Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the definition of academic dishonesty
What is Academic Integrity?
Key Takeaway: Academic honesty
At most educational institutions, “academic integrity”, or “academic honesty” means demonstrating and upholding the highest integrity and honesty in all the academic work that you do. In short, it means doing your own work, not cheating, and not presenting the work, language, or ideas of others as your own. This can look like:
- completing exams and other academic assignments in an honest way
- presenting truthful and accurate data and research information in academic assignments
- avoiding plagiarism by properly incorporating and acknowledging sources
On the other hand, academic dishonesty takes many forms and violates the principles of academic integrity. Understanding what constitutes dishonest conduct can help you avoid unintentional mistakes and uphold ethical standards in your work.
Examples: Academic Dishonesty
Examples of dishonest conduct include, but are not limited to:
- Cheating, including giving and receiving information in examinations.
- Falsification of data, results, or sources.
- Collusion, such as working with another person when independent work is assigned.
- Plagiarism.
- Submitting the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission (self-plagiarism).
Try It
Types of Academic Dishonesty

Figure 1. Having a strong sense of academic integrity is essential to your credibility as a writer and your future success as a student.
Cheating
Cheating is the most well-known academically dishonest behavior. Cheating includes more than just copying a neighbor’s answers on an exam, peeking at a cheat sheet, or storing answers on your phone. Giving or offering information in examinations is also dishonest. Turning in someone else’s work as your own is also considered cheating.
Falsifying Results and Misrepresentation
Falsifying results in studies or experiments is a serious breach of academic honesty. Students are sometimes tempted to make up results if their study or experiment does not produce the results they hoped for. But getting caught has major consequences.
Misrepresenting yourself or your research is, by definition, dishonest. Misrepresentation might include inflating credentials, claiming that a study proves something that it does not, or leaving out inconvenient and/or contradictory results.
Example: Misrepresentation
True Story: An undergraduate at the University of Kansas claimed to be a researcher and promoted his (unfortunately incorrect) research on how much a Big Mac would cost if the U.S. raised the minimum wage. His study was picked up by the Huffington Post, NY Times, and other major news outlets, who then had to publish retractions.
Collusion
Collusion, such as working with another person or persons when independent work is assigned, is considered academic dishonesty. While it is fine to work in a team if your professor specifically requires or allows it, be sure to communicate guidelines on permissible collaboration if you are unsure (including how to attribute the contributions of others).
Example: Collusion
True Story: In 2012, 125 Harvard students were investigated for working together on a take-home final exam. The only rule on the exam was not to work together. Almost half of those students were determined to have cheated, and forced to withdraw from school for a year.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism occurs when you present another person’s ideas, intentionally or unintentionally, as your own. In the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, Joseph Gibaldi likens plagiarism to “intellectual theft,” because it “gives the impression that you wrote or thought something that you in fact borrowed from someone, and to do so is a violation of professional ethics” (165). It is your responsibility as a student to avoid plagiarizing. As a scholar, you are expected to credit the sources of the ideas that you use in your work.
Self-plagiarism
Students are often shocked to learn that there is even such a thing as self-plagiarism. If I wrote a research paper, doesn’t it belong to me? How can it be plagiarism for me to use my own words and ideas? Keep in mind, however, that the professor who assigns you a research paper may or may not be okay with you re-using a paper that you wrote for another class. And does it really seem fair to be able to do so? Instead, think about approaching the professor, discussing your previous research, and asking whether it would be okay to continue with that research or whether it would be possible to take that research in a new direction.
What Leads to Academic Dishonesty?
When you’re starting off in school, you might be convinced that you would never plagiarize. While it’s helpful to value and identify with academic integrity, it doesn’t hurt to consider common scenarios that lead students to cheat so you can recognize and defuse them if you encounter them during your time in school.
Running Out of Time
Let’s say it’s the night before a big paper is due and you haven’t started it. An assignment that would have been manageable had you spaced it out over a few weeks now seems completely impossible. You truly feel that you have run out of time. You may feel tempted to try to use other people’s work to piece together a paper to submit on time.
Peer Pressure
Another situation that might lead you to academic dishonesty is peer pressure. Maybe instead of you, it’s your best friend who left her paper until the last minute, and she asks you to write it for her because she’s too stressed and tired to do it herself. It can be very hard to say no.
Pressure to Perform
Another roadblock to academic integrity can be the pressure to perform academically. Students can face an immense amount of pressure to achieve high grades, whether it’s to keep their academic-based scholarships, to ensure they pass a class they are close to failing, or to please their parents or other people who are invested in their academic performance.
Not Understanding the Definition of Plagiarism
Finally, students may plagiarize because they do not understand that what they are doing is plagiarism.
Remember, submitting other people’s work as your own or doing other students’ assignments for them does not contribute to your overall goals at school of learning the course material and demonstrating your knowledge. No matter how dire a situation might seem, be it turning in an assignment on time, or achieving a high enough grade to pass a class, there are other ways of dealing with these situations that do not require plagiarism.
Avoiding Academic dishonesty
Here is some advice for avoiding academic dishonesty:
- Start your assignments early and stay on track with due dates.
- Ask for help from your professor.
- Join a study group.
- Take careful notes as you do your research and organize your sources.
- Work with a Librarian or the Writing Center to integrate and cite your sources and avoid plagiarism.
- Prioritize your integrity!
Candela Citations
- Revision and Adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
- Modification, adaptation, and original content. Authored by: Audrey Fisch for Lumen Learning. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
- What is Academic Integrity? and paragraph on plagiarism from Module 1 of the Academic Integrity Tutorial. Provided by: University of Maryland University College. Located at: http://www.umuc.edu/students/academic-integrity/tutorial.cfm/vailtutor/. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
- Academic Integrity Tutorial, examples of Academic Dishonesty. Provided by: DiMenna-Nyselius Library, Fairfield University. Located at: http://librarybestbets.fairfield.edu/c.php?g=476878&p=3314732. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
- Image of yellow road sign. Authored by: Tumisu. Provided by: Pixabay. Located at: https://pixabay.com/photos/ethics-right-wrong-ethical-moral-2991600/. License: Other. License Terms: https://pixabay.com/service/terms/#license