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Abstract
Academic dishonesty undermines the integrity of a course, the veracity of an academic program, and the credibility of the degree. Instructors in higher education are concerned about the increasing number of student violations of academic integrity policies and often blame technological advances that make cheating easier, such as group messaging applications, online sharing sites, and the simple use of cut and paste. To help instructors understand viable precautions to prevent students from cheating, this article outlines why students cheat and how they rationalize their dishonest behavior. While society in general views cheating as a deviant behavior that violates the norms of integrity and honesty, students often perceive cheating as a normal behavior that they rationalize based on convenience. The purpose of this study was to survey university students about their perceptions of their university 's academic integrity policies and cheating. Deviance literature is employed to explain concepts associated with the culture of academic dishonesty.
Keywords: academic dishonesty, academic integrity, cheating, plagiarism, deviance
I.INTRODUCTION
In a learning environment where students cheat, inequity exists not only to those who don't cheat, but to those who cheat and may receive credit for knowledge of the course material (Park, 2004). By the time students graduate from college, it is highly likely that they have cheated more than once during their academic career. Although academic dishonesty is socially considered to be a deviant and unethical behavior, it seems that the earlier it is learned, the more normally deviant it becomes to students. Teenagers often "feel willing to leave their ethics and morals behind and artificially boost their grades to cheat their way towards a better future" (Sperling, 2009). Dishonest behaviors are common among teenagers, despite their claim that they are "satisfied with their morals and ethics" (Sperling, 2009). Cheating undermines both the integrity of the student's skills and the course in which cheating occurs. Regardless of whether universities have academic integrity policies, cheating still happens. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, students' perceptions of a university's academic integrity code were investigated. Second, students' thoughts about their own cheating behaviors as well as that of others were examined. A qualitative analysis of open-ended questions provides context to the statistical analysis.
II.REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Studies report that some...