Student Blog: Academic Integrity - Owning Your Work

Some people may look at this and be confused but the honest truth is academic integrity is something students, especially college students practice naturally as it has been ingrained in us since the very beginning of our academic journey.

Often however, the meaning of academic integrity and plagiarism gets confused so this article will differentiate between the two by discussing what exactly is academic integrity before commenting on what this means to me as a student as I continue my studies.

Whilst the two concepts are vaguely similar, plagiarism is the concept of using one's ideas and words whilst passing it off as your own which falls under a breach of academic integrity but does not define the concept as a whole whereas academic integrity is the policy which students adhere in regards to providing honest and truthful pieces of work which reflects their own ideologies thus being an original piece of their own.

In recent years, students have seen an emergence of ways which cheat against this system, sources like CHATGPT and Instagram bots that claim to write an original essay breach this code of integrity as for beginners using essays or assignments created by these sources is not reflective of your own abilities and ideas as well as not being reflective of your own work in your given field. Additionally, these sources are often very costly and serve as a burden on students as they pressurise and manipulate young people into signing up to memberships and regular fees to ensure that the source of their work remains private to prevent them from getting involved in plagiarism scandals in university.

As a student, academic integrity is important in practicing the conveyance of my own ideas and beliefs, it allows me to build my own argument whilst acknowledging sources at the same time allowing me to become a better student as a result. The whole concept of education means that we get where we need to be on the basis of our own work, using other people's (or sources) work does not equate to that and essentially is a glorified way of cheating the system. In all honesty, it is much easier to do your own work, working in this manner means there are no consequences that you may have to deal with in the future, working in an unethical manner will only lead to disaster at one point or another because believe me you will get caught out eventually. As well as that, university is already expensive enough, you do not need to add any extra expenses to your studies, if you are in need of help, there is always plenty of resources available to you to avoid falling towards academic mistrust.

Thus, to sum up, academic integrity is evidently important in maintaining your duty as a student even for your own wellbeing as acting in an unethical way will only lead to unnecessary stress and anxiety that can be easily avoided. Additionally, receiving achievements on work that is not your own is rather daunting rather than fulfilling, it is much more efficient to be rewarded for your own work rather than something you bought off the internet. Together, we can strive to be our best academic self. There is always support around you, you just need to know where to look!

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