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Importance of Academic Integrity: Example Paper

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Please compose an essay on Academic Integrity that will focus on the importance of academic honesty and presentation of original work. The paper must include one peer reviewed source and must be presented in APA format and style.

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The importance of academic integrity is discussed.

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Integrity: Academic and Political
A Letter to My Students

Here at the beginning of the semester I want to say something to you about academic integrity. I'm deeply convinced that integrity is an essential part of any true educational experience, integrity on my part as a faculty member and integrity on your part as a student.
To take an easy example, would you want to be operated on by a doctor who cheated his way through medical school? Or would you feel comfortable on a bridge designed by an engineer who cheated her way through engineering school. Would you trust your tax return to an accountant who copied his exam answers from his neighbor?

Those are easy examples, but what difference does it make if you as a student or I as a faculty member violate the principles of academic integrity in a political science course, especially if it's not in your major?

For me, the answer is that integrity is important in this course precisely because integrity is important in all areas of life. If we don't have integrity in the small things, if we find it possible to justify plagiarism or cheating or shoddy work in things that don't seem important, how will we resist doing the same in areas that really do matter, in areas where money might be at stake, or the possibility of advancement, or our esteem in the eyes of others?

Personal integrity is not a quality we're born to naturally. It's a quality of character we need to nurture, and this requires practice in both meanings of that word (as in practice the piano and practice a profession). We can only be a person of integrity if we practice it every day. What does that involve for each of us in this course? Let's find out by going through each stage in the course. As you'll see, academic integrity basically requires the same things of you as a student as it requires of me as a teacher.

I. Preparation for Class
What Academic Integrity Requires of Me in This Area

With regard to coming prepared for class, the principles of academic integrity require that I come having done the things necessary to make the class a worthwhile educational experience for you. This requires that I:
- reread the text (even when I've written it myself),
- clarify information I might not be clear about,
- prepare the class with an eye toward what is current today (that is, not simply rely on past notes), and;
- plan the session so that it will make it worth your while to be there.
What Academic Integrity Requires of You in This Area
With regard to coming prepared for class, the principles of academic integrity suggest that you have a responsibility to yourself, to me, and to the other students to do the things necessary to put yourself in a position to make fruitful contributions to class discussion.
This will require you to:
- read the text before coming to class,
- clarify anything you're unsure of (including looking up words you don't understand),
- formulate questions you might have so you can ask them in class, and
- think about the issues raised in the directed reading guide.

II. In Class
What Academic Integrity Requires of Me in This Area
With regard to class sessions, the principles of academic integrity require that I take you seriously and treat you with respect. This requires that I:

- show up for all class sessions, unless I'm simply unable to do so,
- come to class on time, and ...

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