How does a student feel when he cheats his way towards academic excellence? What are the consequences of academic dishonesty? Well, these are questions every student must put in mind before engaging in the diverse forms of academic dishonesty. In any learning institution, honesty is a fundamental concept in the process of achieving academic excellence. Thus, it is indispensable for students to sustain academic excellence.
Indeed, a student will achieve this by taking note of the elements that comprise academic dishonesty. It is evident that the skills gained by students through academics portrays their potential and measures up to their future success. Most importantly, students should be aware of the consequences they face from the knowledge center whenever they are caught in academic dishonesty acts. It is thus necessary to exemplify these acts thus plagiarism, cheating and falsification.
Plagiarism entails replicating the work of a different person, devoid of properly mentioning the sources, as a way of acknowledging the original work. It is fundamental to note that some students commit the offense deliberately while others do not grasp what it entails.
Plagiarism is thus a grave academic misconduct; furthermore, it is considered morally incorrect (Levy & Rakovski, 2006). There is a range of reasons why students employ plagiarism. One of the causes is that students might be under duress from their parents or the scholarship programs to accomplish appropriate and good results.
Instead of these students working untiringly to accomplish the superior grades, they merely copy a different person’s thought and try’s to make it their own. Additionally, there are students who do not set aside sufficient time for their academic work; thus, they plagiarize the assignments and exams given by their instructors. This is with the aim of saving time thus getting involved in other activities they consider indispensable.
It is evident that when students avoid occurrences of plagiarism in their work, they acquire high-quality writing skills. In addition, they are destined to imitate proper scholarly traits in their work such as advanced referencing styles. Originality is an indispensable idea in a student’s learning process; as it enables them extend their knowledge (Levy & Rakovski, 2006).
Shropshire (1997), affirms that cheating during the educational process as illustrated by exams and assignments is equated to academic misconduct. It is considered a severe academic offence; consequently, the students should be aware of the chastisement that is commensurate to such academic vices.
It is further noted that students might engage in cheating because of diverse reasons. One of the reasons is poor preparation for exams thus dreading the possibility of failure. It is equally mentioned that students may cheat due to increased pressure from their edification stakeholder to accomplish high grades.
These stakeholders include the parents, guardians; furthermore, the people and institutions financing their education may also apply pressure. It is essential for students to comprehend the consequences that come along with cheating during examination sessions. It is equally affirmed that cheating is regarded as an unscrupulous behavior and an act of deceit. It distorts the students reasoning ability and renders them academic incompetent.
In order for students to develop exceptional academic habits, they must deter from the temptation to cheat during the exam process. It is apparent that when students avoid dishonesty as exemplified through cheating, it helps them grapple what they have been taught in class. Honesty all through the exams is a representation of what the student has gained from his studies thus indicating where he ought to put more emphasis (Shropshire, 1997).
Falsification according to Smith, Nolan & Dai (1998) is also a form of scholastic misconduct and it involves the submission of altered or contrived work for the tutors to assess.
For example, a student can submit testing data that he has doctored. This means that the student might not succeed in practically undertaking an experiment, as a result, makes up his own readings or results concerning the trial. Additionally, a student might allude to references that do not exist. It is noteworthy that this academic vices result in diminished genuineness, in a student’s scholastic work.
It is a fact that, some students might generate phony letters of recommendations with the purpose of acquiring certain educational favors or services. Honesty is an academic asset that helps students achieve justifiable grades essential in their upcoming careers. Academic dishonesty diminishes a student’s future opportunities; hence this is considered a high cost to incur (Smith, et al., 1998).
Academic honesty is indispensable to learning institutions for various reasons. One of the reasons is that when students are honest it means they have invested in the educational process. It is evident that nothing is accorded for free especially in the education sector; as a result, the students should work hard to accomplish scholastic excellence.
It is notable that the instructors invest significant proportions of time in guiding the students through their academic process. Thus, the students should be pleased about this by working untiringly to realize legitimate grades (Shropshire, 1997). It is evident that academic honesty enables students to undertake their education efficiently without interference.
These interferences might include academic warnings, deferment or expulsion from learning institutions. Students should strive to attain academic honesty to permit them sustain an outstanding academic repute in the society. It is a fact that, a student with a distorted academic honesty reputation might be denied entry into erudition institutions. Thus, superior academic reputation is indispensable for an individual to progress their studies (Shropshire, 1997).
In conclusion, the basic underpinning of academic honesty is self control. Some of the most renowned forms of studious dishonesty involve plagiarism, prevarication and cheating. It is thus advisable that students should work untiringly to avoid them. It is not forgotten that the practices of academic dishonesty come with severe consequences, which denies an individual, potential opportunities.
References
Levy, E. & Rakovski, C. (2006). Academic dishonesty: A zero tolerance professor and student registration choices. Research in Higher Education, 47:6 735-754.
Smith, J. Nolan, R. & Dai, Y. (1998). Faculty perception of student academic honesty. College Student Journal, 32:2 305-319.
Shropshire, W. (1997). Of being & getting: Academic honesty. Liberal Education, 83:4 24-27.