Wednesday, 29 May 2013

English Reflective Journal - Academic Integrity


          Academic integrity refers to honesty and trust in all aspects of academic work. In other words it can also mean intellectual honesty; it is an ethical code practiced to avoid cheating or plagiarism. Academic integrity is now practiced throughout universities and schools. Throughout my journey at Taylors University I have learned many things about Academic Integrity. Academic integrity has thought me to appreciate and be honest when carrying out my researches. Indirectly, practicing the core value of academic integrity thought me to avoid plagiarizing by acknowledging the real author of a resource. This has also thought me to become a more responsible student when carrying out and preparing essays and presentations as well.
          Personally I feel that the rule of academic integrity is important to be followed and applied. Academic Integrity is said to have five essential values; honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. These values will encourage students to use these values in the action that they carry out, thus developing the morality in the students. In the quest of knowledge students should be honest with themselves to really know where they stand. Scholars are inspired and argue their claims with reference to other scholars. Therefore failing to acknowledge one’s work violates the scholarly responsibility of an individual.
          The core values of academic integrity can be applied in our studies by preventing or avoiding us   from plagiarizing. These principles and values bring out the originalities and let the students develop their talent by enhancing their ideas and at the same time, acknowledging the people who helped them develop their ideas to a better level. Furthermore only with trust we can work together with other individuals and share and respect ideas. Academic integrity encourages one to conduct their research and writing out their essays in a more ethical manner. The core values of academic integrity has been practiced in almost all universities, the values are not only encouraged to be applied in studies it is also advised to apply the core values in life principles as well.
          Learning about integrity can be related to being equipped with Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities (TGC) as well. TGC has 8 principles to be followed; discipline specific knowledge, lifelong learning, thinking and problem solving skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills, citizenship and global perspectives and digital literacy. The core values of integrity can be related to these principles as, the ethics of integrity encourages trust, responsibility and honesty. All this can be connected to the principles of Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities.
           Academic Integrity is a very important rule to be followed. It allows the students to be credited for their own work. Moreover academic integrity teaches students how to protect their work and rightfully access other peoples work.

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