Academic Integrity Pledge

            Academic integrity is something that all students should have.  It is the foundation for a successful college career and ultimately a career after college.  It is similar to an honor code.  Students who have academic integrity uphold this code of honesty in their schoolwork.  When a person has academic integrity, they don’t cheat or plagiarize and when they use other people’s work, they give him or her credit for it.

            Cheating is taken very seriously at most schools, especially Clemson.  When a person cheats, he or she does their work in a dishonest way such as using a peer’s work or letting a peer use their work.  Both people involved are compromising their academic integrity and are only hurting themselves.  Plagiarism is a common problem when it comes to academics because a lot of papers, essays, and projects require research to write about the topic.  Some people find resources to use in their assignments, but do not cite them and this is a violation of academic integrity.

Academic integrity is very important because, without most people having it, the school system would become corrupt.  The value of a college degree would greatly decrease and the students who actually had academic integrity will be among the people who don’t have it.  People will realize that they can cheat and get by without doing much work.  When you take away the incentive of success through hard work, people will stop wanting to work hard. 

I will do a lot to make sure that I have academic integrity.  I will make sure everything is my own work, thoughts and opinions and, if I use someone else’s work, I will make sure to give credit to them.  I will not use any of my peers’ work and I won’t let anyone use mine.  I know the importance of academic integrity and will uphold it in every assignment I do.