Academic integrity

Introduction

Academic integrity and honesty is a very important concept that is not discussed as often as it should be and that has caused a lot of conflict in people’s professional careers and life. Academic honesty is not only to avoid plagiarism it also keeps your work original and away from conflict, aside from all the legal reasons why academic honesty is important, it simply is of respect and honor towards other peoples work and creative creations.

Collusion and Plagiarize

Collusion is one of many ways academic integrity is dishonored, this is when two people submit identical work, often one has copied the other intentionally which would be cheating, but sometimes just by looking at someone else’s work you could unconsciously create something very similar and even though it was unintentional it will still cost you your entire work and even fail you on that assignment, this is very unfortunate and sometimes unfair, therefore it should always be taken seriously and avoided. Sometimes while working with another student on a group project you will be asked to submit certain parts of the project separately, this part has to be done individually in order to avoid collusion even though it’s a partnered project.

Plagiarism is an act of copying someone else’s work exactly as it is. It should never be done and there is no exception for it, this is because there is always a way to avoid plagiarism and you can’t be accused of plagiarizing if the works is originally yours and has been submitted appropriately. Using a single sentence that someone has already said and not referencing them properly is considered plagiarism, even if you do reference them but not in a correct method you are still plagiarizing. If for a project you happen to make a website for example, and upload it online before actually submitting it to your lecturer, your entire work would become self-plagiarism and you could lose all credibility for the work you’ve done, this is why plagiarism is one of the most important aspects of a work done right.

Reflection:

In conclusion to the above explanation, all kinds of plagiarism and collusion should always be avoided and your work should be checked for any sign of them before being published or submitted. There are many ways to maintain academic honesty, for example, always referencing the information, you take from a source, entirely changing the format and wording of a paragraph that’s being rewritten, avoid looking at others work before you have finished yours and Never show someone your work unless both your works have been submitted

Plagiarism is very common in creative industries, many artists for example have had to face trouble because of being accused of plagiarism and this doesn’t always end in their favor.

One case with plagiarism was between singer/songwriter Lana Del Rey and the band Radiohead, earlier this year by January of 2018 the well-known band Radiohead came to a realization that indie pop singer Lana Del Rey had released a song that was very similar to their song “Creep” released in 1993 (Savage, 2018)

They first addressed it over social media and said that the song was more than just similar and it had been copied, after a while of silence the singer Lana Del Rey spoke to the public herself and said that she had offered them 40% of the song but they wanted 100% rights to the song.

This conflict continued and they took their case to court, there Lana Del Rey was able to prove that the song was not copied and that she did not know it was at all similar to their song, she also got lucky with her case since it was brought up that Radiohead themselves had been successfully sued for the song “Creep” for its similarity to “The air that I breath” by The Hollies (Savage, 2018).

Lana Del Rey, shot by Neil Krug (2017).

Resources

image of Lana Del Rey:

Berenguel, F. (2018). Lana Del Rey brinca com borboletas no novo clipe “Mariners Apartment Complex” [image]. Retrieved from https://observatoriodemusica.com.br/noticia/2018/09/lana-del-rey-borboletas

Website used for example information:

Savage.M. (2018, january 10). Radiohead deny suing Lana Del Rey. BBC news, Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-42633115

Article on Academic integrity:

Grellier, J., & Georke, V. (2010). Communications Toolkit (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria Australia: Cengage Learning Australia