The Importance of Academic Integrity (Free Essay Sample)

Academic integrity is expected in schools such as GCU (Grand Canyon University) that value honesty in the academic work you write, responsibility for your learning, fairness, and respect for those around you in the classroom. James Altucher once said, “Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure”(Altucher, 2014). I could not agree more. In this paper, I will share examples of what academic integrity is, why it is important for schools to uphold academic integrity and how I will make sure my work holds to the expectations and standards of academic integrity.  

Academic integrity shows how to honestly share your work in what you have learned from a class and the responsibility to put in the time and research for the assignment given honorably. For example, plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is when a student takes what someone else said whether it be from a website, author, or someone else you know, and does not give that person the proper credit/citation. I value honesty as one of my core values. I would hate it if I were a teacher and my student’s paper sounded as if someone else wrote it. I want to hear what my student has learned from the assignment, and it hurts that they used an effortless way just to get a good grade. Being academically honest is so important for those around you and even me for schools as they need to uphold these standards.  

Upholding academic integrity is important for schools because when a student is dishonest in the way they carry themselves, it reflects upon the school’s conduct and reputation. GCU also requires this standard of academic integrity as it represents one of GCU’s core values and expects all students and teachers to uphold honor and integrity when it comes to academic success. Having said that, to combat and avoid the nastiness of academic dishonesty, students need to make sure that all their work is to the standard of academic integrity. 

To make sure my coursework upholds the standards of academic integrity, I will avoid academic dishonesty by asking the instructor regarding the assignment given and being able to use tools such as citation websites to help avoid plagiarism. I will also read the assignment, and the rubric given, do the research by myself and use citations correctly when needed.  I will not take someone else’s work and pass it on as my own or give false information by using unreliable sources. Academic dishonesty is a dangerous mistake to make in school and in your career and should be taken seriously. 

Academic dishonesty undermines the purpose of obtaining an education as it does not help us learn. If we just use someone else’s work, we are setting ourselves up for failure and we can never see where we can improve on and what our strengths are. In this paper, I discussed with you what academic integrity is, why it is vital for schools to maintain academic integrity, and how I will ensure that my work meets academic integrity’s objectives and criteria.