Is Cheating Out of Control: Academic Integrity and Ethical Standards

Introduction

Education is a key to success; students get to learn new skills and knowledge that help them pursue their specific careers in the future. Students who adhere to the academic ethical standards earn quality grades and display outstanding intellectual capacity. Academic ethical standards entail the honesty of students in their academic work; for instance, delivering quality and original assignments without copy-pasting from internet sources. Students need to observe intellectual property, copyright, and plagiarism laws if they want to earn remarkable degrees at the end of their courses in colleges and universities. Is cheating out of control? Although some people understand plagiarism as an academic offense, all academic offenses are treated like other major offenses such as criminal cases. Violating academic policies and standards is a legal issue, where the government revokes degrees earned through academic cheating. Plagiarism is the process of using information partially or as a whole without recognizing the author of the source. Authors and other academic experts have copyrights of their works, which not only reduces academic cheating but also upholds the integrity of academic institutions. Academic integrity is critical in enhancing quality education, where people strictly observe the issues relating to plagiarism, copyright, and intellectual properties.

Definitions of Copyright, Intellectual Property and Plagiarism

Copyright

It's a legal right, where an author of an article, book or journal receives total ownership of the work for a certain period of time. No one is allowed to copy or plagiarize or use an original content for personal gain (Anderson 2010). The law protects original content of an individual against third party that might have selfish reasons of breaching the copyright laws. The government is strict on copyright issues; people end up getting heavy charges and penalties after violating copyright policies.

Intellectual Property

This is a legal process of enhancing creativity and innovation development in society, where the law protect academic ideas, artistic content and music content from unlawful disbursement (Anderson 2010). Students or academic researchers who rewrite existing information violate the law of intellectual property; this is stealing and any theft case is unacceptable in society that upholds integrity. Intellectual property laws vary from country to country, which depends with the nature of the content or years that the law protects the original idea of a person. Intellectual property laws argue that any unoriginal requires consent between the content creator and the third party involved. Unless, the owner of the product allows another person to use the information, intellectual property laws always intervene.

Plagiarism

This is an intellectual right violation, where a person decides to rewrite or copy the work of an original author without crediting the source with acceptable references. A person tries to personalize another person work, yet the original work is under the copyright laws. Owners of academic writings have the protection of intellectual rights and copyrights; therefore, students and teachers need to rethink their academic activities to avoid plagiarism issues. People suffer from damages and injunctions when found with plagiarism offenses. The author of any given work enjoys the copyrights even after death; in most cases, the copyright covers the work for lifetime plus 60 years of the decease person (Saha 2017). Academic institutions strictly ensure that students observe plagiarism offenses, which encourage critical thinking and ethical academic standards.

Historical Background of Cheating

Many people beliefs that intellectual rights, copyrights and plagiarism is an issue that is coming up in academic sector; however, they have been there from the 16th century. Britain in 1557 stated to emphasize on copyright issues, which succeed as major ethical and morality factor until now. Copyright has been there in the American Constitution formed by the creators under the Article I, which gives the author rights of exclusion from unlawful reproduction of an original work by another person (Lakhan & Khurana 2008). Under the Constitution of the United Sates, the courts and states amended a copyright law in 1976. A published work benefits from the copyright law; the copyrights of a published work such as Copyright Term Extension Act, normally referred to Sonny Bono Act protect the ownership of an original work in society (Lakhan & Khurana 2008). Nevertheless, the copyright has a limitation; people are able to use a published work after a certain period of time. In most cases, people are vulnerable of copyright and intellectual property right if they use 10 percent of an original work in more than 1000 words. In a case between Macmillan Co. v. King, the court found King to be an illegitimate producer of an existing content, (Lakhan & Khurana 2008). Some issues of copyrights and intellectual property rights are appearing in higher learning education, where technology enhancing online education. Many students no longer attend their class; they get learning lesson through online platforms, which encourages academic cheating. 

Conclusion

In the pursuit of education and success, students are entrusted with the responsibility to uphold academic ethical standards. These standards form the foundation of academic integrity, ensuring that learning is conducted in an honest and ethical manner. Adherence to these standards goes beyond a mere obligation—it's an investment in personal growth, intellectual development, and the credibility of one's educational journey. Cheating and plagiarism, the unauthorized use of others' work, undermines this integrity and tarnishes the very essence of education.

Works Cited

1. Anderson, J. (2010). Copyright, Fair Use, and the Challenge for Universities: Promoting the Progress of Higher Education. Journal of Law, Technology & Policy, 2010(2), 185-225.
2. Lakhan, S. E., & Khurana, M. K. (2008). The State of Education in Copyright and Intellectual Property. Education and Ethics in the 21st Century, 1(1), 67-76.
3. Saha, S. (2017). Copyright Act and the Rights of Authors in India. International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences, 7(3), 14-20.