Academic Integrity

Expectations for Academic Integrity in Academia

In academia, expectations that govern the legal and ethical use of information are different than in the workplace, where you might feel free to use without attribution a piece of writing generated by someone else in your company--such as a job description, meeting minutes, even your company's mission statement--because it's all in the service of doing the work of your organization.

Behaviors that are considered academically dishonest include, but are not limited to:

• Copying another student’s work and submitting it as your own
• Omitting citations from your work
• Collaborating with other students on assignments, discussions, quizzes, or exams without your instructor’s permission
• Fabricating or falsifying quantitative or qualitative data
• Turning in work for a grade that was previously submitted for grading in another course

Every instructor will likely have expectations for academic integrity in the course syllabus, so be sure you are clear on the boundaries for collaboration and information use in each course you take.

Academic Integrity and Your "Why"

Consider and establish patterns of behavior—ways of being and doing—that reflect your beliefs and values. Believing that you need to do the right thing because you are good and decent person is at the heart of academic integrity and at the heart of your MBA program.

But what is the ethical thing? You can demonstrate academic integrity in three ways.

• Citing sources for any ideas in your work that are not your own.
• Doing your own work unless you are in a group project or have the instructor’s permission.
• Not sharing your work with others without your instructor’s permission.

Academic Integrity and Your Audience

Doing your own work and attributing your sources are the primary ways you demonstrate academic integrity to your audience. Specifically, they accomplish the following:

• Enabling transparency in your work so your audience knows which ideas are yours and which you attribute credit to.
• Supporting your ideas.
• Providing your audience with clear and complete information they need to access your sources.

In the video below, the UW MBA Consortium’s Academic Director Dr. Paula Lentz shares some important basics to be aware of regarding academic integrity, including the three aspects of the Code of Conduct (personal responsibility, course work, and community) as well as the types and consequences of academic misconduct.

Technology tip: click on the 1x in the bottom right to speed up or slow down videos if you would like.

You can learn more about citing sources and demonstrating academic integrity in the Citation Types and Formats information page.