Academic honesty has been a controversy in all times and is to be dealt with seriousness. It is basically the act of imitating or presenting someone else’s idea as one’s own theory. It is, therefore considered to be an embarrassing crime and should not be practiced. It has several drawbacks that spoil a person’s nature as well as their career. Hence there is an urgent need to discourage people from exercising it. Rather they have to be appreciated to come up with their original, innovative ideas in order be successful in life. This essay will express the concern regarding the academic dishonesty, how it has been impacting the society and what is to be done to minimize this issue and what has to be learned from it.
The article, based on academic dishonesty tackled the matter by executing a three year examination of a remarkably prosperous procedure which was to link academic honesty to professional nursing content, linking academic and professional conduct and academic honesty in the context. It suggests that academic dishonesty has caused a gap between the students and the teachers. The activity was carried out in which the nursing students were supposed to prepare a code of conduct, and it could be concluded that each of them had mentioned about academic honesty and ‘not cheating’. Further, the student and teachers worked jointly as part of practice to consider citing one another’s ideas. In this conduct, the students were even questioned about their identities and helped them link to their future. Also, the students were tested in the context of language and culture. The pupils engaged in this program had a vast knowledge of the cultural ancestry. The bonding of culture and academic honesty is remarkable. The students, in this context had ample knowledge of their culture. In addition, the use of anti-plagiarism tool was taught for the use of learning as well as teaching. Initially, it was mandatory to use the tool that had poor results. Consequently, in using the software the students encountered several issues and hence it was then decided to have certain features that allowed the use of the software on choice of the students but they had to stay original and were encouraged to use the software. If any idea was copied, it was supposed to be cited to recognize the originator of the idea. Also if any student is found out to be plagiarizing content it was binding upon the teacher to convince the student not to plagiarize instead of penalizing. It was for the reason that students are not caught cheating they were allowed to correct and improve their work and to resubmit it; however submissions before the deadline were encouraged. Students who did not prefer to use the TurnItIn anti plagiarizing software were asked to affirm whether it was their original work. In case of citation from some other sources, the reference was inquired. As a conclusion, the feedback of this strategy was very positive as lesser academic dishonesty was witnessed. Also, there was better communication among the teachers and the student which built a sense of trust and friendship, and not only the faculty members ensured that there was no cheating; the students too were a part of it. The use of the software turned out to be very beneficial for students and was preferred to be used by most of them even though it was not mandatory. The quality of the work produced was much enhanced as the students resubmitted after acknowledging their mistakes and improving them after identifying the errors.
The article proved that the quality of work would be healthier if the use of anti-plagiarism software is practiced globally. As it helped in bridging the gaps between the students and teachers since the students did not have to cheat. To my surprise the feedback was remarkably positive by both the students as well as the teachers who now prefer to use this software for a better standard of work. The experiment turned out to be quite successful. Despite having difficulties in using the software, the students managed to use it efficiently and produced better outcomes. It has made us conclude that collectively working with the faculty will be a successful way of learning and hence will result in improved quality of students. The conclusions provided in the article are very close to the original results, I believe, since collective work has always resulted in better conclusions and innovative ideas. Also, the sense of having a teacher’s trust motivates the student to be honest in academics that could be witnessed by the results.
After gaining knowledge from this article, I have learned that academic dishonesty only leads to the wastage of one’s capabilities as it stops a person from using his brain that might be a source of innovative ideas to change the world. In addition using the policy of ‘not cheating’ will increase the possible chances of a person becoming very successful as this policy is about having authentic ideas that originate from his mind only. Moreover, I learned that working jointly with the teachers help the students to produce better results and also help pupils gain vast knowledge in several matters. As a student my aim is to avoid plagiarizing any content from any source instead I will use citation to clarify that the idea is not mine. This will keep me away from cheating. I will also make use of the anti-plagiarism software to ensure a more authentic work in order to be distinguished from other people. In addition I will organize myself by making a code of conduct to be a responsible member in the society that will aim not to cheat in any way.
As an outcome it can be stated that the use of anti-plagiarism should be globalized and to be allowed as a part of academic course. It will help teachers tackle with the academic honesty well as the students will prefer not cheating and coming up with authentic and creative ideas. Which has been a matter of great concern in all times yet has not been resolved. In addition teachers should use the approach of convincing them not to cheat rather than punishing them. This will increase the interaction of the teacher and the student who will then help improve the standards of the results becoming a source of great benefit to the country as they will be the future leaders. Having a habit of being original will help them lead the country in the right direction with fair policies and no cheating whether talking through the political aspect or the economical view.
Work Cited
Coffey, Sue and Anyinam, Charles. Trialing a Contextual Approach to Academic Honesty, Nurse Educator 37(2), 62-66. 2012.
