LibAnswers

What is Academic Integrity? 

Academic integrity is the idea that all members of an academic community, including students, instructors, and administration, behave with fairness, trust, honesty, responsibility, and respect. 

Academic Integrity 

At UMass, academic integrity is one of the core values that ensures the academic reputation of the institution and all conferred degrees. As a student, this means that all assignments you submit are your own work, free from any form of cheating, plagiarism, or generative AI. 

As a student, you will use your own learning in conjunction with scholarly resources in order to: 

• Demonstrate your mastery of a subject
• Communicate with fellow scholars
• Debate an issue
• Posit a theory
• Make an informed argument
• Test a hypothesis
• Create new ideas

Creating your own work not only ensures that you are learning from your course but also, it makes sure you do not suffer any negative consequences from an academic integrity policy violation.  

Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is the process of presenting the work or ideas of another person as your own without providing the appropriate citation. There are two ways to avoid plagiarism: paraphrasing and citing your sources. To paraphrase, you will reword and rewrite information you found from a scholarly source in your own words. You never want to use information word-for-word unless you are purposely creating a direct quotation.

Once you paraphrase your information, you will create an in-text citation to indicate where you found that information. Creating in-text citations ensures that you are responsibly and respectfully attributing your information to the original source. 

Generative AI

Generative AI, also known as GenAI uses machine learning to create "new" content. Specifically, Language Learning Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, can produce answers based upon a simple question or prompt. LLMs learn from information already stored online, such as books, websites, and social media posts. While they can produce results that sound human and look accurate, it is important to keep in mind that the technology cannot guarantee the information it provides is or is not correct. 

To avoid an academic integrity violation when using GenAI, remember that you can use it to assist with tasks such as brainstorming or explaining a topic. However, you cannot copy/paste answers from a GenAI program directly into an assignment. 

Resources

Academic Integrity and Anti-Plagiarism Tutorial: UMass Global 

Best Practices to Avoid Plagiarism: OWL at Purdue

MLA In-Text Citations: OWL at Purdue

Student Support

For help with your research questions, reach out to the library at askalibrarian@umassglobal.libanswers.com

For help with writing or to answer any tutoring questions, reach out to the Online Writing and Math Center