When it comes to cheating in academia, academic dishonesty is simply another term for “cheating.” A student, professor, or even a higher-education administrator can be academically dishonest in a variety of ways. Exam cheating and plagiarism are two of the most common forms of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty can take many forms. Smuggling a cheat sheet into a test room or stealing answers from another student’s test are two examples of the former, while copying sections of someone else’s work into a paper or report is an example of the latter.
Academic dishonesty also includes fabrication and deception. Fabrication is the act of falsifying or changing data for the sake of an academic assignment. On the other hand, deception is the act of lying or bending the truth in order to gain special treatment. For example, pretending to be ill in order to get a deadline extension is a form of deception.
Sabotage and bribery are two other types of academic dishonesty. It would be considered sabotage if one student, for example, illegally removed all of the relevant reference materials needed another student or group of students from the library. This can be done to prevent other students from finishing or succeeding in their attempts to complete an assignment, and it can also be done when a project is graded on a curve. Bribery is when a student pays someone else to complete an assignment for them.
When it comes to academic dishonesty, most institutions are very strict. Some organizations have a zero-tolerance policy. Most schools have an academic dishonesty code in place, which includes a list of possible consequences for anyone who engages in academic dishonesty. Academic suspension and credit loss are two possible outcomes. Expulsion and the loss of scholarships are two of the most serious consequences.
Some types of academic dishonesty are notoriously difficult to prove. For example, deception is difficult to prove unless a school requires students to submit doctor’s notes in order to receive illness extensions, which is not a common practice. Furthermore, if a paper is not checked for plagiarism and the professor or teacher’s assistant who is checking the work fails to notice that it is plagiarized, the student may never face consequences.