Academic integrity
According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary the definition of plagiarism is to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own, use another's production without crediting the source, or to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. The whole idea is that stealing people’s ideas and thoughts is wrong, not just the exact words they use. In high school they try and teach you academic integrity. What does it mean to be academically integritable? Can you work together, how much help are you really allowed to receive while still maintaining academic integrity. This also changes from subject to subject and teacher to teacher. High school students claim that everyone cheats, whether it is on homework, test, or papers. One example I have is in my math class over spring break we were assigned a massive take home test. On this test we were allowed to use class notes and our book, however, it was to be our work. I was very busy over spring break on vacation and I got a C on the test, when throughout the year I had been getting straight A’s, but I did all the work myself. A friend of mine was also busy and did not do any of the work. When we got back to school he copied the entire test getting an A. I got lectured by my teacher for not doing as well as I should have while having this friend was telling me integrity gets you nowhere, those were his exact words. To say the least I was upset by this, knowing that someone else did absolutely no work and got an A. Now in this situation is the person that allowed their work to be copied at as much fault as the copier themselves. To take this back to writing in high school, they teach us to cite our sources. But honestly high school teaches us nothing good about academic integrity and cheating. They tell us that if we are using someone else’s work word for word is when we must cite things. They do not really talk about stealing thoughts and ideas of others. Many high school students commit plagiarism without even knowing it at times, sometimes they think it is their own thought when really it came from something they read. Plagiarism is very gray, but when at all doubtful at least give some credit to where it is due.
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