Interactive guide
Achieving
academic
integrity
A culture with integrity at its core empowers students to excel through original work.
Uncover what drives academic misconduct, its forms, and discover ways educators can reduce these opportunities to create a culture of authentic learning and original thinking.
Skills-based issues
Foundational skills may be lacking
Students who lack basic academic skills—such as research, writing, or time management—may struggle to meet assignment requirements, increasing the temptation to take shortcuts or rely on unethical methods.
Baseline academic integrity may be weak
Without a solid foundation in academic integrity—such as understanding the importance of citations, attribution, and honest work—students may not fully grasp the consequences of misconduct, making it more likely they will engage in dishonest practices.
Higher-level challenges
Pressure to succeed may be heightened
The intense pressure to achieve high grades or meet academic or personal expectations can push students to prioritize outcomes over integrity, leading them to engage in misconduct as a way to alleviate stress or meet external demands.
Advanced academic integrity skills may be lacking
As students progress in their academic journey, they may need more advanced skills in maintaining integrity, such as properly paraphrasing sources, appropriate citation, and avoiding self-plagiarism. A lack of these core skills can lead to misconduct.
Ethical and motivational gaps
Knowledge of ethical issues may be weak
Some students may not fully understand what constitutes academic misconduct, such as paying third parties for ‘essay help’. This lack of awareness can result in unintentional violations or choices made without recognizing their ethical implications.
Intrinsic motivation may not be present
Students who are not internally motivated to succeed or who view their studies as a means to an end might be more likely to engage in academic misconduct, as they may not see the value in producing original work or understanding the deeper learning objectives.
Foundational misconduct
AI misuse
Using generative Al, Al-powered paraphrasing, or Al-rewriting tools to modify text or complete work without proper attribution.
Paraphrase plagiarism
Rephrasing a source's ideas without proper attribution.
Inadvertent plagiarism
Forgetting to properly cite or quote a source or unintentional paraphrasing.
Word-for-word plagiarism
Copying and pasting content without proper attribution.
Student collusion
Working with other students on an assignment meant for individual assessment.
Complex plagiarism
Self plagiarism
Reusing one's previously published or submitted work without proper attribution.
Mosaic plagiarism
Weaving phrases and text from several sources into one's own work. Adjusting sentences without quotation marks or attribution.
Source-based plagiarism
Providing inaccurate or incomplete information about sources such that they cannot be found.
Advanced misconduct
Manual text modification
Manipulating text with the intention of misleading plagiarism detection software.
Contract cheating
Engaging a third party (for free, for pay, or in-kind) to complete an assignment and representing that as one's own work.
Data plagiarism
Falsifying or fabricating data or improperly appropriating someone else's work, putting a researcher, institution, or publisher's reputation in jeopardy.
Automated text modification
Taking content written by another person or a Large Language Model (LLM) and running it through a software tool (text spinner, translation engine) to purposefully evade plagiarism detection.
Strengthen core skills
1
Incorporate direct instruction around citation, paraphrasing, and appropriate collaboration to increase awareness of academic integrity and mitigate academic misconduct.
2
Adopt a text similarity checking tool to work in conjunction with the instructor's knowledge of the student and the academic integrity policy which helps to reinforce and develop students' developing academic integrity skills.
3
Provide time for peer review and/or educator feedback in the formative space is essential for students to correct any potential attribution or paraphrasing issues--both human and AI-enabled--that might indicate academic misconduct.
Promote holistic integrity
1
Provide more nuanced definitions of different forms of misconduct so that students understand that even if they submit their own words, research, or arrangement of ideas, if not cited correctly, it is still considered plagiarism.
2
Adopt a holistic academic integrity tool that not only checks for text similarity but also addresses mosaic plagiarism to provide a data point that works in conjunction with the instructor's knowledge of the students' work and the academic integrity policy.
Foster ethical motivation
1
Incorporate explicit instruction on these forms of academic misconduct to raise awareness in students and to make known educator vigilance around academic integrity.
2
Adopt a new standard in academic integrity solutions that address both text similarity and trends such as AI paraphrasing and contract cheating.
