Academic integrity

Academic integrity is a kind of ‘honor system’ for academic work. It refers to being honest in academic work and not cheating. Plagiarism is a particularly common issue in academic writing. Plagiarism is defined as “the practice of claiming credit for the words, ideas, and concepts of others” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 171). There are many reasons for students to plagiarize. Academic writing can be challenging for students of English so it can be tempting for students to want to ‘borrow’ phrases and ideas from other writing. However, sometimes what looks like plagiarism can be unintentional. Students might accidentally plagiarize because they have problems with paraphrasing or referencing. This lack of skill can lead to unintentional plagiarism and will inform the teacher that they need further training in these skills.