Introduction
Academic integrity refers to the ethical policy or moral code in academics. Students who have academic integrity avoid cheating in exams and class work. They also avoid plagiarism or the use of other people’s ideas without correctly referencing those ideas. Professionalism refers to the good judgment, skills and polite behavior that are expected from a person who has been or is being trained to do a certain job well. Academic integrity and professionalism are very important issues for that all engineering students should observe. There are various scenarios that can raise issues of academic integrity that I have encountered and that I might encounter during my engineering studies at Arizona State University (ASU). In each of them, the ASU Academic Integrity Policy (ASU-AIP) requires me to do some things and avoid others. In this paper I present three scenarios of academic dishonesty, the actions that I should or should not take as what the FSE Honor Code and ASU Academic Integrity Policy says about those topics.
The first academic integrity issue that I have already encountered is plagiarism. In my early days, in high school, I was involved in plagiarism. We had been asked by our teacher to write an essay on “Methods of Effective Communication”. I went to the library and read some books and then wrote the essay. Unluckily, I was not aware of what plagiarism meant and I never referenced any of the ideas I had borrowed from the books. I was later summoned by my teacher and asked whether I knew what plagiarism was. I answered that I didn’t and I my teacher instructed me to always give credit to any borrowed idea in my future works. I had to rewrite the essay, this time with zero plagiarism. After this incident I studied what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
I know what I am supposed to do or not do to avoid plagiarism completely. To avoid plagiarism, I am supposed to enclose in double quotation marks “” any direct quotations or borrowed words. After the quote, I should immediately use an in-text citation with the author’s name, year or page number depending on the style of writing I use. I should also put the full details of the in-text citation at the end of the paper as a reference’s list of works cited page depending on the writing style. It is better if I avoid using direct quotes at all. I should also paraphrase and use my own words to refer to some borrowed idea and I should reference the source properly. I can do this by substituting synonyms, changing sentence structure, re-arranging it, etc. I should also state that I am paraphrasing by for instance stating, “According to John (7) the” I must also include the used resource to the reference list at the end of the paper. I must also reference other works such as graphs, tables, charts and any other material including those that I redraw. I should not do the following in the hope that have not plagiarized. Fail to reference some borrowed materials or put in-text citations and forget to include them in the reference list at the end of the paper.
The Fulton School of Engineering (FSE) Honor Code and the ASU-AIP have some guidelines on plagiarism. Number 7 of the FSE Honor Code requires engineering students to “Give full credit to others for their words and ideas, whether directly quoted or paraphrased, using proper citation practices in all of my work, including text, figures and computer code, and all materials obtained from the Internet.” (FSE Code, ASU, 5). The ASU-AIP states in rule I, that a student may be found to have engaged in academic dishonesty if he or she “Uses materials from the Internet or any other source without full and appropriate attribution” (ASU-AIP, ASU, 12). These guidelines on plagiarism have helped me to keep off plagiarism so far and they will guide me throughout my academic life.
Assisting other students with their work without permission from the instructor is another issue of academic dishonesty. I have never done it but I know it can happen especially when we are given a hard assignment. In an exam, I might be able to handle a given hard question but my friend may not and s/he can ask for assistance when the teacher moves out of class. In the final year, the courses and exams may be hard and I expect that a friend of mine will ask for assistance or I will ask for assistance. I should get to know when or when not to consult other students. In case I am unsure on whether I can discuss a question or concept with someone else, I should first obtain permission from the instructor. I should never do the following; consult other students on the test questions when the instructor has instructed us to do our own work. I should also avoid exposing my work to colleagues if I am not supposed to. I am also not supposed to give my work to other students after I have finished. I am supposed to hand it to the instructor or another authorized person.
In order to avoid the above kind of academic dishonesty, the Fulton Honor Code requires me to swear in part 6 that I will, “Provide aid to, or receive aid from other students only as permitted by the instructor.” In addition, part 5 of the Code states that I should “Use only aids authorized by the instructor during all examinations, quizzes, projects, assignments and other evaluations” (Fulton Code, ASU, 5). The ASU-AIP states that I may be found to have engaged in academic dishonesty if I “Depend on the aid of others, including other students or tutors, in connection with any Academic Evaluation or assignment to the extent that the work is not representative of the student's abilities” (ASU-AIP, ASU, 11), Rule G of the ASU-AIP states, I may also be judged to have engaged in academic dishonesty if I , “Provides inappropriate aid to another person in connection with any Academic Evaluation or assignment, including the unauthorized use of camera phones, text messages, photocopies, notes or other means to copy or photograph materials used or intended for Academic Evaluation” (ASU-AIP, ASU, 11).
The third issue on academic dishonesty and lack of professionalism may be cheating during my internship. I may choose to cheat on the number hours I worked, the work I did or even the overall time my internship took. Although I have not attended my internship, I am prepared that it might be tiring, boring, and I might not enjoy working. I have heard that some students cheat that they attended the full period of their internship while they never did. In reality they got bored and stopped after a week or so. I will avoid this kind of academic dishonesty by communicating with my field supervisor and course instructor on my convenience with the internship I get. I will seek permission to change internships if I do not find the internship productive. I will use my instructor and friends to get an internship opportunity at a place that will teach me more about concepts I have learnt. I will be faithful to myself and attend to my duties as required. I will also keep a good record on issues such as number of hours I worked each day, kind of work I did among other issues. I believe that such a record could act to show how my internship went. In case I am to miss work maybe for medical or other reasons, I will communicate in advance to my supervisor and make plans on how to recover lost time. I should never pretend to be sick or create some other lies so as to avoid attending to my internship. I should also never fail to communicate my dissatisfaction with a given internship.
Failing to attend to one’s internship, field experience or some other activity as required by the University has been addressed by both the ASU-AIP and Fulton’s Code of honor. Number 8 in Fulton’s Honor Code urges students to, “Never act dishonestly including lying, cheating, stealing, or attempting to corrupt the academic enterprise in any way”. Number 9 which may apply when writing a report about an internship states that I should “Ensure that all data I record or report are objective, true, accurate and properly documented” (Fulton Honor Code, ASU, 5). The ASU-AIP states that, a student may be judged to have committed academic dishonesty in part M by, “Falsifying or misrepresenting hours or activities in relationship to an internship, externship, field experience, clinical activity or similar activity” Some students may never attend an internship or field activity at all and use illegal means to convince instructors, and the ASU-AIP addresses this situation by stating that “A student may be judged to have engaged in academic dishonesty if s/he attempts to influence or change any Academic Evaluation, assignment or academic record for reasons having no relevance to academic achievement” (ASU-AIP, ASU, 12).
Conclusion
As an Engineering student, I fully understand the impact of engineering in the society and how I should uphold academic integrity and professionalism. I am aware of the rules set out by the Fulton Honor Code and ASU’s Academic Integrity Policy in several scenarios of academic dishonesty. I have discussed three realistic scenarios of academic dishonesty; Plagiarizing, aiding another student or being aided to do their or my work without obtaining permission from the instructor and thirdly by cheating on some issues relating to internship and field activity. In all I have stated what I should or should not do. For instance I stated that to avoid plagiarism, I should always make sure that I reference all borrowed materials (direct quotes and paraphrases). In order to avoid academic dishonesty by failing to be honest in my internship, I should never fail to discuss my reasons for failing to attend to my work with my supervisor and instructor. In all the three scenarios, I have demonstrated my understanding of what can be said to be academic dishonesty, how to avoid it. I have also shown my understanding of the University’s rules to maintain academic integrity and professionalism.
Work Cited
