Academic Integrity means earning your education honestly. It means respecting yourself enough to allow yourself to learn from your mistakes even when you don’t receive the grade you wanted. It means respecting your fellow students by protecting the value of the degree everyone is working towards. Degrees are only as valuable if they certify actual learning.
In practical terms Academic Integrity means always following instructions for doing your own work, giving credit to your sources by properly quoting and paraphrasing, and “playing by the rules” on assignments, tests, and quizzes. It also means not sharing answers or homework or letting others “cheat off of you.”
Some people think, “Cheaters only hurt themselves. Eventually, it will catch up to them.” But cheating hurts the whole Lakeland community.
When you see the doctor, you trust that they know what they’re doing because they have a degree from a medical school. You wouldn’t want to go to doctors who had cheated their way through school! If you knew that your doctor went to a school that had a reputation for cheating, you would probably find another doctor.
In the same way, your Lakeland diploma or transcript says, “You can trust that this former Lakeland student has earned these grades honestly.” Cheaters damage that trust for ALL Lakeland students: former, current, and future. Lakeland places great importance on Academic Integrity in order to preserve the value of your education.
Many of the ways students cheat are obvious: using “crib notes” during a closed-book exam, sharing answers during a test, copying homework, making up lab data, or having someone else write a paper. But some other things are also considered cheating. Improperly quoting, paraphrasing or citing sources is probably the most common violation. Some students do projects together despite instructions to work alone. There are also other forms of academic misconduct, such as removing reference material so other students can’t use it or damaging someone else’s work. Technology has enabled new ways of cheating, such as taking pictures of exams with cell phones. These are only a few examples of academic misconduct. No matter what form academic dishonesty takes, it is a serious violation of Lakeland’s Academic Misconduct Policy.
Most students who admit to cheating or plagiarism say that they didn’t have the time to study or do the homework. Others say, “Everyone else does it” or “I didn’t know it was wrong” or “I didn’t do it intentionally”. And believe it or not, some students actually don’t think cheating is wrong. However, employers don’t think like that. They want honest employees. In the real world, cheating usually gets you fired. Further, employers want educated employees who can do the work and do it well. Achieving a degree may help you get a job, but it won’t help you keep it.
QI saw someone cheating or plagiarizing. How do I report it?
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Any member of Lakeland Community College can report suspected violations of Lakeland’s Academic Misconduct Policy.
Students: Log onto myLakeland. Go to the Student tab. Look for the link to the Academic Misconduct Form in the College Forms channel.
Faculty and Staff: Log onto myLakeland, go to the Employee or Faculty tabs, and look for the link to the Academic Misconduct Form in the College Forms channel.
You will fill out a form and give it to the Student Development Office. If the accused student requests a hearing, you will be asked to tell the hearing panel what you saw.
QI’ve been accused of cheating or plagiarizing - What do I do?
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You’ll have a conversation with your instructor and perhaps the Dean of Students. You can request a hearing if you feel the accusation is false. For details, log onto myLakeland and look in the College Forms channel for links to the Student Conduct Code and the Academic Misconduct Policy and Procedure that describe the hearing and appeals process.
Lakeland’s Academic Misconduct Policy and Procedure are part of the Student Conduct Code. They are printed in the Student Handbook and available online.
