9.7: Study Skills- Avoiding Dishonesty

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No one wants to be a dishonest student. Sometimes, however, accidents happen, and students find themselves doing things that are considered dishonest. Here is a quick look at some forms of academic dishonesty that you need to avoid.

Examples of Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarism

Plagiarism means using the words or ideas of another person and claiming that they are your own. The word plagiarism comes from a Greek word that means “stealing someone’s child”; this should give you an idea of how serious plagiarism is.

Sometimes, plagiarism is deliberate. Students sometimes decide to cheat because they are stressed, unsure of what to write, or running out of time. Deliberate plagiarism includes buying an assignment from the internet, or copying an assignment your friend wrote for the same course, putting your name on it, and handing it in.

Most plagiarism, however, is accidental. It often occurs when students find interesting information online and copy it word-for-word into their assignments. In Units 7 and 8, you learned about paraphrasing and summarizing; it is always best to use your own words when you are using information from other places. If you really want to copy something directly, you should use quotation marks (“ …”) around anything you are copying. You should also give the name of the author of the original information.

As you move further into your college studies, you will learn more about plagiarism. For now, keep in mind that it is best to use your own words and to say where you found a piece of information.

Other forms of academic dishonesty

Other forms of academic dishonest include the following:

Asking someone to take an exam for you, either in person or online.
Taking notes or other materials into a test without permission.
Copying from another student during a test.

Needless to say, doing these things will result in punishment from your college.

You Try It!

Find out what the college policy is on plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. What are the penalties for academic dishonesty? You can find this information on your college website, or you can discuss it with your teacher. Summarize your college policy in the space below.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): *Don’t be these students!*