A writing professor once told me that you can never say or think anything original about anything. An opinion you may have on a topic is not unique. However, your views and how you come to them are important. The purpose of education is to get you to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information on your own (higher order thinking). So, even if your assignment on global warming doesn't necessarily have anything to do with your life, how you think, research, analyize date, and come to ideas and opinions will, some day, help you because you're learning how to gather facts and form opinions based on these facts. Bbuying a new car, deciding how to teach your children, figuring out if you're in the right career-- all of these things require fact-finding and the ability to analyze these facts in order to come up with answers for yourself. The academic integrity policies are aimed at helping you embrace the act of thinking, even if you don't come up with theories in psychology that rival Sigmund Freud.
In addition, people who've published have spent time, energy, resources, and have painstakingly developed articles and books that are worthy of being published are paid via royalties (just like musicians). Every time you hear "I Will Always Love You," Dolly Parton, the writer, and Whitney Houston, the singer, are making money. It's far easier to use print media without contacting the author/publisher/college with which it's affiliated. However, these persons deserve to get paid (these ethics are most famously applied in the Napster MP3 case). I attended a college whose records concerning MP3 downloading were subpeoned because of copyright infringement. Imagine 4,000 students, most of whom had upwards of 500 songs downloaded illegally on their computer. That's a tremendous amount of revenue lost. There is an economic motivation on the part of the publishers and writers, and, honestly, who can blame them?
In addition, using other people's work has legal implications for you and for the college you attend. Every University must have this policy. And this applies to everyone. Professors who use articles, movies, and other media in their classes must go through the process of getting this cleared through the publisher. So though you may think academic honesty clauses are ridiculous or worthless, there are some very large issues in the background that are involved.
2007-02-02 02:46:51
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answer #1
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answered by Erin M 2
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Colleges and Universities have academic integrity policies because, well to be brief, they are necessary. It shows that the University has an interest in producing citizens who respect other people's work and who abide by a high academic standard. Plagiarism, cheating, etc. are all dishonest. As a higher learning institute, Universities feel it is necessary to teach their students the importance of honestly (also high moral standards). So, yeah. Its fairly simple. Plagiarism and cheating are wrong, immoral, counterproductive and unacceptable in the real world. Since Universities prepare students for the real world, they feel it necessary to have such a policy. Also, it probably makes the University look good :)
2007-02-01 17:17:16
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answer #2
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answered by Laila 3
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I am not exactly sure of how to answer this question, because - no offense to the asker - it strikes me as terribly obvious. Academic integrity is considered important because institutions of learning are trying to educate their students not simply intellectually, but also to have scruples and be upstanding citizens. In addition to this, it is to the advantage of all involved - the school, the student, and the larger world into which the student will enter - to foster an atmosphere of integrity.
2007-02-01 17:16:31
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answer #3
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answered by Answerer 1
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University is the highest academic environment in which students transition from being a teenager to an adult. In addition to learning professional skills, students have to learn ethics, which includes respect of others' intellectual properties. Because it is relatively easy to dig up researchers work by others and claim it your own, students and research alike must follow a code of honor. If you claim other's work to be yours, your esteem and self-worth will only sink and won't feel deserved to be awarded that degree or respects from your peers.
2007-02-01 17:19:49
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answer #4
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answered by Sir Richard 5
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The purpose is so that everyone contributes original work. Students do not learn if they just copy. They must be able to think for themselves.
2007-02-01 17:14:21
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answer #5
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answered by MISS KNIGHT 5
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serious? its to make sure you hand in original thoughts, not stolen ones. It is absolutely necessary to make sure students are thinking for themselves and holding themselves to some kind of a moral standard, if not then what kind of people are universitys producing?
2007-02-01 17:38:58
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answer #6
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answered by Chrissy 3
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because claiming others words and ideas as your own is called PLAGIARISM, and its a serious offense. cheating is not fair and is not ok also. doesnt that make sense?
2007-02-01 17:12:04
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answer #7
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answered by christina rose 4
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