Academic Honesty Paper - Essay Example

?Academic Honesty Paper Writing an academic paper is not simply an opportunity to express in writing one’s thought or opinion, but a serious responsibility to contribute in bringing out the truth. It is an arbitrary medium through which the author presents truthful study findings, hypotheses, or arguments found meritorious of further academic study, discussion or debate. As such, academic honesty is required, because truth begets honesty. Without honesty, an academic paper, even how superbly it is written, would be a trash unworthy of space in any academic journal. There are various ways in achieving academic honesty in a paper: (1) the use of truthful information, (2) acknowledgement of sources, and (3) the author of the academic paper. Of the three, the first two gets the utmost attention, perhaps because these are easier to evaluate, especially with the current technology that enables easy detection of plagiarism. The last one rarely becomes an issue, not unless the author of the academic paper cannot in his/her own capacity explain the paper (Walvoord & Anderson, 2010, p. 138). An academic paper should be founded on truthful information. This implies three academic actions. One, the author should verify the correctness of any data before these are used in the paper, because an assertion that is based on incorrect data is indefensible. It can be easily disputed. It’s just like building a house on a shallow ground that a simple natural calamity could bring it down. In this case, the paper is a failure from the start. Two, manipulation or suiting data to the author’s predetermined assertion constitutes dishonesty, whether or not data used are correct. Why this is so lies on the fact that it violates the truthful process of academic investigation – Data are gathered, verified, sorted out, interpreted and analyzed. Three, data should not be concocted, because even a fiction paper needs truthful data to be convincing. How much more for an academic paper that is supposed to investigate reality in search of truth? Instead of truth, what can be found from concocted data are myths and imaginations, which are what academic papers meant to debunk. Therefore, academic honesty means honest investigation. It is only in going through this compelling process of honest investigation that one can be able to produce a genuine academic paper. Perhaps one would ask; what has the process of investigation anything to do in making an academic paper truly academic? This question essentially hits the essence of academic honesty which is learning. Why in the first place are academic papers required? Precisely so, it is one of the ways of learning where one is compelled to integrate theory and practice; where one is trained of the discipline of scholarly study; where one is taught how to discover new knowledge or to better understand knowledge; and where one is developed of values scholars should possess, such as inquisitiveness, perseverance, integrity, fearlessness and accuracy. Thus an academic paper is not simply a paper. It essentially reflects one’s level of knowledge and also one’s character. In other words, anyone committing academic dishonesty could only be perceived as dishonest, irresponsible, and weak – characters which are unfitting for scholars. This is what justifies universities in sanctioning students found guilty of academic dishonesty, because the act violates the very essence of academic study. To make an analogy: a student committing dishonesty is just like a law enforcer violating the law he/she is supposed to enforce. One may argue that if the essence of going through the process of investigation is learning, then learning could be done in short cut, especially if one has gone through the same process for many times. Why not? One may take that risk. But doing so might also result to missed new insights, because as everyone knows, there are no exactly similar things. In other words, one may have experienced undergoing a thorough investigation, but every single experience, whether or not the study is dealing with the same subject matter, always offers new insights, thus new learning. This only means that the first and foremost to gain in observing academic honesty is no one but the author him/herself. As one observes academic honesty, one learns better and develops more. But for one who does things through others, either for the sake of getting higher grades or to evade such tedious task, has more to lose than to gain. No one has the monopoly of truth that even scholars borrow ideas from one another. There is nothing unscholarly about this, provided everything borrowed is properly acknowledged and borrowed works are not misquoted or misused. (Ng, 2004, p. 93) As new ideas/concepts bring about new knowledge and with knowledge as power, especially in this era of information, claiming one’s concept/idea is tantamount to stealing, known in the academic world as plagiarism – an academic crime that may cost one’s degree. There are various writing styles (e.g. APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, or Turabian) by which an author may use to properly acknowledge borrowed works through in-text citation and referencing. However, for an author to claim that his/her work is an original and not simply a rehash or compilation of borrowed works, despite proper citation, borrowed works must be put in a new perspective (i.e. may be used to dispute or confirm). Thus, honesty in an academic paper does not simply require proper acknowledgment but also correct understanding of borrowed works used to bring to light a new facet of truth. (Harvey, 1998, pp. 22-25) One of the common practices that constitute academic dishonesty despite proper citation is the ‘collage of copy-paste quotations’ wherein the author directly quotes various authors. These direct quotations are properly cited and they all fit in a single concept. What then is the problem here? Although it is true that some quotations are better left unchanged, an academic paper composed of more than ten-percent direct quotations can only be seen as a compilation of borrowed materials. The remedy for this is to refrain from directly quoting authors. It would be best to paraphrase borrowed ideas because this would show one’s own understanding of the idea. In this way, one could claim that the academic paper is truly his/her own. Essentially so, academic honesty is demanded of any academic paper because academic papers denote ownership. In anything, one could only claim what is truly his/hers, otherwise would put one in a bad position. So in writing an academic paper, be sure not to exceed the ten-percent allowable direct quotations and cite your sources correctly and consistently. This is a reminder that should be taken seriously, because sometimes even a misplaced quotation mark could constitute plagiarism. Finally, academic honesty in a paper requires that the work is written by the author him/herself. To let somebody write one’s academic work (e.g. the author provides the original concept/idea and organization of the paper but it is written by another; the paper is written by a paid writer or the paper is bought from another writer) without the intention to acknowledge it as such, constitutes dishonesty. Investigation and writing are both academic undertakings that require two different skills. One may be good at academic investigation but is not good in writing. So even if one truly conducted the investigation and what remains in the academic undertaking is simply to put into writing what has been done and achieved, the academic paper if not written by the author him/herself should not be claimed as such, because academic honesty means claiming only the part of the task that one did. Academic honesty therefore is giving credit to whom it is due. However, even academic papers personally written by the author could also be accused of academic dishonesty, if it has been submitted twice. For example, the same research paper submitted to a psychology subject was submitted also to a technical writing subject. What made such double entry to qualify as academic dishonesty despite being written personally by the author him/herself is the fact that the author made academic authorities believe the submitted work is brand new, when in fact, it is not. It is like committing bigamy or asking to be paid twice for a single work done. Thus it constitutes academic dishonesty, because academic honesty claims only what should only be claimed, nothing more, nothing less. Of course there are legal and academic sanctions to academic dishonesty. Most commonly for students, academic dishonesty would mean not only failure and remedial, but a tarnished reputation that would mark them for life. Even those who had graduated regardless of time could also be stripped off their degree, if proven guilty of academic dishonesty. This only means that one should earn what one wants to be credited of. For scholars, academic dishonesty could mean copyright infringement – a criminal liability that may not only cost them thousands of dollars but could also land them in jail and could ruin their careers and their future. Above all these, academic honesty is paramount because it is what makes scholars, scholars, as scholarship denotes integrity. Without academic honesty, academic papers cannot be used as academic references thus failing its worth and undermining the academic world. Without academic honesty, academic papers are useless and futile endeavors. As such, academic honesty is something that universities should strictly enforce because with it also comes the universities reputation. Why this is so? Enforcing academic honesty requires reputable mentors, and what can one gain from having reputable mentors but a reputable education. This is how enormous the implications of academic honesty could be. So, if one wants to be regarded a true scholar, one should always observe academic honesty. References Harvey, G. (1998). Writing with sources: A guide for students. U.S.A.: Hackett Publishing. Ng, P. P. (2004). Effective writing: A guide for social science students. Hongkong: The Chinese University Press. Walvoord, B. E. & Anderson, V. J. (2010). Effective grading: A tool for learning and assessment in college (2nd ed.). 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