How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty

How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty

• Cite your resources. If it isn’t your idea, give the person who came up with that idea some credit for their hard work. Just imagine: someday, you will want to get credit for what you’ve done and you will want students citing your research in their papers, right?

• Be cautious about where you sit in a large exam. Cover your answers and don’t sit directly in front, next to, or behind another person. Distance yourself from others to reduce temptation to look.

• Don’t bring extra materials to class, or if you do, make sure they are zipped in your bag so the professor knows you won’t be riffling through your stack of note cards in the middle of the exam.

• Organize study groups before exams. Students that feel more prepared are less likely to be insecure about the information and less likely to try to cheat. Plus, if your friends in class cooperate and combine their resources to prepare for an exam, it will foster respect. If everyone is on the same page to start with, it won’t do any good to cheat during the exam: you all know an equal amount!

• Don’t lend out assignments. If a class mate has a question, try to help them…but copying your assignment won’t teach them anything, and if they don’t know the information in the middle of the semester, just think what they will try to get out of you when the final exam comes around!

• Don’t post your papers on websites that offer them to other students for a price, or even for free. It’s not worth compromising your integrity: a professor finds out you post your papers, do you think he or she won’t extra-triple check YOUR paper for plagiarism the next time?

• Don’t USE websites that offer pre-prepared papers for your own assignments.

• Read the syllabus for each course and learn each instructor’s expectations.

• Submit ONLY your own work on papers, reports, projects and tests.

• Clarify what is expected of you when you are working on a team project, in a study group or collaborative research project. Learn what you are able to submit as your own.

• Comply with honor statements that might be required in particular classes.

• Protect your computer files so that other cannot copy your work.