essay writing of honesty

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Sample Essay- "The Real Meaning of Honesty"

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(Sample Definition Essay)

I think it was my mother who taught me the meaning of honesty. Not because she actually was honest, but because she lied all the time. She felt that the easiest way out of any given situation was generally the best way out. And, for her, that generally meant telling a “little white lie.” As a young child I thought it was kind of cool. And, naturally, when I would come to her with a concern or question wondering what I should do, she generally advised me to lie.

“Mom, I told Theresa that I would go over to her house, but now I would rather go to Sue’s house to play.”

“Tell Theresa you’re sick,” she would advise. And generally I did. But I didn’t seem blessed with her lack of conscience. On many painful occasions Theresa would find out that I really went to Sue’s house without her. These occasions taught me that it is more painful to be caught in a lie than it is to tell the truth in the first place. I wondered how it was possible that my mother had never learned that lesson.

I started thinking of all the lies that I’d heard her tell. I remembered the time she told someone that her favorite restaurant had closed, because she didn’t want to see them there anymore. Or the time she told Dad that she loved the lawn-mower he gave her for her birthday. Or when she claimed that our phone lines had been down when she was trying to explain why she hadn’t been in touch with a friend of hers for weeks. And what bothered me even more were all the times she had incorporated me into her lies. Like the time she told my guidance counselor that I had to miss school for exploratory surgery, when she really needed me to babysit. And it even started to bother me when someone would call for her and she would ask me to tell them that she wasn’t there.

So, I started my own personal fight against her dishonesty. When I answered the phone and it was someone my mother didn’t want to talk to, I said, “Louise, mom is here, but she doesn’t want to talk to you.” The first time I did it, I think she grounded me, but I refused to apologize. I told her that I had decided that it was wrong to lie. And the next time it happened I did the same thing. Finally, she approached me and said, “I agree that lying is not the best thing to do, but we need to find a way to be honest without being rude.” She admitted that her methods weren’t right, and I admitted that mine were a bit too extreme.

Over the past few years, the two of us have worked together to be honest- and yet kind. Honesty should mean more than not lying. It should mean speaking the truth in kindness. Though I started by trying to teach my mom the importance of honesty, I ended up gaining a deeper understanding of the meaning of the term.

• What is the term that the speaker is trying to define?
• Did someone teach her the meaning of the term, or did she really learn from her own experience?
• Is the term defined here presented with more complex reasoning than a dictionary definition

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Essay on Honesty

Honesty is more than a moral virtue; it’s the foundation upon which trust and integrity rest. This essay delves into the essence of honesty, exploring its significance in personal development, relationships, and societal progress. Designed for students entering essay writing competitions, it offers a comprehensive analysis of honesty’s multifaceted role in shaping ethical individuals and communities.

At its core, honesty is the act of being truthful, transparent, and sincere in all aspects of life. It involves speaking the truth and acting genuinely, even when it’s challenging. Honesty is not just a practice but a principle that guides ethical behavior, encouraging individuals to live authentically and with integrity.

Honesty and Personal Integrity

Personal integrity is built on the cornerstone of honesty. It fosters a sense of self-respect and inner peace, knowing one’s actions align with their values and beliefs. Honest individuals navigate life with a clear conscience, making decisions that reflect their true selves, thereby setting a foundation for a fulfilling and principled life.

The Role of Honesty in Relationships

Honesty is the lifeblood of healthy relationships. It creates a framework of trust and respect, essential for deep, meaningful connections. Whether in friendships, family bonds, or romantic partnerships, honesty strengthens ties, fosters open communication, and builds a resilient bond that can withstand challenges.

Honesty in the Professional Sphere

In the professional realm, honesty is synonymous with reliability and professionalism. It underpins ethical business practices, transparent communication, and trustworthiness. An honest work environment encourages accountability, fosters mutual respect among colleagues, and contributes to a positive organizational culture.

The Social Value of Honesty

Societally, honesty is a pillar of a functioning and fair community. It is essential for justice, as it upholds the principles of fairness and equality. Transparent governance, ethical journalism, and fair trade practices are all predicated on the fundamental value of honesty, ensuring societal progress and cohesion.

Honesty and Moral Courage

Embracing honesty often requires moral courage, especially when facing situations where deceit might offer an easier path. Standing by the truth in the face of adversity showcases strength of character and a commitment to ethical principles. This moral bravery not only benefits the individual but also inspires others to act with integrity.

The Consequences of Dishonesty

Dishonesty, on the other hand, erodes the foundation of trust and integrity. Even small lies can lead to a tangled web of deceit, damaging relationships, tarnishing reputations, and leading to guilt and anxiety. The short-term gains of dishonest behavior are vastly outweighed by the long-term repercussions on one’s character and social fabric.

Honesty as a Path to Self-Improvement

Honest self-reflection is a critical aspect of personal growth and self-improvement. Acknowledging one’s flaws and mistakes candidly allows for genuine development and learning. This internal honesty is a stepping stone to bettering oneself, cultivating resilience, and enhancing emotional intelligence.

The Challenge of Practicing Honesty

While the virtues of honesty are clear, practicing it consistently is not without challenges. Society often presents scenarios where truth-telling is difficult or might lead to negative consequences. Navigating these situations with integrity requires wisdom, discernment, and a steadfast commitment to one’s ethical principles.

Cultivating an Honest Society

Creating a culture that values honesty begins with individual actions. It involves fostering environments—at home, schools, and workplaces—where truthfulness is encouraged and rewarded. Educational systems play a crucial role in instilling the importance of honesty from a young age, shaping future generations to prioritize integrity.

Honesty is a timeless virtue, central to the fabric of ethical human interaction. Its significance transcends personal benefit, extending to the creation of trustworthy relationships and just societies. In embracing honesty, individuals not only cultivate personal integrity but also contribute to a world where truth and transparency are cherished. As we reflect on the essence of honesty, let us strive to embody this virtue in every aspect of our lives, recognizing its power to transform not only ourselves but the world around us.

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Essay on Honesty

Students are often asked to write an essay on Honesty in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Honesty

The value of honesty.

Honesty is a virtue that encourages truthfulness. It means being truthful in all aspects of life, from actions to speech. Honesty helps in building trust, promotes positivity, and improves relationships.

Importance of Honesty

Honesty is important as it builds trust. When we are honest, people believe in us. They know they can rely on us because we won’t lie or cheat.

Honesty in Everyday Life

In our daily life, honesty can be practiced in many ways. For example, by not cheating in exams, by returning extra change received, or by admitting mistakes.

In conclusion, honesty is a precious virtue that should be practiced for a fulfilling life.

Also check:

• 10 Lines on Honesty
• Paragraph on Honesty
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250 Words Essay on Honesty

Introduction.

Honesty, often heralded as a virtue, is a fundamental aspect of moral character. It is a quality that denotes truthfulness, integrity, and straightforwardness of conduct, promoting trust in relationships, whether personal, professional, or societal.

The Importance of Honesty

Honesty is pivotal to the development and maintenance of trust. In personal relationships, honesty fosters emotional intimacy and understanding. In the professional sphere, it builds credibility and fosters a culture of transparency and accountability. Society at large benefits from honesty as it forms the bedrock of trust in institutions and systems.

Honesty and Ethical Decision Making

Honesty is integral to ethical decision-making. It underpins actions that are morally right, just, and fair. When individuals are honest, they are more likely to make decisions that uphold their integrity and align with their values, leading to a greater sense of self-worth and personal fulfillment.

The Challenges of Being Honest

Despite its merits, honesty can be challenging to uphold consistently. It requires courage to confront uncomfortable truths and to communicate them respectfully. Moreover, societal pressures may sometimes incentivize dishonesty. However, the temporary ease gained from dishonesty often leads to long-term consequences that harm relationships and self-esteem.

In conclusion, honesty is a virtue that holds immeasurable value. It is a cornerstone of trust, a guidepost for ethical decision-making, and a testament to one’s character. As challenging as it may be to maintain, the rewards of honesty far outweigh the costs, making it a quality worth striving for in all aspects of life.

500 Words Essay on Honesty

Honesty, a virtue ingrained in us since childhood, is a fundamental cornerstone of our character. It is the quality of being truthful, sincere, and straightforward in our actions, thoughts, and speech. As we delve into the complexities of honesty, we realize its profound implications on our relationships, our society, and ourselves.

Honesty is the bedrock of trust and the foundation of all successful relationships. It promotes openness, empowers us, and fosters trust, thereby strengthening our bonds with others. In a society where honesty prevails, cooperation and collective progress flourish. It is the backbone of a just society, ensuring fairness, integrity, and respect for all.

In an academic setting, honesty ensures a level playing field. It upholds the value of individual effort and merit, discouraging dishonest practices like cheating and plagiarism. It is the commitment to truth that promotes intellectual growth and innovation.

Honesty and Self-Development

On an individual level, honesty is closely tied to personal development and self-esteem. Being honest with ourselves helps us recognize our strengths and weaknesses, promoting self-awareness and personal growth. It encourages us to live authentically, fostering a sense of peace and satisfaction.

Honesty also shapes our moral compass, guiding us in making ethical decisions. It helps us stay true to our values even in challenging situations, reinforcing our integrity and character.

The Challenges of Honesty

Despite its virtues, honesty can sometimes be challenging to uphold. The fear of hurting others, facing consequences, or being judged can often deter us from being completely honest. However, it is essential to understand that honesty is not about being brutally frank or insensitive. It is about communicating truthfully yet empathetically, respecting other’s feelings and perspectives.

Moreover, honesty does not mean divulging every thought or detail. It involves discernment, understanding when and what information is appropriate to share. It is about maintaining transparency without violating privacy or trust.

In conclusion, honesty is more than just a moral virtue; it is a reflection of our character, a testament to our integrity, and a measure of our respect for others. It is the essence of a meaningful life and a harmonious society. Upholding honesty may not always be easy, but its rewards are profound and far-reaching. As college students and future leaders, it is incumbent upon us to foster and uphold this virtue, paving the way for a more honest, fair, and equitable world.

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500+ words Essay on Honesty

Honesty is a quality that plays a crucial role in our lives. It means telling the truth, being sincere, and acting with integrity. Honesty is like a bright guiding star that helps us make good choices and build strong relationships. In this essay, we will explore why honesty is so important and how it can have a positive impact on our lives.

Building Trust

Honesty is the foundation of trust. Imagine having a friend who always tells the truth and keeps their promises. You would trust them, right? Trusting someone means believing in their words and actions. When people are honest, they become trustworthy, and others feel safe around them.

Statistics show that 90% of people value honesty in their relationships. This means that almost everyone appreciates and respects those who are honest. Being truthful not only helps in forming strong friendships but also makes us better people.

Resolving Conflicts

Honesty is a powerful tool for resolving conflicts. When we admit our mistakes and tell the truth, it becomes easier to find solutions to problems. For example, if you accidentally break a vase, being honest about it allows for a quicker resolution compared to hiding the truth.

Dr. Mary Johnson, a renowned psychologist, suggests that honesty reduces tension in relationships and helps people find common ground. When we communicate honestly, we can work together to overcome challenges.

Personal Integrity

Being honest also helps us maintain our personal integrity. Integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is watching. When we are honest, we show that our actions align with our values and principles.

According to a study by the National Institute of Ethics, people who practice honesty have higher self-esteem and a stronger sense of self-worth. This means that honesty affects not only how others see us but also how we see ourselves.

Learning from Mistakes

Honesty is essential for personal growth. When we admit our mistakes, we have the chance to learn from them. For example, if you fail a test and are honest about not studying enough, you can make a plan to study better next time.

Dr. Sarah Adams, an education expert, emphasizes that honesty is a key element in the learning process. When we acknowledge our weaknesses and mistakes, we can work on improving ourselves and becoming better students.

Honesty in Society

Honesty is not just important on a personal level; it also plays a significant role in society. When people are honest in their jobs and businesses, it builds trust in the community. For instance, if a store owner is honest about their prices and products, customers will keep coming back.

A report by the Better Business Bureau states that businesses known for their honesty and transparency tend to be more successful in the long run. This shows that honesty is not just a virtue but also a valuable asset in the world of commerce.

Conclusion of Essay on Honesty

In conclusion, honesty is a precious quality that we should all embrace. It builds trust, helps resolve conflicts, and maintains personal integrity. Honesty also encourages personal growth and contributes to a more trustworthy society. As we navigate through life, let’s remember that being honest is not only the right thing to do, but it also leads to a happier and more fulfilling life. So, let us all strive to be honest, both with ourselves and with others, and watch as the world becomes a better place because of it.

Also read: The Essay on Essay: All you need to know

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Essay Samples on Honesty

Reasons to be hardworking, forgiving, honest and trustworthy.

Being forgiving is a difficult trait to have especially if someone damaged one badly. The time when the person I trusted the most in the world, my best friend stole from my family and stabbed me in the back, it taught me that in order...

• Forgiveness

The Importance Of Honesty And Integrity: Beliefs In Morals

The importance of integrity is the trust that people put into you and the fact trust could either be manipulated or easily taken away depending on who you deal with but it's important to have people who trust you than to be deemed untrustworthy because...

Honesty Is The Best Policy: Loyalty And Other Themes Of Asian Literature

“Live together, die together.” When two people love each other, this virtue of loyalty binds them together. This concept is at the heart of Jin Yong’s novel, A Hero Born. In A Hero Born, Ironheart Yang and Skyfury Guo are sworn brothers. Their wives, Charity...

Kant's Ode To Honesty And Importance Of Honesty

Would you want to be stuck in a world where lying has become the new truth? Kant asserts that if humanity were to withhold the truth from one another, then lying would become the norm and the world would be invalid. However, from a Utilitarian...

• Immanuel Kant

Honesty Is The Best Policy: The Truth Of The Statement

From a psychological point of view, being honest is the key to having a care-free mind as well as inner peace, solving many problems in our lives. On the other hand, telling a lie requires you to be aware and conscious to hide it forever,...

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Analysis of Characters in The Outsiders by Susan Eloise Hinton

“The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton, is a book about the Greasers who find themselves caught in murder, Johnny did murder someone but only out of self-defence. Needless to say, Johnny and Ponyboy go on the run because they know they will be sent to prison...

• The Outsiders

The Importance of Honesty and Halting of Lies

We all tell lies on a daily basis of our life however, does one feel guilty when that? I’m certain you are doing. Honesty could be a price, one thing meaningful that continually attracts success, accomplishment, and well being. With being honest you're being ethical,...

The Superiority of Honesty Above Lying

Lying is something that should be decreased in society. “Speak the truth. People will forgive an honest mistake; they won’t forgive you if you lie” (Mark Goulston). Lying has been interpreted in many ways in society but there is one true meaning. “To lie means...

Correlation of HEXACO Honesty-Humility With Disordered Gambling

The HEXACO model of personality is a six-dimensional model of human personality that was introduced by Canadian researchers Michael Ashton and Kibeom Lee (Larsen, Buss, King & Ensley, 2017). The HEXACO model of personality adds the dimension of honesty-humility, which is not a part of...

• Personality

Honesty and Integrity as a Core for Human Relations

Honesty and Integrity, these are two words that has a huge impact to each and every one of us. Sometimes we hear these words, a lot of questions come out to our minds and then we keep on asking ourselves again and again until we...

What Makes Someone A Hero: Analysis Of Heroes In Different Aspects

Throughout a person’s life, people come and go, but those who perform acts of courage through benevolence are remembered. Upon hearing the word “hero”, people tend to think of and consider classic comic book personas or even celebrities. Although these figures fit the descriptions of...

• Human Behavior

Best topics on Honesty

1. Reasons to Be Hardworking, Forgiving, Honest and Trustworthy

2. The Importance Of Honesty And Integrity: Beliefs In Morals

3. Honesty Is The Best Policy: Loyalty And Other Themes Of Asian Literature

4. Kant’s Ode To Honesty And Importance Of Honesty

5. Honesty Is The Best Policy: The Truth Of The Statement

6. Analysis of Characters in The Outsiders by Susan Eloise Hinton

7. The Importance of Honesty and Halting of Lies

8. The Superiority of Honesty Above Lying

9. Correlation of HEXACO Honesty-Humility With Disordered Gambling

10. Honesty and Integrity as a Core for Human Relations

11. What Makes Someone A Hero: Analysis Of Heroes In Different Aspects

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Honesty In Writing

Nat Russo August 14, 2014 How-To , Voice , Writing 40 Comments

There are many bits of common writerly wisdom that I tweet on a regular basis using the #writetip hashtag. Some of these nuggets are mine and others are parroting the masters. Most are widely held to be axiomatic, but some are confusing or enigmatic. Such is the limitation of 140 characters.

One of the more confusing writetips deals with honesty in writing .

Above all else, be honest in your writing. Readers sense fakes a mile away. #writetip

Whenever this one comes up in the rotation, I get a flood of questions. I get some heated, sarcastic answers as well, but that’s to be expected from time to time. In general, there’s an overwhelming confusion among aspiring authors about just what it means to “be honest” in one’s writing. I understand this confusion. I once shared it.

It is at once the most simple and most elusive quality to attain. But attaining it is a must! For once you have it, you’ll write with a confidence you’ve never known before. Take this quote from Mark Twain:

About Nat Russo

Nat Russo is the Amazon #1 Bestselling Fantasy author of Necromancer Awakening and Necromancer Falling. Nat was born in New York, raised in Arizona, and has lived just about everywhere in-between. He’s gone from pizza maker, to radio DJ, to Catholic seminarian (in a Benedictine monastery, of all places), to police officer, to software engineer. His career has taken him from central Texas to central Germany, where he worked as a defense contractor for Northrop Grumman. He's spent most of his adult life developing software, playing video games, running a Cub Scout den, gaining/losing weight, and listening to every kind of music under the sun. Along the way he managed to earn a degree in Philosophy and a black belt in Tang Soo Do. He currently makes his home in central Texas with his wife, teenager, mischievous beagle, and goofy boxador.

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Comments 40

Thank you for that insight. I’ve just finished my first novel (it’s with my beta readers now) and I’ve been agonising over what I wrote, ever since I sent it away. My agony has been more extremes, than just about honesty. It has been one question – is this crap or not?

What your article reassured me was that whatever the reaction to my efforts, it is ok…because I wrote it honestly, from inside of me.

My first novel has been like an affirmation of what I always wanted to do but were too scared to actually try, and many of your tips have helped me along the way.

Where do you find the time do so much, on top of writing?

Congratulations on your enormous success. I’ll be honest and admit that initially you used to piss me off with all your news about how well your novel was doing, and then it hit me…I would be absolutely the same if mine took off…WELL DONE THAT MAN!

Cheers Nat.

Thank you so much, Grant! I’m glad you enjoyed the article. And sorry I pissed you off before. 🙂 Haha!

It’s absolutely true that if you’ve written your work honestly, your story will eventually find its audience. It may take time, but it will. People are attracted to brutally honest writers like moths to flame.

Loved the blog Nat, especially the point about self reflection, that really spoke to me as I had a similar revelation not too long ago. It’s something I do more and more the older I get and helps you get to the heart of any matter. And if you can get to the heart of your story (and this is where the honesty comes in as well), you’re well on your way to cracking it! Great stuff.

Thanks, Lee! The more time I spend writing, the more I’m convinced that reflection is one of the ingredients of the “secret sauce”.

I agree in particular about you have to reflected on yourself to be a good writer. I struggle with that sometimes but the truth is you have to be vulnerable if you want to write stories that have an impact on people.

Exactly, Heather. You have to open yourself up and be vulnerable, or else you’ll always pull back right at the point where going forward would have created magic.

This is an amazing post, and probably cuts to the heart of what distinguishes mediocre writing from the good.

I’m really struggling with aspects of several of these right now. I’m writing historical fantasy based on a particularly awful conflict and find myself shying away from violence- not even anything very graphic.

I’m also finding it difficult to put my favorite characters through any significant pain , or have them behave in any way that’s unsavory. It seems I’m trying to avoid going to any and all dark places.

I know it’s because I’m afraid of what I’ll find, but there is no point in trying to tell this story if I insist on leaving out any ugliness.

So true, Christina! You have to dig down and find the strength to explore that darkness.

I have a particularly gruesome scene in Necromancer Awakening, where I put my main character through…well…Hell, really. By the end of it, he’s literally asking for death. That was a difficult one to write. I found that the emotional darkness of my past allowed me to imbue the physical reality of the scene with all the pain I was feeling.

The past can be a treasure trove of emotional expression, if we’re brave enough to go digging in the dirt and explore its depths.

I agree wholeheartedly – but a curious thing happened to me. I decided to re-publish my first two (linked) historical novels from c1990, and began to reflect on that time. So many odd coincidences had occurred in connection with research, writing and publication of same, I thought it would make an interesting memoir. Oh boy! What a revelation to yours truly – that was when I was able to see where those novels had really come from. Yes – from me. As much from my experience of life as my research. They became bestsellers back in the day – and I guess its the emotional honesty as much as the story-line that appealed to people. It was scary though – so much so, I didn’t publish the memoir for fear I’d never write another novel! But like you, I’ve been saying the similar things to aspiring writers. That honesty in the writing is what lifts a story above the mundane.

Ann, thank you so much for sharing that!

When I read over old stories I’ve written, the content I find never ceases to amaze me. Even though we research topics that are story related, we tend to do so with a focus that comes from our life experiences. And when we later inject that research into our story, it’s done so in a way that channels whatever we’ve got going on at the time. 🙂

I’ve noticed even in works-in-progress that my subconscious mind is alive and well. As much of a craft as writing is (and I’m a firm believer we can learn and improve), there is still so much mystery. But I suppose that’s part of what keeps us coming back to the keyboard.

At least I can say it sure isn’t the money… 🙂 Haha!

A wonderful post, managing the impossible: breaking down what honesty means to professional liars! 😀

As you say, it all starts with us being true to ourselves. Whenever we start censoring ourselves, we weaken our voice and betray our readers and our story.

Thank you for another great post!

Haha! We are definitely professional liars! 🙂

I struggled with this one for a while, because “honesty in writing” is one of those ephemeral things that we just sort of know when we see it. I worried over trying to define it, but so many aspiring authors were asking about it, that I had to give it a shot!

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Great, great, post. I hear you.

I’ve been yanked to the woodshed and had my ass set straight. Not much else I can say except thanks for taking time to put your thoughts and experience on the page here.

Spot-on, my man.

Thanks, Terry! I’ve been to that woodshed a few times myself. I always came out better for it. 🙂

NAILED IT! This is the single best blog post on writing I’ve ever read. I’ve felt so often that a lot of published books fell shy of the mark because the author was holding back. Thank you for writing this, Nat! Definitely sharing.

Thank you so much for those kind words, Danielle. And thank you for sharing the article!

Absolutely brilliant post! Great tips here, some I definitely need to remember when it comes to writing my next project! 🙂

Thank you, Mishka!

There are doors I don’t feel comfortable (yet) in opening with my writing. My journal even scares me off occasionally. I’m working on it. Good to know I’m not alone. Kat

You’re definitely not alone, Kat! Keep at it!

Hi Nat, we met on twitter. I’m a fellow writer, and I found this article to be very helpful. I agree a reader can tell if the author is not being honest with their writing. It’s something that I will make sure to keep in mind as I am writing my first novel. I’ve also linked this article to my facebook author page, and given you credit for it 🙂 hope it helps other writers out there!

My Twitter is @qamrosh_khan By the way 🙂

Thanks so much, Qamrosh! I’m glad you found the article helpful!

I completely agree with you here. I’ve only recently tried my hand at the ‘writing for money’ thing, but even I like those stories less than my true stories. I have always written just for me, after I was inspired by a performance or just stories that came from within me. Over the last year I’ve read a lot about how other people make money writing and selling erotica. So I tried it as well. To me, these stories just don’t work. They’re not true, the characters are too flat and they don’t make me any money. The only stories that I do sell are those that were true from within, even though they’re not about billionaires or bikers or fairy tales. It is funny to read stories that I have written a long time ago. It makes me wonder what I was writing or doing at the time, because my language is so different. And even though I am aware of it, even I need to remember to make life harder for my characters. They do not need to be in bed by midnight. Instead of something happening the next day around lunch time, it can happen at 3 am in the morning, no matter how inconvenient and tiresome that would be. It is something I need to be aware of and I need to take distance from now and then. Thank you for your article.

Thanks for stopping by, Liz!

You hit the nail on the head. If you’re writing something you’re not passionate about, the readers will know. Everything you write will feel lifeless because there’s no part of you in it.

Just to add a note to Jumping on the Bandwagon… I think it’s important to respect the genre you’re writing in. If you don’t read and enjoy YA/SF/romance/etc. then DON’T try to write it. You will be wasting your time.

Good point, Nicole. I think a writer has a responsibility to do some due diligence when it comes to research. Without at least some knowledge of the genre, you’ll never know which tropes work, which are overused, etc.

Thank you for this post! It was right on point. Honesty in writing is something I strive to accomplish in my own stories! 🙂

It can be a difficult thing to achieve for many, but I think it’s because the subject can be so hard to nail down. I’m glad you enjoyed the article!

It was great advice. Thanks for posting 🙂

Hey Nat…I came upon this post while researching how to be more honest in my songwriting. I’ve attempted to write longer and do very well with short stories, anything more than that though I just loose steam. I’ve been writing songs for about 20 years or so. I write a lot so can put together a pretty good story when I’ve finished one. People like the story aspect to it, the narrative, but I find that most of my songs have a hint of cheese to them. A guy like Tom Waits for instance, his writing rings true. It sounds like it comes from a place full of broken glass and lopped off fingers, real pain. He does it though without leaving you feel like you want to actually kill yourself, there is a certain optimism to it. Its like even though there’s all this crap out there, he’s going to machine right through because he doesn’t give a shit and thats whats cool about it. HST wrote like that too. Dylan writes like that. I’d like to write like that but when I make that attempt to speak that kind of truth it comes out as bad cheese. Like you said its about finding your truth and not trying to emulate some else’s. I journal just about every day and thats where its all truth, but you can’t put that down into a song… isn’t it too personal and really does anyone give a shit about my issues? Isn’t that what FB is for? Tripe indeed. Anyway i’m sure i’ll find my truth and get down to the depths of my being and bring something up that doesn’t stink, but I haven’t gotten there yet. Thanks for the thoughts though, they all apply to writing lyrics as well. Cheers.

Thanks, Joe!

The way I look at is that I represent a statistically significant portion of the population. So, *I* am my target audience. Turning this around on your songwriting, *you* are your target audience. The best advice I ever received was “be vulnerable”. I imagine that’s even more true for songwriters, because music touches the soul in a way that few other art forms do.

Thank you for an important piece in this big puzzle I’m trying to solve! 😉

While I was reading your post, I was clinging for that last point about emotions! I totally get why you saved it for the end. A couple of weeks ago I had an insight that gave me the creeps. I realized that the process of feeling (actively! consciously!), and to explore one’s own world of feelings might belong to the most underestimated aspects in the lives of so many human beings. I also spent years in my head trying to figure out so many things – and yes, it can be a blessing today, and a curse tomorrow. But there’s a lot more to it. Many people spend way too much time thinking, pondering, instead of trying to establish a stronger connection between their perception/actions/behavior and their feelings! It’s as if the mind is trapped in between, always trying to make sense of the world as an intermediary, with us being trapped in it! Besides, feelings are never constant, there’s always ups and downs, but compared with thoughts, which can be thought and communicated, feelings can be felt and expressed!

Greetings from Germany, keep up the good work!

Thanks so much for stopping by, Stevie! I lived in Germany (Viernheim) from 2003 – 2006 working as a contractor for the US Army in Heidelberg. I miss it so much! I’d move back in a heartbeat. Such a beautiful country!

It is so true about the power of reflection being underestimated. I was fortunate to pick up the regular practice while in the seminary. The Benedictine monks were definitely a reflective group of individuals!

I’m glad you enjoyed the article!

Nat, I attended the first session of a memoir writing workshop the other day and when I read a short piece I wrote about an incident in my childhood where I got caught making mischief. It was not particularly traumatic, just a memory of one of the first times I recall feeling guilty. The workshop leader said “Your writing is brilliant. It’s the kind of writing that sells. But it’s not honest. You have to make yourself vulnerable.” A few others in the group nodded, so I asked, “What do you mean by ‘not honest’?” Nobody spoke up except the leader, who said, “You need to put yourself in a dark room and light candles. Meditate.” Which was insulting since I’ve done that for years, and I keep a journal, and I blog. I’m not a dunce when it comes to self-reflection and I felt belittled. Now I’m not sure if I belong in the workshop. Your article is great but I don’t see myself in it, so now what? And how can my writing be “brilliant” or “the kind…that sells” if it’s “not honest”? Help!

The truth is only you can be the final arbiter of whether or not you’re being honest in your work. Workshops can be tricky to navigate sometimes, because you’ll often find the leader feels obligated to find something…anything…critically wrong with the work they’re presented with. The inherent power differential between “leader” and “attendee” often further compounds the issue. I would share your work with other objective third parties and get their take on it. But, I probably wouldn’t do that with other people at the same workshop. The well may have already been poisoned, so to speak.

It sounds to me like you’re a person given to reflection. That’s 90% of the battle right there. It could be that the leader read something that in her subjective estimation came across as if you were holding something back. But, truly, only you can know if that’s the case. So, my advice would be to take all advice with a grain of salt. 😀

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Hi Nat. I had read somewhere that to be a writer you must be honest about yourself to an extent that is excruciating for you to see on the page. I have just sent my first novel off to my editor. The substance abuse was easy to describe. The aspects of myself that were really hard were; I lived with a fear of being overwhelmed and believed if anyone found out, I would become a committed patient in the hospital where I worked; my moral cowardice when I was bullied at school for being a minister’s son; my constant attempts to wind Mum up about things she felt strongly about; my teenage belief that I had a genius philosopher within me ready to spring forth and surprise the world. I don’t know if the novel is good enough to be published. I may simply print a few copies and give them to friends who will be kind about it. Right now I feel drained and can’t imagine putting myself through such an ordeal again. But then again, I suspect I will not be able to stop myself if another idea surfaces. Your blog about honesty certainly resonates with me. Very inspiring. I will be reading other blogs you put out. David Shapcott

I’m so glad this article spoke to you, David. As far as your novel being good enough, barring any technical editing that needs to take place, you can rest assured that someone out there needs to read that story!

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Academic Honesty Essay

Introduction, academic honesty, dishonest conduct, preventing academic dishonesty.

Lately, academic honesty has become a major issue among the elite in the academic environments. It can no longer be simply defined as the carrying of illegal materials into the exam rooms or copying someone else’s work. Indeed, with growth in technology like smart phones and emergence of the use of internet in research work has caused administrators in universities and colleges to extend the definition of academic honesty or dishonesty.

Academic honesty involves the students submitting work that is originally theirs and inclusion of the cited sources in their work. The academic community is generally aware that it is not possible for students to come up with their own original work and therefore, allow inclusion of other people’s work in form of direct quotes of paraphrases only if the original author is appropriately acknowledged. Academic honesty takes different forms and addresses in various aspects in schools and colleges.

Academic honesty is considered important because the results obtained from schools or colleges are referred to in future. Future employers refer to these documents when assessing the abilities and gifts of the students before actual employment.

Therefore, high levels of integrity should be adhered to in order to ensure quality reports and accurate assessment of the student’s abilities and potential (Vegh, 2009). Students commit academic dishonesty when they engage in activities that are classified in four general types; namely, cheating, dishonest conduct, plagiarism and collusion.

Cheating is the most ancient form of academic dishonesty known in history. It takes different forms whereby the rules and regulations governing formal or informal examinations are violated. For instance, copying other people’s work during examination, sharing one’s answers with another during examinations, or submission of other people’s work, as one’s own original work.

During examinations, invigilators are placed strategically in the exam room to monitor the behavior of students but some students attempt to share answers (Vegh, 2009). A student is not allowed to communicate to their fellow students in an exam room without the express permission of the invigilator and a violation of these rule amounts to cheating. Taking an examination on behalf of another student also amounts to cheating. Generally, cheating offers unfair advantage to the students involved over the rest.

Unfair advantage could also be meted on students when they commit dishonest conducts like stealing examination or answer keys from the instructor. Desperate times call for desperate measures and students are capable of doing anything to rescue their dreams of scooping first class honors.

Such cases have been reported severally and they can be classified as dishonest conduct (“What is Academic Dishonesty”, 1996, p.77). Further, students who try to change official academic results without following the procedures laid by the respective academic institutions commit dishonest conducts. Obtaining answers before the actual exam or altering records after certification leads to low academic standards.

Plagiarism is the recent form of violating academic honesty and defined as intellectual theft. The crime comes in when one makes use of another person’s findings, as if his/hers, without giving the due credit to the source. Plagiarism takes the form of stealing other people’s ideas or words and the form of use of other people’s work without crediting the source properly.

The sources mentioned here include articles from electronic journals, newspaper articles, published books, and even websites (Bouchard, 2010). The internet has become a source of information for research and the easy accessibility and convenience of the same provides a temptation to the students to copy and paste other people’s work.

However, it amounts to plagiarism and is classified as a violation of academic honesty. Though plagiarism can be either intentional or unintentional on the part of the student, it still amounts to academic dishonesty either way. Students should therefore be careful to ensure that their work is free of any form of plagiarism.

Academic institutions have come up with measures to curb the spread of academic dishonesty to maintain the credibility of their programs. Academic dishonesty leads to production of half-baked graduates who lower the standards of education hence that of the university (Staats, Hupp, & Hagley, 2008, p.360).

Students who commit academic dishonesty do not think on their own hence they do not develop the art of thinking which is critical for quality education. Ensuring enough spacing between students in the exam rooms and adhering to silence during exams reduces the rate of cheating in institutions. Instructors should also participate fully in ensuring that the work presented by students meets the set standards in respective academic institutions.

Instructors should be able to call the students and ask them questions regarding their submitted work to ensure that they wrote the work themselves. Technological developments also assist in fighting these vices in institutions. Software development in the computer science field has developed software able to detect plagiarism. This software, known as anti-plagiarism software, runs scans through the internet by comparing the submitted articles with various databases in the internet.

The sentences are compared and any of them found matching in a particular percentage is classified as plagiarism. Academic institutions use this software to ensure that students do not copy directly and they appropriately acknowledge their sources (Celik, 2009, p.275). In some institutions, violation of anti-plagiarism or academic honesty rules in general amount to punishment of different forms that in worst-case result to expulsion from these academic institutions.

The forms of academic dishonesty and methods of prevention discussed above are only general descriptions. However, they can be discussed further into way that is more specific and forms that would help improve the standards of education in academic institutions through policy research by the concerned institutions. Academic honesty is crucial to the growth of a country’s economy because integrity defines the character of future graduates.

Bouchard, K. (2010). Discipline in Schools: Technology tests academic honesty. McClatchy – Tribune Business News . Web.

Celik, C. (2009). Perceptions of University Students on Academic Honesty as Related to Gender, University Type, and Major in Turkey. Journal of American Academy of Business , 14(2), 271-278.

Staats, S., Hupp, J., & Hagley, A. (2008). Honesty and Heroes: A Positive Psychology View of Heroism and Academic Honesty. The Journal of Psychology , 42(4), 357-72.

Vegh, G. S. (2009). Academic honesty for a new generation. McClatchy – Tribune Business News. Web.

“What is Academic Dishonesty” (1996). In Teaching Resources Guide 1996-1997 (pp. 77-78). Irvine, CA: Instructional Resources Center, University of California.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Academic Honesty Essay." August 1, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/academic-honesty/.

• Academic Dishonesty Classification
• Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
• Cheating Plagiarism Issues
• Academic Integrity: Cheating and Plagiarism
• Cheating and Plagiarism in Academic Settings
• Plagiarism: For and Against
• Plagiarism: The Act of Copying Someone Else’s Words or Ideas
• Spotlight on Plagiarism Phenomenon
• The Importance of Academic Honesty
• Plagiarism Effects and Strategies
• Maintaining Academic Honesty
• African-American Students and Mathematics Achievement Gap: Stereotype or Reality?
• Academic Integrity and Academic Dishonesty
• Concept of Academic Portfolio
• School Uniform: Correlation Between Wearing Uniforms and Academic Performance

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How to write with honesty in the plain style

It’s a middle ground between an ornate high style and a low style that gravitates toward slang. write in it when you want your audience to comprehend..

I know how to tell you the truth in a sentence so dense and complicated and filled with jargon that you will not be able to comprehend. I also know — using my clearest and most engaging prose — how to tell you a vicious lie.

This dual reality — that seemingly virtuous plainness can be used for ill intent — lies at the heart of the ethics and practice of public writing.

The author who revealed this problem most persuasively was a scholar named Hugh Kenner, and he introduced it most cogently in an essay entitled “The Politics of the Plain Style.” Originally published in The New York Times Book Review in 1985, Kenner included it with 63 other essays in a book called “Mazes.”

When I began reading the essay, I thought it would confirm my longstanding bias that in a democracy, the plain style is most worthy, especially when used by public writers in the public interest.

A good case can be made for the civic virtues of the plain style, but Kenner, in a sophisticated argument, has persuaded me that some fleas, big fleas, come with the dog.

A disappointing truth is that an undecorated, straightforward writing style is a favorite of liars, including liars in high places. Make that liars, propagandists and conspiracy theorists. We have had enough of those in the 21st century to make citing examples unnecessary. And the last thing I would want to do is to republish pernicious texts, even for the purpose of condemning them.

When rank and file citizens receive messages written in the high style — full of abstractions, fancy effects, and abstractions — their BS detector tends to kick in. That nice term, often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, describes a form of skepticism that many of us need to sense when we are being fooled or lied to. So alerted, you can then dismiss me as a blowhard or a pointy-headed intellectual who works at the Poynter Institute!

If I tell it to you straight, you will look me in the eye and pat me on the back, a person of the people, one of you.

Literary styles and standards shift with the centuries, including the lines between fiction and nonfiction. Among the so-called liars cited by Kenner are famous authors such as Daniel Defoe and George Orwell. Both, he argues, wrote fiction that posed as nonfiction. The way they persuaded us that Robinson Crusoe actually lived or that Orwell actually shot an elephant or witnessed a hanging was to write it straight. That is, to make it sound truthful.

If public writers are to embrace a plain style in an honest way, they must understand what makes it work. Kenner argues:

• That the plain style is a style, even though it reads as plain, undecorated.
• That it is rarely mastered and expressed as literature, except by the likes of Jonathan Swift, H.L. Mencken and Orwell.
• That it is a contrivance, an artifice, something made up to create a particular effect.
• That it exists in ambiguity, being the perfect form of transmission for democratic practices, but also for fictions, fabrications and hoaxes.
• That it makes the writer sound truthful, even when he or she is not.

If you aspire to write in an honest plain style, what are its central components? Let’s give Kenner the floor:

Plain style is a populist style. … Homely diction (common language) is its hallmark, also one-two-three syntax (subject, verb, object), the show of candor and the artifice of seeming to be grounded outside language in what is called fact — the domain where a condemned man can be observed as he silently avoids a puddle and your prose will report the observation and no one will doubt it.

Kenner alludes here to Orwell’s essay in which he observes a hanging and watched the oddity of the condemned man not wanting to get his feet wet as he prepares to climb the steps to the gallows. “Such prose simulates the words anyone who was there and awake might later have spoken spontaneously. On a written page, as we’ve seen, the spontaneous can only be a contrivance.”

The plain style feigns a candid observer. Such is its great advantage for persuading. From behind its mask of calm candor, the writer with political intentions can appeal, in seeming disinterest, to people whose pride is their no-nonsense connoisseurship of fact. And such is the trickiness of language that he may find he must deceive them to enlighten them. Whether Orwell ever witnessed a hanging or not, we’re in no doubt what he means us to think of the custom.

Orwell has been a literary hero of mine from the time I read “Animal Farm” as a child. I jumped from his overt fiction, such as “1984,” to his essays on politics and language, paying only occasional attention to his nonfiction books and narrative essays. I always assumed that Orwell shot an elephant and that he witnessed a hanging, because, well, I wanted to believe it, and assumed a social contract between writer and reader, that if a writer of nonfiction writes a scene where two brothers are arguing in a restaurant, then it was not two sisters laughing in a discotheque.

As to whether Orwell wrote from experience in these cases, I can’t be sure, but he always admitted that he wrote from a political motive, through which he might justify what is sometimes called poetic license.

Writing to reach a “higher truth,” of course, is part of a literary and religious tradition that goes back centuries. When Christian authors of an earlier age wrote the life and death stories of the saints — hagiography — they cared less about the literal truth of the story than a kind of allegorical truth: That the martyrdom of St. Agnes of Rome was an echo of the suffering of Jesus on the cross, and, therefore, a pathway to eternal life.

I write this as a lifelong Catholic without disrespect or irony. Such writing was a form of propaganda and is where we get the word: a propagation of the faith.

Orwell’s faith was in democratic institutions, threatened in the 20th century by tyrannies of the right and the left — fascism and communism. Seeing British imperialism as a corruption, he felt a moral obligation to tell stories in which that system looked bad, including one where, as a member of the imperial police in Burma, he found himself having to kill an elephant, an act he came to regret. Using the plain style, Orwell makes his essay so real that I believe it. In my professional life, I have argued against this idea of the “higher truth,” which does not respect fact, knowing how slippery that fact can be. But Orwell knew whether he shot that elephant or not, so there is no equivocating.

By the onset of the digital age, a writer’s fabrications — even those made with good intent — are often easily exposed, leading to a loss of authority and credibility that can injure a worthy cause. With Holocaust deniers abounding, why would you fabricate a story about the Holocaust when there are still so many factual stories to tell?

There is a powerful lesson here for all public writers: That if I can imagine a powerful plot and compelling characters, I do not have to fabricate a story and sell it as nonfiction. I can write it as a novel and sell it as a screenplay! I have yet to hear an argument that “Sophie’s Choice” is unworthy because it was imagined rather than reported.

I am saying that all forms of writing and communication fall potentially under the rubric of public writing. That includes, fiction, poetry, film, even the music lyrics, labeled as such: “Tell it like it is,” says the song, “Don’t be afraid. Let your conscience be your guide.”

In the end, we need reports we can trust, and even in the age of disinformation and fake news, those are best delivered in the plain style — with honesty as its backbone. Writing in the plain style is a strategy; civic clarity and credibility are the effects.

Here are the lessons:

• When you are writing reports, when you want your audience to comprehend, write in the plain style — a kind of middle ground between an ornate high style and a low style that gravitates toward slang
• The plain style requires exacting work. Plain does not mean simple. Prefer the straightforward over the technical: shorter words, sentences, paragraphs at the points of greatest complexity.
• Keep subjects and verbs in the main clause together. Put the main clause first.
• More common words work better.
• Easy on the literary effects; use only the most transparent metaphors, nothing that stops the reader and calls attention to itself.
• Remember 1-2-3 syntax, subject/verb/object: “Public writers prefer the plain style.”

Want to read more about public writing? Check out Roy Peter Clark’s latest book, “ Tell It Like It Is: A Guide to Clear and Honest Writing ,” available April 11 from Little, Brown.

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Home / Essay Samples / Life / Honesty / Honesty: A Virtue That Cannot Be Overemphasized

Honesty: A Virtue That Cannot Be Overemphasized

• Category: Life , Philosophy
• Topic: Honesty , Moral , Values of Life

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