By Dr. Cleora D'Arcy, Professor Emerita of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois
In the past, I have asked students in both high school programs and college classes if they had ever cheated or known someone else who cheated on an exam or an assignment. Usually, every single student says yes. And every year, some students on our campus cheat or in some other way break the rules governing academic integrity. As a result, they may fail an exam, fail a course, or even be expelled from the University. Or, worse yet, they may cheat and not get caught, creating the impression that they do not have to play by the rules. This behavior, when continued, will simply set the stage for a major ethical failure later in life. How can you keep this from happening to you? It's quite simple. Know the rules and play by them.
While the Student Code may not be the most exciting reading, I urge you to take a few minutes to look over Article I, Part 4 -- the policy on academic integrity (full text online). Here you will find definitions of cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and other infractions of the Code. You will also find the penalties that an instructor can impose for these infractions. They range from mild (a warning in your file) to very severe (dismissal from the University). Finally, the Code spells out the procedures that the instructor and student must follow while any allegation of academic misconduct is investigated. Students have the right of appeal and, should you be unjustly accused, it is important that you know your rights.
Is this article meant to scare you straight? Maybe a little, but its main goal is to encourage you to become a better-informed participant in your educational system. The best advice is to know the rules and to play by them. At the end of their freshman year, students often tell me that the most important lesson that they have learned at the University is that they need to manage their time better. Give yourself plenty of time to do your assignments and to study for your exams so that you are not tempted to cheat, fabricate, or plagiarize. If you make effective time management one of your goals this semester, then your academic integrity will never need to be tested.
Academic Integrity Resources
"Academic integrity governs the way in which you research and write while at University. It is founded on the principles of respect for knowledge, truth, scholarship, and acting with honesty. These principles and values are the foundation of academia."
-- Infoskills Glossary, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Anonymous Byzantine portrait of Hippocrates (ca. 460-380 BCE) from a 14th-century CE manuscript in the National Library of Paris. The "Father of Western Medicine" is portrayed here as a silver-haired sage, expounding medical precepts from one of his books. The Hippocratic Oath provided high ethical standards for physicians in the ancient Mediterranean world. It set forth the cardinal precept of medical practice, Primum non nocere (First, do no harm), and it required physicians to guarantee their patients' confidentiality. (Image Credit: Public Domain)