How UO Students Think About and Plan for Academic Integrity

How UO Students Think About and Plan for Academic Integrity

Teaching and Learning Topics

All incoming first year and transfer students going through the IntroDUCKtion Student Orientation now complete a Canvas module called Ducks Have Academic Integrity. We asked students completing the module in fall 2021 if they would give us permission to share some of their responses to two questions:

  1. What does academic integrity means to you, or why does academic integrity matters to you?
  2. What campus resources will support you in acting for academic integrity at UO, especially when you are facing increased stress?

This page features a brief summary of responses to these two questions (also summarized on the main "Academic Integrity" page) and then several dozen of the thousands of thoughtful responses students submitted and gave permission to share beyond the module. The goal of sharing their responses is to continue to build a culture of academic integrity on campus, and knowing what students already believe and practice is a part of this. UO community members who are interested in seeing more responses can find an even larger sample of them in this Padlet.

Click below for themes we saw across student responses to questions about:

What academic integrity means to students, and why it matters to them
  1. Academic integrity is central to actually learning, and since they came to UO to learn, they were going to practice integrity.
  2. Academic integrity is a moral issue for many of them, and that it was important to them because it aligned with things like honesty, responsibility, fairness, or being worthy of trust (trust from peers and instructors). 
  3. Academic integrity is a component of self-respect and self-confidence.
  4. They wanted others to respect their work and cite them, and wanted to do the same for their peers (a number of students noted experiences they did not want to repeat where peers had used their work without permission in the past)
  5. They cared about and wanted to support accurate and reliable knowledge creation (since we build on and use each others' scholarship)
  6. Academic integrity felt essential for future success in their career
  7. Academic integrity could be an act of care for their classmates and the communities they want to work in
  8. They felt academic integrity was an issue of justice, particularly because of patterns of exclusion of or non-attribution of scholars who are Black, Indigenous, POC, LGBTQIA+ and women
What campus resources would support their academic integrity, particularly when under stress
  1. The majority of students say they will contact their instructor with academic integrity questions or supports, and a significant percent of them say the instructor is the resource they would be most likely to ask, particularly during office hours
  2. About half of students named the Tutoring Academic Engagement Center as a campus resource they would access
  3. About 1/4 of students said they would seek support through Counseling Services (to decrease potential stress and anxiety while focused on academic work), and the same number identified the library and librarians as a supportive place and supportive experts to turn to
  4. Nearly 1/6 of students named their advisors as resources they would turn to
  5. Many students identified behaviors (like working out, talking with family or friends, finding a quiet place to study, or being careful to not overextend themselves) that would help them to work with integrity
  6. Many students expressed concern about their own increased anxiety levels or what they saw as vulnerabilities or knowledge gaps 

 

Related Topics: Learning Assessment
Teaching Pillars:

Student voices: What academic integrity means, and why it matters

Academic integrity allows us to build on the discoveries, thoughts, and ideas of those before us while still acknowledging and respecting their contribution and work. Every discovery is built off of past knowledge that someone else has shared and this allows us to honor their hard work.

Cheating in school is cheating myself out of learning, and others of success. I'm spending valuable money and time here at the U of O, and I refuse to waste it by circumventing the opportunity to learn. I got here by taking pride in my work, and failing or passing on my own merit.

Academic integrity matters to me because it is a way to assess ones progress. If assignments or essays are plagiarized or modeled after someone else's work, it makes it difficult for someone to truly learn material.

I like the idea of academic integrity being a form of self respect. You take what you've learned and from your own ideas based on that, with your best effort. Pure hard and honest work.

As a woman, I understand how work and findings from people like me have been uncredited and left out. I'm happy to live in a time where that happens less frequently. 

Academic integrity is a way for me to show my professors my enthusiasm to learn honestly, in hopes they will reciprocate with enthusiastic teaching.

Academic integrity matters to me because I want to feel proud of the work I've done. I don't take my education for granted; I even wear a family ring passed down from the women in my family to symbolize the gift of having education. I would be doing a disservice to myself, my family, and my future work community if I weren't to be following academic integrity.

Academic integrity ensures that the work you will do outside of university will be meaningful and not detrimental. If a future doctor were to cheat their way through school, that could lead to death in patients.  Without academic integrity, a degree means nothing, and inexperience could lead to faulty work.

Academic Integrity has developed a deeper meaning to me throughout these past couple years, especially since school was mainly online. Although all I wanted to do was look to my peers for answers, I realized my education and what I learn means more to me than getting all of the answers correct. 

Academic integrity matters a lot to me especially because I know what it feels like to have my work taken from me. All throughout middle and high school it became clear to my peers that I was the kind of person who was happy to lend a hand on a difficult assignment, and that quickly got taken advantage of. Rather than being able to simply assist, often times my work was copied, tweaked, and submitted under another student's name. It was always very disappointing.

Academic integrity means a lot to me because I worry sometimes that maybe I'm not as smart as people think I am on paper. So when I feel stressed and overwhelmed with school, I feel so much more confident in my intellectual ventures when I grind and get it done rather than taking the easy way out.

I really liked what one of my fellow students said about how academic integrity helps assure them that they truly earned their degree. I would like the feel like I earned my degree honestly. Another reason academic integrity is important to me is because I want to be sure that I actually know what's going on in my classes so that I'm more likely to succeed in the workplace.

To me it means acknowledging the time and work that someone else has put into something. Academic integrity matters to me because it creates a safe place to share research or work without the fear of it being stolen or claimed as someone else's. Overall, this feeling of protection would advance the academic community because more people will be willing to share their work, which, in turn, allows more people to learn from it.

To me the term Academic Integrity is made up of many different values. It has been instilled within us since we were children, right from wrong. It is respect, responsibility, honesty, a drive to learn and self succeed. You have the chance to become a master and explore something you are genuinely interested in, why take the shortcut to success?

Academic Integrity is the collective and mutual respect we have for each other's work and the effort put into it and without it, education would not move forward. Simply, stealing someone's work not only means you are disrespecting yourself by getting false credit but disrespecting the individual who has put blood, sweat, and tears on that specific project.

Academic integrity is correctly citing your sources, as well as continuously being a trustworthy student. Trust is easily lost and hard to obtain, so being careful and making choices that preserve your integrity and trust is vital to success.

Academic integrity is meaningful to me because it strengthens the community. It represents honesty and trust, and it shows that we value one another.

To me, academic integrity directly expresses the self-respect of a person.

Academic integrity to me is being my true self and impowering myself to be honest and brave when working towards my academics. If I were to cheat, lie, and not be my full self I would be depriving myself the opportunity to learn and take chances. Why this matters to me is because I am putting so much time already, so much money already into this, why risk it and degrade yourself in the process.

When people come to college they come to learn, to challenge themselves, and grow. Academic integrity reassures that you're learning what you're studying, going against that goes against all the purpose to being attending class lectures and doing homework assignments. Without academic integrity, you don't learn, you're cheating. Like being the best player in a videogame with hacks, you can get used to those hacks, and when you encounter a situation where you can't use those hacks, you're no better than a rookie.

Honesty and trust are necessary for a healthy society to function, and academic dishonesty undermines those qualities. But even setting aside the far-reaching ethical concerns, the purpose of attending school is to grow my understanding of the world, and I cannot accurately assess my own growth or correctly calibrate my learning methods without maintaining academic integrity. 

As an Asian American women in STEM, I am very grateful to be able to go to school. I believe academic integrity is important because you are not only honoring yourself (and your hard work), but you are considering the hard work of others and those who may not be as fortunate as you. Additionally, I strongly believe that you should always give credit to original creators. In history, there are hundreds of scientists who have taken credit for others work. For example, Rosalind Franklin, the female scientist who practically found the structure of DNA and worked on a variety of viruses did not receive credit for her contributions. Instead, those around her (who based their work on her research) received awards and recognitions.

To me, academic integrity means showing up, and not being afraid to fail. By cheating and using other people's work, you aren't taking risks, and are staying in your comfort zone. To succeed academically, one must not be afraid of a challenge and be comfortable in your own work.

Academic integrity means for me to have respect for others and myself. Respect creates trust for your peers and community. I feel as though if academic integrity is broken I would not be satisfied with my degree. I would feel ungrateful for the support and scholarships that I have received.

To me, academic integrity means taking responsibility for your own learning and really making the most out of your academic experience. The only way to truly learn something is to go through the motions, and by shortcutting (not having academic integrity), you are taking away that opportunity for yourself. Academic integrity allows you to have more confidence, better relationships with professors, and more job prospects.

Academic integrity is important to me because it allows peoples ideas to grow rather than be repeated. It allows peoples original ideas to be protected and allows new people to develop on their ideas.

As the child of a teacher, academic integrity has always been engraved in my mind. It is important because it helps ensure that you are truly getting educated and that you are getting set up for genuine success.

Academic integrity is doing your own work and when referencing other authors you cite them. I find it very important to uplift the voices around me. Their information and inspiration is fuel to a flame but the fire needs to be your own.

Sharing our own experiences is vital to growing our understanding of the world around us, and it requires us to be honest about where our influences come from, respecting the contributions of those before us that helped us get to where we want to. It also helps those who see your work understand better how you developed your ideas, giving transparency to your process.

Academic integrity to me means finishing what I started to the best of my ability. I think overcoming adversity and sticking to my decisions will be what makes me a successful student this year. In high school I often doubted if my work was good enough, but I was just critiquing myself too hard, and understanding that I did what I could to the best of my ability will be helpful.

Academic integrity is very important to me as a pre-medical student because ensuring that I complete my own work on time with the proper citations always increases my learning capacity. This will in turn allow me in the future to correctly recall information because I did my own work and did not try to cheat my way out of learning something.

To me, academic integrity goes beyond citing work, although that is very important and should always be done. Academic integrity is honoring the voices of those that inspire your work and being open and flexible to the new voices that challenge your work.

Academic integrity matters to me because improper practices can cause damage to other individuals. It can lead to misrepresentation. It can lead to the truth getting lost in the mess of things. If one is not honest, credible, accurate, and many other things with their work, then their work is meaningless. Having academic integrity matters.

It means having pride in your work and caring about your work and yourself.

Student voices: Resources I can access to support me and my academic integrity

Given that my major is very STEM driven and my classes for this term are chemistry and math, I will definitely find myself going to tutors. Having a tutor will help me understand the content so that I can continue on in a given course confidently without questioning whether I am right or not on a question. Academic integrity is very important, especially in STEM where practice literally makes perfect.

When I am feeling emotionally stressed, I am going to start by finding many blocks for study time. I will study in the library, cafes, outside, and in my dorm. If I am having trouble understanding the course I will go talk to my instructor and plan tutoring sessions at the center. If I am feeling like my stress is emotionally decaying I will go talk to the counseling services and figure out a future plan

I think that the drop in tutoring at Knight library will be a big help for me. I struggle with getting the motivation to write big papers and having someone there to help with structure and editing will help encourage me.

Going to the library and asking the librarians for help with research when I feel overwhelmed, and especially when I'm not sure where to start, is something that I think will really help me.

I think the free tutoring and academic advising sessions will be massively helpful in ensuring my honest academic success. It can be tempting to cheat or be dishonest when you are feeling stressed or unprepared, however I think the resources available will be instrumental in achieving academic success from the get go, so one never feels as though they are in a position where they have to make the decision to cheat.

I think the tutoring services will be a very supportive resource in acting for academic integrity at UO. In high school I relied heavily on the tutoring program for more assistance on courses and assignment that proved to be a challenge for me. I know the tutoring services will give me the boost and support I may need under stress to get things done, and do it the correct way.

My professors! They are always there to help and support me, and I must utilize them and their knowledge. I will also check out the librarians for help, as I didn't know they could aid me in my academic journey.

I plan to join study groups and seek help from my instructors when I can. I struggle most with procrastination, so doing my work when it's given to me will best allow me not to slip into a negative mindset.

I honestly believe that the student rec will help support me in acting for academic integrity at UO because it will help keep me relaxed and if I am relaxed it will be easier for me to do my school work and stay on top of everything.

The Health Center; if I can calm my brain down and relax, I'll have a clearer head.

I think a big thing that will help me will be communicating with my teachers. Being able to clarify with them and ask for help will be vital to my success when I am struggling.

Personally, a lot of stress and anxious feelings derive from my workload and what I am putting on my plate. So for me, some of the most important campus resources will be my advisors and tutoring. Through tutoring, I will be able to further understand the topics I am studying, which will, in turn make my homework load a bit easier. My advisors will help me understand what I will be able to accomplish in a given term and what could be too much.

I believe that I will find the most support/help from the A.E.C. As someone who is looking into the possibility of having ADHD/OCD, I know that they have the resources and ability to point me in the right direction and make accommodations that would make me less stressed. When facing uncertainty about possible peer collaboration, citations, or general work, I'll be sure to ask my instructors directly, as I know each individual professor will have their own procedures and preferences.

My peers around me will form a strong web to keep me from losing my integrity, and I can use many of the faculty and spaces at UO like the libraries and counseling centers to help center myself. The outdoors and the greenery of the campus can also be a great resource in grounding myself in the world and splitting myself off from the stress around me.

I plan on looking through the UO Library's online resource to make sure I understand everything I need to know about citing sources. I'll also take advantage of the Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center to get help when there's a certain subject that I don't fully comprehend.

I plan to go directly to my professors first to ask them about their policies because finding out information directly from them makes me feel more confident than just assuming or asking friends.

As soon as I learned of it, I knew the Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center would most likely become my second home. I've always struggled with math, but have come to understand that I am more likely to thrive when I have a little extra help. I also think it's amazing that tutoring at the university is free.

I plan to communicate with my professors and ask for help when I need it. I need to remind myself that it's okay to ask for help.

I don't think I would ever cheat or plagiarize someone's work, but I can struggle with school and feel overwhelmed. I know if I ever need help at UO, I can go directly to my professors and ask for guidance and clarification on assignments. If I begin to fall behind in classes.

Personally, I will use the tutoring and organization services. I never had access to anything like that in high school, so whenever I need extra help I will use those, without feeling embarrassed, for the people are there to help me learn and grow with no judgment.

My plan is to get a tutor and join the study groups at the EMU. The EMU also has a relaxation center that I plan on using to reground myself, so I can regain my focus. I plan to utilize my professor's office hours and meet other students in my classes who might be struggling with the same questions.

I feel like the Accessible Education Center will help me a lot because I can already use all of the tools they're giving me (note taking service etc) to feel confident in my own ability to complete my work. I also feel like the tutoring center will help in that same regard, by giving me all the help I'm able to receive to help me do my own work. I can also talk to my Professors about any questions I have about what I'm able to do when it comes to outside help with assignments.

I tend to very easily get down on myself and drain my confidence in my academics, especially during a topic in class that I previously didn't to well at or don't understand. I think taking advantage of the services provided by the UO library, counseling department, and tutoring opportunities, I'll be able to keep up my academic integrity in the way I want to, in order to be successful.

The AEC, CMAE, and the Non-Traditional students Union will help me with academic integrity during stressful periods.