Research Methodology

Department Of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji

Bhavnagar University

Name: Bhatt Vidhi Rajeshkumar

Roll No.: 04

SEM: 03

Year: 2012-13

Subject: Research Methodology

Assignment Topic: Academic Integrity

Submitted To: Dr. Dilip Barad

Academic Integrity

What is Academic Integrity?

Academic Integrity means “Intellectual Honesty”: honesty in the use of information, in formulating arguments, and in other activities related to the pursuit of knowledge and understanding. It is a core principle that underpins how we live and learn in a community of inquiry. As members of an academic Integrity, we are entitled to a wide degree of freedom in the pursuit of scholarly interests. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism have similar meaning.

Many people think of plagiarism as copying another work, or borrowing someone else ideas. But terms like ‘copying’ and ‘borrowing’ can disguise the seriousness of the offense.

According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, to plagiarize means,

      To steal and pass off (the idea or words of another) as one’s own

      To use (another production) without crediting the source.

      To commit literary theft

      To present as new and original idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of Freud. It involves both stealing someone’s work and lying about it afterward.

You may think that “Can words and ideas are really stolen? The answer is “Yes”. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copy right laws, just like original inventions. Almost all kinds of forms of expression fall under copyright protections as long as they are recorded in some way.

All of the following are considered as Academic Integrity

      Turning in someone’s else work as your own

      Copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

      Failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

      Giving incorrect information about the sources of a quotation

      Changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

      Copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on “fair use” rules)

Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing source. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism.

Preventing Plagiarism

The university of Alberta site offers concern suggestions to help faculty clearly communicate to students that they are responsible for understanding and avoiding the concept of plagiarism. Other measures include in co operating information on plagiarism in course syllabi, classroom discussions, and implementing alternative assignments.

The Academic Integrity or plagiarism defines Academic Integrity as “a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility”. Academic excellence fundamentally depends upon these values. Every participant in a community of inquiry has the obligation to support practices that promote academic integrity, prevent dishonesty, and punish offenses when those occur.

According to the center for Academic Integrity, there are five fundamental values that characterize on Academic community of Integrity:-

Honesty: - Academic honesty underpins respect for, and the search for, knowledge and understanding. Academic staff is honest in their research and in their dealings with other staff and the students are honest with themselves and with other, in their personal ambition, study and particularly in their involvement in the assessment process.

Trust: - Trust follows from academic honesty. Society trusts an academic institution which is demonstrably truthful in its mission, its public work and how it deals with its employees and students. Staff trusts the institution to support honest scholarly enterprise. Students trust their teachers to guide for their learning and to uphold the values to which the institution aspires. Academic staff trusts students to work honestly and with endeavor to achieve their personal goals.

Fairness: - Everyone in an academic community can except to be treated fairly. Fairness is expressed in the institutions standards practices and procedures, and in all interactions between the students judgment about staff and accountable. Assessment of students also open, fair and accountable.

Respect: - respect comes from meeting high and honorable expectations. Society has respect for an academic institution that is seen it uphold high standards of conduct in learning, teaching and research. Respect among those in an academic community means interacting with civility and justice. Teaching and learning rely on active engagement and mutual respect among teachers and learners. Respect for others means that we values their worth and their work. Respect for oneself comes from active and honest involvement in the academic or learning process.

Responsibility: - Those in academic community have the right to except that the values of academic integrity and scholarship will be upheld. But with rights come responsibilities. Responsibility for academic integrity and scholarship thus rests with every member of the community; every member accepts and upholds the integrity and qualities of scholarship and learning.

Five types of Academic Integrity or Plagiarism

      Copy and Paste Plagiarism

Any time you lift a sentence or significant phrase in tact from a source, you must see quotations marks and reference the source.

      Word Switch Plagiarism

If you take a sentence from a source and change around a few words, it is still plagiarism. If you want to quote a sentence, then you need to put it in quotation marks and cite the author and article. But quoting source articles should only be done if what the quote says is particularly useful in the point you are trying to make in what you are writing. In many cases, paraphrasing and then citing the original sources is a better option.

      Style Plagiarism

When you follow a source article sentence-by sentence or paragraph-by-paragraph, it is plagiarism, even though none of your sentences are exactly like those in the source article or even in the same order. What you are copying in the case is the author’s reasoning style.

      Metaphor Plagiarism

Metaphors are used either to make an idea clearer to give the reader an analogy that touches the senses or emotions better than a plain description of the object or process, metaphors, then, are an important of an author’s creative style. If you cannot come up with your own metaphor to illustrate an important idea, then use the metaphor in the source article, but give the authors credit for it.

      Idea Plagiarism

If the author of the source article expresses a creative idea or suggests a solution must be clearly attributed to the author. Students seem to have a hard time distinguishing author’s idea and solutions from public domain information. Public domain information is any idea or solution about which people in the field accept as general knowledge.

Academic Integrity and the history of art:-

Through all the history of literature and of the arts in general, works of art are for large part repetitions of the tradition, to the entire history of artistic plagiarism. There is no rigorous and precise distinction between practices like imitation, stylistic plagiarism, copy, replica and forgery. These appropriation procedures are the main axis of a literature culture, in which the tradition of the canonic past is being constantly rewritten.

Academia:-

Plagiarism is defined in multiple ways in higher education institutions and universities. To name a few: Stanford sees plagiarism as “use” and appropriate credit to or acknowledging the author or source, of another person’s original work, whether such work is made-up of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other forms. As well-known institutions, they reflect a common academic definition of plagiarism. Lack of citation, giving credit, or attribution is considered to be plagiarism. In academics, committing plagiarism comes down to citing sources.