The cases of scholastic dishonesty are a significant violation of norms of students’ conduct. They include incidents of plagiarism, cheating, and falsifying facts and papers. Analyzing these situations plays an essential role in the student’s ability to understand their behavior and the reasons for transcending their integrity. My experience of cheating and plagiarizing during the assignment helped me comprehend that dishonesty was a weakness that the students should avoid because it harmed learners.
My decision-making process was based on the idea that cheating might be a possible option. The experience of the other students and the advantages of cheating contributed to my ultimate decision to cheat. In particular, I used the rumors about the experience of some other students that benefitted from plagiarism to direct my reasoning and help me choose between the options. At the same time, I considered the choices of presenting a weak paper or writing a strong essay and analyzed the consequences of these two solutions to realize that I might benefit from plagiarism. I considered such effects as having low grades and being detected for violating the rules and considered that plagiarism was challenging to identify. Since low grades might result in my failure to complete the course successfully, I assumed that I should put all my effort into receiving more points. As a result of my choice of plagiarizing some of the elements of the paper, I had to rewrite the essay entirely and still had lower grades. This situation demonstrated that the option I chose influenced my academic performance.
In those circumstances, my behavior was the primary factor that determined the results that I received. My decision to plagiarize some parts of the paper and my subsequent search for the other students’ ideas without necessary references led to the problems that I have to face now. My cheating on the assignment influenced the person whose ideas I used while writing my paper. Since I used the concepts and thoughts of another student, that person had to experience a detailed examination by the professors. Notably, the teachers had to determine who violated the regulations and which paper included copied ideas. These circumstances made that person anxious and irritated. Moreover, this situation might have influenced that individual’s reputation and put his honesty under question. Consequently, that learner might have suffered from unjust treatment and experienced physical stress associated with this feeling.
My experience of participating in the student conduct process taught me to avoid cheating and other cases of academic dishonesty. The psychological, temporal, and academic factors defined my decision to avoid cheating in the future. First, I experienced psychological pressure because I was stressed and nervous when I received the letter about the student conduct case. Indeed, the process was also stressful because it concerned the discussion of the situation that was shameful and criticized by all the academic members. Second, I had to spend many hours considering and analyzing this case and participating in the process. All this time, I could have spent improving my learning skills, acquiring new knowledge, and facilitating my academic performance. Finally, this incident affected my academic reputation and my grades. Since many professors were among the committee members, their knowledge of my violation of the code of conduct might have influenced their opinion about me. At the same time, I received no marks for my work and had to rewrite the paper, which was graded lower than the other students’ papers.
If I could have the chance to alter the situation, I would rather avoid cheating. I consider that all procedures that I had to experience proved that I made a mistake when I chose to cheat. Mainly, I spent much more time analyzing the case, communicating with the committee members, suffering from the feeling of repentance, and rewriting the assignment, than I could have spent on writing the essay. Consequently, if I had the chance to encounter a similar scenario, I would act differently. Mainly, I would choose to spend more time on my research and analysis to make my paper contain original thoughts and opinions. Accordingly, I will act differently in the future as well. I will value the professors’ assignments realizing their role in our development as academic researchers. I will regard all the tasks responsibly and follow all the professor’s instructions to guarantee that they contribute to my knowledge and skills.
Although people cannot change the past, they can still fix the negative influences of their actions. I have already apologized to the student that had become the victim of my actions. I consider that this step positively influenced that person because when the problem remained open and unresolved, the people involved in the case felt unease and disturbance. Also, I rewrote the assignment, and the successful completion of the paper demonstrated that I could produce original ideas and solutions without the help of others. Consequently, I comprehended that in completing the assignment, the decision of the student to do all the necessary research without copying someone else’s thoughts played an essential role in a positive outcome. These steps helped me fix the negative impact of my violation and enhance my self-confidence, which might benefit me in future academic performance.
Integrity is the significant quality of people that facilitates their productive communication and mutual confidence. Orlitzky and Monga (2017) define integrity as the quality of humans that demonstrates their honesty and commitment to personal values and principles. I understand integrity as a significant factor in the improvement of relationships between people. For instance, I can rely on my friends when they ensure that they can help me when I have some health issues. Also, I can believe my group mates when they inform me about some changes that happen during my absence. Besides, we can trust the administration of the educational institution in their organization of the study process that corresponds to the requirements. At the same time, my friends rely on my integrity when they tell me their secrets. Moreover, my group mates can trust that I will help them when they need my assistance with their research. Finally, the professors can believe that my integrity will prevent me from cheating. In all these cases, we rely on the honesty of people because we believe that principles and values support their words.
Thus, the incident of cheating and plagiarizing taught me that students should avoid this behavior because it might impede their academic performance, good reputation, and psychological well-being. During the analysis of the situation, I comprehended that my reasoning was erroneous and negatively influenced my educational achievements. Moreover, this case affected other people, including the person whose work I copied and the teachers who knew about my dishonest act. Having assessed my experience during the student conduct process, I concluded that I would consistently demonstrate integrity in my actions to guarantee that people could rely on me.
Reference
Orlitzky, M., & Monga, M. (2017). The multiple facets of integrity in business and management. Integrity in business and management, 1-10.