/her weak areas. For international students who may be facing challenges adapting to the new system, it is advisable to develop interest to learn and create more time in order to understand the concept.

Institutions of higher learning and their students should create an atmosphere of trust where by none of them is afraid that the other may be dishonest in one way or the other. This will minimize cases of peer pressure whereby some honest student are forced to copy since everyone in class is doing it. This way, they are able to exchange ideas freely and they can help each other build well on their research and writing talents.

Tutors should always develop an attitude of fairness to their student’s right from the beginning whether they are local or international. They should be keen to encourage the honest students by rewarding their hard work well and putting strict measures to those caught with cases of dishonesty.

Many institutions have come up with means of capturing cases of academic dishonesty such as CCTV in exam rooms, software to detect digital plagiarism and this has encouraged student to work on their own thus getting fair rewards. Tutors should also be fair when marking papers in order to raise the morale of their students and should create a conducive environment for the international students to learn (Keuskamp and Sliuzas, 2007)

Academicians should hold the value of education dearly and with a lot of respect. Every credit in this field should be worked for and held with much integrity since it should be an evidence of the efforts the bearer has put towards its achievement. In this case students should manage their time carefully and this will enable them manage the pressure to pass without straining. It is therefore important to hold on to academic integrity and avoid cases of academic dishonesty.

Responsibility

Institutions of higher learning are meant to nature a spirit of responsibility not only in college but also in their day-to-day life. This should begin right from college where students should be responsible of their research papers by working hard without depending on other author’s materials. They should be taught the importance of time management and independence Local and international students should know the institutions mission right from the beginning in to work towards it.

Apart from the above principles of academic integrity, researchers should ensure that any information retrieved from another persons work is properly cited and references given. This can only be possible if the institution can facilitate on writing skills from the beginning of course work because many students get hardships when doing their write-ups due to lack of proper prior information.

Another way of overcoming plagiarism is through extensive discussions about it between the staff and the students in order to bring the issue to the light. This is because plagiarism has been hidden for many days through assumption that it is not a very serious issue. This leads many students to taking the issue lightly since they do not know much about plagiarism.

This is what leads to unintentional plagiarism since the student may think it is okay since no one talks about it. The staff should hole sessions with the students on time management and they way to live independently without much influence from the peers.

Academic integrity go hand in hand with plagiarism since for the former to operate, the latter should be totally avoided. When academic integrity is not upheld, it undermines the core values through which knowledge is obtained thus damaging the reputation of the larger academic community.

I would recommend that writing skills to be included in every curriculum as a common unit to give learners ample knowledge on how to learn independently and involve critical thinking whenever they are carrying out their assignments. It should be clear that plagiarism is a very serious offence, which should be discouraged in every institution. This is because most tutors and students have had a mentality that plagiarism is just one simple way of accomplishing their course of duty.

Barrier, J. & Presti, D. (2000). Digital plagiarisms . Web.

Devlin, M. & Gray, K. (2007). A qualitative study of the Reasons Australian university students plagiarize. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne. Web.

Drinan, P. & Gallant, T. (2010), Student Conduct Practice . Virginia : Stylus Publishing. Web.

Keuskamp, D. & Sliuzas, R. (2007). Plagiarism prevention or detection? The contribution of text-matching software to education about academic integrity. Journal of Academic Language & Learning, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 91-A99. Web.

Peer pressure and plagiarism. (2009). Peer pressure and plagiarism . Web.

Sutherland-Smith, W. (2008). Plagiarism, the Internet, and Students learning . NY, Routledge. Web.

The University of New South Wales. (2010). How Does Plagiarism Happen? Web.

Vermaat, S. (2008). Discovering Computers 2009: Introductory . Cengage Learning. Web.

White, F., Owens, C. & Nguyen, M. (2007). Using a constructive feedback approach to effectively reduce student plagiarism among first-year psychology students . Web.

• The Price of the Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Effects in Academic Institutions and Workplace
• Plagiarism Effects and Strategies
• Tips to Create an Effective Headline
• How to Write a Research Paper
• Elements of a Typical College Paper
• Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods
• Ways to Free Your Creativity in Writing
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• Chicago (N-B)

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Educators warn AI must be a teaching — not a cheating — aid

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming classrooms worldwide, as pupils adopt AI chatbots as a powerful research tool, and educators use the technology to deliver engaging lessons and cut their administrative workload. But, as generative AI makes it ever easier to create convincing prose based on simple prompts, experts warn that some students may use it as a shortcut for writing notes and essays — compromising their learning and creating a cheating epidemic.

A 2023 study by edtech company RM Technology has already found that two thirds (67 per cent) of secondary school students admit to using chatbots such as ChatGPT for writing essays or doing work for them. They also said they were using AI for solving numerical problems (42 per cent), drafting English essays (41 per cent), translating text into different languages (25 per cent), writing poems (24 per cent), completing physics work (20 per cent), brainstorming history essay topics (18 per cent), creating art (18 per cent), and taking science tests (18 per cent).

Two-thirds of respondents in the RM Technology study also said AI usage has improved their grades.

However, while this level of usage is making the likelihood of AI-plagiarised essays and assignments a growing concern for teachers, not every student is using the technology in these ways.

For example, 17-year-old student James, from Ottowa in Canada, uses ChatGPT to provide more context on different topics and find reading materials. This makes it easier for him to plan, structure and compose his essays. He does not rely on AI to write entire assignments without his input.

Similarly, in maths, James uses AI bots to help get himself started: “The newer models have better visual capabilities, so I’ll send screenshots of problems and ask how I would solve them step by step to check my own answers.”

Emily, a 16-year-old pupil at Eastbourne College in southern England, adopts much the same attitude to using AI for schoolwork. She says: “The main way I use ChatGPT is to either help with ideas for when I am planning an essay, or to reinforce understanding when revising.”

Others, though, are more cavalier in their approach to AI.

I still use AI because of its ease of use. All I really need is the grade for the class

Fiore, a 17-year-old student from Delaware in the US, has used ChatGPT to generate several entire essays when deadlines were nearing or if they required information that he did not have. He accepts that this is “cheating” and potentially making him “lazier”, but his teachers have not caught him yet.

“I use ChatGPT mostly on English assignments, especially large ones — I started doing this around last year,” he says. “I still use AI because of its ease of use. All I really need is the grade for the class, and that’s it.”

There may even be other benefits to letting AI take the strain: in a poll of 15,000 American high school students, conducted by AI-powered educational platform Brainly, 76 per cent said the tech could decrease exam-related stress, while 73 per cent said it could make them more confident in class.

But, with so many pupils using AI in different ways, Adam Speight — an acting assistant headteacher based in Wales and a writer at educational resources provider Access Education GCSEPod — says it is essential that teachers also educate themselves on appropriate uses of the technology.

“AI can speed up the research process for both learners and educators,” he suggests. “What is cheating is when a learner has used AI to do all their work for them.”

Speight says teachers should always “question the validity” of their students’ assignments. He adds that any concerns — and the consequences of cheating — should then be clearly communicated with the student.

Gray Mytton, assessment innovation manager at qualification awarding body NCFE, argues that the fair use of AI will vary by learning outcomes. “For example, if spelling and grammar is being assessed, then learners can’t demonstrate this independently if they are using AI to alter their spelling and grammar,” he explains.

“ On the other hand, if a learner is tasked with creating a marketing video, then using AI to create ideas to enhance video flow could be considered fair use, because the learner is applying these ideas to their video product — but not if the intended learning outcome is to understand different methods of improving flow in a video.”

Jane Basnett, director of digital learning at Downe House School in Berkshire, reckons the rise of AI has “exacerbated” the problem of plagiarism. “Students have always found ways to outwit the systems designed to ensure academic integrity, and the temptation to resort to AI to complete assignments is strong,” she says.

Despite these concerns, though, teachers can demonstrably benefit from employing AI.

Sharon Hague, managing director of school assessment and qualifications at academic publisher and awards body Pearson, says AI could help the teaching workforce free up “hundreds of thousands of hours per week” spent planning lessons and performing other administrative work by 2026. That would allow teachers to “work more directly with students”.

73% Proportion of American high school students saying AI could make them more confident in class

She warns, however, that they need to strike a balance between AI usage and manual work. “Teachers tell us that lesson planning and marking, for example, are often helpful processes . . . to go through themselves.”

When in the classroom, the technology then provides ways to increase the personalisation and creativity of lessons, reckons Jason Tomlinson, managing director of edtech firm RM Technology. He uses the example of an IT teacher explaining “complex concepts” as “digestible formats” that resonate with students, such as “in the tone of their favourite superhero”.

Rory Meredith, director of digital strategy and innovation at South Wales-based further education provider Coleg y Cymoedd, says teachers can then use the data provided by AI systems to track their students’ progress and, if needed, implement targeted interventions. He likens AI to a satnav for “monitoring and recording a learner’s learning journey from point A to B.”

And, when students reach point B, they will need to be able to demonstrate a range of AI skills as so many employers now expect school leavers to possess them. Chris Caren, chief executive of plagiarism detection software Turnitin, says companies are increasingly looking for people who can use AI to “help with writing” and “drive efficiency” in their day-to-day roles.

The risk, here, is that school leavers abuse the technology to inflate their grades on fake CVs and get chatbots to write unauthentic cover letters. Stephen Isherwood, joint CEO of the non-profit professional body Institute of Student Employers, points out that employers are “very aware” of this problem and, consequently, are implementing guidelines defining correct and incorrect AI usage.

Such abuses of AI will not help students in the long run, however. “When an employer meets a student in person, they may not demonstrate the kind of behaviours they expected from the application,” Isherwood points out. “Worst-case scenario is someone gets a job and then finds they can’t do it or it isn’t suited to them.”

John Morganelli Jr — director of college admissions at New York-based private tuition company Ivy Tutors — says some students will want to use AI in their applications so as not to be “at a disadvantage”. But he thinks employers will be wise to it.

“Over time, I believe that admissions officers and hiring managers may place greater emphasis on real-time assessments, such as interviews or video portfolios, to gauge a candidate’s true abilities,” he says. “This shift might lead to more innovative interview formats, where candidates face questions generated by AI without prior knowledge of the topics.”

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The alarming rise of fake science

Fraudulent papers are flooding scientific journals

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Scientific fraud is becoming a larger issue. Thousands of fake scientific papers have flooded journals and have subsequently had to be retracted. Much of this is the work of paper mills, which submit fraudulent papers to journals for a fee. Scientific fraud and fake science reduce the legitimacy of peer-reviewed journals and can spread misinformation into the public sphere. 

Real journals, fake science

Scientific journals are usually a source of reputable research and information, but recently thousands of fraudulent papers have been published in those journals and have needed to be retracted. "The proportion of papers published in any given year that go on to be retracted — has more than tripled in the past decade," said Nature . "In 2022, it exceeded 0.2%." Wiley, a more than 200-year-old publishing company, has retracted more than 11,300 compromised papers and closed four journals in the past two years. The company also announced that it will be closing 19 others. Several other publishing companies have been required to take similar actions. "Although this large-scale fraud represents a small percentage of submissions to journals, it threatens the legitimacy of the nearly $30 billion academic publishing industry and the credibility of science as a whole," said The Wall Street Journal . 

The fake scientific papers are mostly the work of paper mills, "businesses or individuals that, for a price, will list a scientist as an author of a wholly or partially fabricated paper," said the Journal. The mills submit the papers and usually avoid "the most prestigious journals in favor of publications such as one-off special editions that might not undergo as thorough a review and where they have a better chance of getting bogus work published." Many researchers and scientists feel pressured to publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals in order to boost their careers or earn promotions. "Paper-mill products are a problem even if no one reads them because they get aggregated with others into review articles and laundered into the mainstream literature," David Bimler, a research-integrity sleuth who uses the pseudonym Smut Clyde, said to Nature. Paper mills have been found in several countries, including Russia, Iran, Latvia, China and India.

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Loss of integrity

Fraudulent scientific papers can have large implications. "The products of paper mills often look like regular articles but are based on templates in which names of genes or diseases are slotted in at random among fictitious tables and figures," said The Guardian . "Worryingly, these articles can then get incorporated into large databases used by those working on drug discovery." One of the most notable examples was the drug ivermectin being deemed a suitable cure for Covid-19 despite the studies largely containing evidence of fraud.

"The situation has become appalling," Oxford University professor Dorothy Bishop said to The Guardian. "The level of publishing of fraudulent papers is creating serious problems for science. In many fields, it is becoming difficult to build up a cumulative approach to a subject because we lack a solid foundation of trustworthy findings." Many blame the journals themselves for not thoroughly vetting the papers published. "Editors are not fulfilling their roles properly, and peer reviewers are not doing their jobs. And some are being paid large sums of money," said Aberdeen University professor Alison Avenell.

Some journals have created more rigorous standards for publication and have also increased surveillance to spot fraudulent papers. The good news is that many fake science papers have telltale signs, like unusual wording to avoid plagiarism and references listed that are irrelevant to the paper's topic. However, the advancement of AI could throw a wrench in the progress. "Generative AI has just handed [paper mills] a winning lottery ticket," Kim Eggleton, head of peer review and research integrity at IOP Publishing, said to the Journal. "They can do it really cheap, at scale, and the detection methods are not where we need them to be. I can only see that challenge increasing." 

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 Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.  

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Copy-and-Paste: How Allegations of Plagiarism Became the Culture War’s New Frontier

The development could not have come at a worse time for the University. Harvard was struggling to navigate public fallout from former President Claudine Gay’s now-infamous congressional hearing . The University was under a national microscope like never before, and politicians, alumni, and Harvard affiliates were calling for Gay’s resignation .

And amidst it all — as the Harvard Corporation met to discuss Gay’s future at the University — right-wing activist Christopher F. Rufo and journalist Christopher Brunet hit publish on a piece that would add a new element to the controversy: allegations that Gay had plagiarized large sections of her Ph.D. dissertation at Harvard.

The report was timed to make waves. Rufo, a prominent critic of critical race theory, boasted on X that their timing had been intentional. They had the tip for about a week, he wrote, and held it till “the precise moment of maximum impact.”

Rufo’s report was quickly followed by an article by Aaron Sibarium in the right-leaning Washington Free Beacon, which unearthed additional allegations spanning Gay’s academic career.

The duo — Rufo and Brunet — had successfully hijacked the conversation, expanding a ballooning national scandal over antisemitism at Harvard to include both Gay’s academic credentials and the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts , which they said were to blame for Gay’s presidency.

The Corporation, backed into a corner, could not ignore the new attacks. After a review of Gay’s work, they said that though Gay would submit seven corrections to add citations across her dissertation and published works, they found that she had not committed academic misconduct.

“Never did I imagine needing to defend decades-old and broadly respected research, but the past several weeks have laid waste to truth,” Gay wrote in a New York Times op-ed shortly after her resignation. “Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument.”

But despite Gay’s defenses, in the public’s eyes, the damage had been done . Gay was pushed to resignation to the delight of Harvard’s most outspoken antagonists, Rufo included.

“Today, we celebrate victory. Tomorrow, we get back to the fight,” Rufo posted to X the day of Gay’s resignation. “We must not stop until we have abolished DEI ideology from every institution in America.”

Harvard had already found itself in the crossfires of the culture war. But with new software at their disposal and a trove of unscrutinized scholarship to dive into, the plagiarism allegations against Gay had opened up a new frontier.

‘Kindergarten Criteria’

The allegations might have ended with Gay’s sudden resignation. Instead, they took off.

The first three months of 2024 saw three more Black women at Harvard hit with anonymous plagiarism complaints, one after another: Chief Diversity Officer Sherri A. Charleston , Harvard Extension School administrator Shirley R. Greene , and Sociology professor Christina J. Cross .

As the allegations poured in, Rufo crowed on X about how the allegations discredited scholarship on race and diversity, what he called “grievance disciplines.” But some academics and experts said the string of complaints elide important distinctions between downright plagiarism and sloppy writing or even standard academic practices.

The complaints filed against Gay, Greene, and Cross, for example, did not contend with the papers’ findings. Rather, they scrutinized their definitions, methodological descriptions, and prose.

Sociology professor Michèle Lamont — who has studied what it means for academic writing to be original — said she felt that using line-by-line plagiarism checks to determine the academic integrity of faculty work was “a little bit like using kindergarten criteria to evaluate people who are experts at knowledge production.”

Charleston was accused in January of lifting several phrases in her 2009 Ph.D. dissertation. In many of the alleged cases, she cited the relevant author but did not use direct quotations, while in others the complaint alleged no citation.

A paper she co-wrote with her husband LaVar J. Charleston and Jerlando F.L. Jackson was also accused of reusing interview content and findings from a prior paper by her husband.

Greene faced allegations of lifting language from several other scholars, in most but not all cases citing the relevant scholar but not including quotation marks. A plagiarism expert consulted by The Crimson at the time said the complaint contained several frivolous allegations but that there were some warranting further review.

In Cross’s case , the most severe allegations reference public dataset or methodology descriptions — and the complaint was largely shot down by academics. The Sociology department published a statement defending Cross’s work, and several academics in charge of large public datasets said her use of standard descriptions was “simply good research practice,” not plagiarism.

“We find these bogus claims to be particularly troubling in the context of a series of attacks on Black women in academia with the clear subtext that they have no place in our universities,” the Sociology department wrote.

All three have not commented publicly on the allegations. The University has repeatedly said it would not comment on specific cases, citing the ongoing review processes.

The journalists amplifying the complaints said that the scholars — particularly Gay — violated the Harvard College Writing Program’s Harvard Guide to Using Sources, an online resource for undergraduates engaging in academic writing. The guide states that all language used from other scholars must either be paraphrased and cited or directly quoted and cited.

In a Dec. 31 Crimson op-ed , an anonymous Harvard College Honor Council member argued that plagiarism complaints similar to the one filed against Gay “often” lead to year-long suspensions for undergraduates.

“There is one standard for me and my peers,” they wrote, “and another, much lower standard for our University’s president.”

But Lamont said that scholarship produced by faculty should not be conflated with that of students. Faculty research integrity is regulated by a different policy: the Interim Policies and Procedures for Responding to Allegations of Research Misconduct, which the Corporation said Gay had not breached.

“The kind of work we produce has nothing to do with the term papers that undergrads produce,” Lamont said, comparing the standards for students and faculty. “I mean, what they’re doing is super important in their own apprenticeship but that’s not what research is about.”

Lamont argued that Harvard — and other institutions — need to clarify differences between the policy for faculty members and undergraduates to ensure that policies are tailored to the levels of expertise of each group.

“I think if universities take very firm stances to defend their faculty, certainly this may contribute to delegitimizing these attacks,” she said.

The ‘Common Thread’

Typically, leveling an allegation of plagiarism is supposed to defend the scholarly record and the contributions of the allegedly plagiarized author. But from the get-go, Rufo emphasized that his aims were much bigger.

“Let’s talk prestige, scholarship, degrees, DEI, affirmative action. Let’s have a full-blown plagiarism war,” Rufo posted to X shortly after Gay’s resignation. “The more attention focused on elite academia, the more people will see the incompetence, the psychopathologies, and the ideological rot.”

He ended his post with an unambiguous call to action: “Accelerate!”

And accelerate they did. Both Rufo and Sibarium have made plagiarism complaints against DEI administrators or researchers into a kind of miniature beat, expanding their focus beyond Harvard to academics and administrators at MIT, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Columbia University.

At Harvard, the fixation on Black female scholars who study issues of race and equity has led many academics to criticize their reporting as racially motivated.

Jennifer L. Hochschild, a political scientist at Harvard from whom Gay was accused of plagiarizing, said the string of allegations suggested a “targeted” attack on Black women in service of the conservative push to discredit institutions of higher education and DEI initiatives.

“There’s obviously a highly selective, very targeted attack on precisely the people who are most vulnerable, who have traditionally historically forever been most vulnerable, who represent what a very large proportion of the country resents, fears, envies, mistrusts. The combination of race and gender and high status is a very volatile one,” said Hochschild.

Hochschild previously faced backlash for saying Rufo had misrepresented his masters degree from the Harvard Extension School in comments that were perceived as belittling HES students. She later apologized for her remarks.

Rufo has rejected the notion that his work has racial motivations, as have Sibarium and Brunet. Still, he was startlingly candid about the demographics of those he had accused.

Rufo wrote in a post on X that a source of his had “investigated white social-justice scholars at Harvard, but did not find plagiarism in their work” — suggesting Black scholars could be more likely to plagiarize.

In response to a request for comment for this article, Rufo wrote that a source of his “ran some of Professor Hochschild’s papers through the detection software and did not find any plagiarism.”

“So, in a real way, she herself is responsible for the plagiarism disparities within Harvard’s African-American studies faculty,” Rufo added.

Hochschild responded by saying she was “delighted that Mr. Rufo’s helpers found no plagiarism in my writings,” adding that she had no further comment.

To Sibarium, the initial set of allegations against Gay was “frankly, just a compelling story on its own terms.” But he also could not ignore the trend.

The “common thread here is DEI,” Sibarium said. The identity of those accused, he added, followed a trend because it is “more a function of the composition of DEI officers than anything else.”

Brunet said he found the original tip and brought it to Rufo while he was reporting on academic fraud.

“I think the plagiarism speaks for itself,” Brunet said, referring to Gay’s corrections. “I’m just an academic scandal guy and sometimes race gets caught up there.”

That the allegations targeted DEI administrators and scholars of race was, to Brunet, simply an ironic illustration of the intellectual bankruptcy of liberal institutions.

It’s “funnier than if a biology professor got hit, or if a physics professor or an English professor,” Brunet said. “They’re not real scholars. It’s a fake profession to begin with. So, when it’s fake and plagiarized, it makes it double funny.”

Sibarium separated his reporting from Rufo’s ongoing campaign against DEI, instead offering a conjecture about Rufo’s motivations. Rufo, he argued, “latched onto” plagiarism allegations “as a powerful weapon” because “the plagiarism allegations provide an almost objective referee in the culture war.”

Brunet said that he felt “conservatives have a duty to weaponize” plagiarism allegations “as much as possible.”

“Liberals would be weaponizing it as much as possible, if they could,” he said.

Hochschild likewise said plagiarism allegations were simply the most novel tool in a much longer ideological tradition.

“This is just, in some ways, another manifestation of the same old same old American political culture around race, gender and class. Very effective,” Hochschild said. “Christopher Rufo and his allies are really good at what they do.”

A ‘Low Bar’

Plagiarism and academic dishonesty scandals are nothing new. In the 1980s, a falsification crisis hit the life sciences as researchers were under increased pressure from universities and biopharma companies to show significant results, while the 2010s saw the rise of the replication crisis in social psychology.

But while previous research controversies mostly played out in university halls and the pages of academic journals, the current string of academic misconduct complaints has a distinctly public nature, bolstered by the ubiquity of software like Turnitin and other, artificial intelligence-powered plagiarism detection tools.

With such a low barrier to entry for alleging plagiarism, some academics said, anyone — regardless of expertise — can make career-altering accusations against scholars, whose fate may largely be decided on social media before any technical review process is even conducted.

Lamont, the expert in original scholarship, challenged the integrity of plagiarism allegations that have been made online, saying that “these criticisms are produced by people who have zero understanding of what research is about.”

Ruben Enikolopov, chairman of the Board of the Review of Economic Studies, similarly agreed that making academic data widely available online has caused the overall quality of checks on academic integrity to deteriorate.

“We realized that this crowdsourcing is a low bar, and we have to push it higher and introduce our own data editors to make sure that everything is kosher,” said Enikolopov.

But Brunet, the journalist who reported on Gay, offered a counterpoint: institutions’ reviews are “so broken,” he said, that “there’s no other choice than to play it out in the public arena.” Brunet argued that schools are biased actors, with “every incentive to sweep” allegations against faculty and administrators “under the rug.”

Government professor Theda Skocpol, a former dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said she believes universities need to review how they’ve dealt with high-profile plagiarism cases in the past and then determine an effective process to use going forward.

“I know some very prominent people who are still on the faculty were accused. It’s not as if people said, ‘Oh, no, we’re not going to look at this.’ It’s also not as if they were fired,” Skocpol said. “That’s the kind of process that we should have and we need to have it ready now.”

“High profile people are going to be like sitting ducks for externally motivated actors in the current period,” she added.

In January, a few weeks after Ackman — the billionaire and former donor — helped promote the allegations against Gay, Business Insider published an exposé on his wife Neri Oxman, formerly a professor at MIT. Ackman called the move retaliatory and vowed revenge in a post on X, saying he would launch AI-powered plagiarism reviews of faculty members at MIT and its peer schools.

“Why? Well, every faculty member knows that once their work is targeted by AI, they will be outed,” Ackman wrote.

“No body of written work in academia can survive the power of AI searching for missing quotation marks, failures to paraphrase appropriately, and/or the failure to properly credit the work of others,” he added.

Harvard Kennedy School professor Sheila S. Jasanoff ’64 cautioned against plagiarism reviews like the one Ackman had proposed, noting that software could often mistakenly flag scholarship as having been plagiarized.

“The statistical tools, though very powerful, may be in the business of over-detecting, creating false positives in a way that the older cases did not actually allow for,” said Jasanoff.

And four months later, Ackman’s proposed plagiarism review has made no public progress. The news cycle, Ackman, and others interested have moved to more contemporary issues, such as the wave of pro-Palestine encampments that have emerged at universities across the country.

While the threat of such reviews — and their subsequent politicization — looms larger than ever, Brunet said he believes plagiarism stories don’t have much left in the tank.

“I see the public getting tired of it eventually,” Brunet said.

“I think there’ll be one big wave eventually and maybe continued stories here or there, but I don’t think it’s going to be a consistent theme for the next five years,” he added.

—Staff writer Angelina J. Parker can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on X @ angelinajparker .

—Staff writer Neil H. Shah can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on X @neilhshah15 .

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The SEO sphere can suffer from machine-written content significantly. Google has policies that don't allow the use of AI-made content, that's why you'd want to use AI plagiarism detection.

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