Discussing the importance of academic integrity.

r​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​eply to classmate Kenneth cook discussion answer It's interesting that we are starting off our coursework with discussing the importance of academic integrity. Academic misconduct can be an easy road to take when attempting to tackle a graduate level degree in this day in age, as many degree programs are offered online, and information is so readily available at our fingertips. Maintaining academic integrity is vital to the success of each student as they navigate their way through each course. In my experience, the more organic you can construct your writings, the more you can legitimately take away from your classes. By finding your own style, and learning how to paraphrase successfully, you will find that learning and retaining the information that you are researching becomes much more beneficial. I was lucky enough to be enrolled with Trident University several years ago when striving towards my first Master's Degree when Turnitin was implemented within the university. It was new to me at the time, and I didn't quite understand the concept. I was presented with Turnitin scores that were undesirable, and I had to figure out what was causing me to achieve such high(poor) Turnitin scores. After just a couple of modules, I realized that a lot of my downfall was simply copy and pasting the assignment instructions as headings for my papers. Additionally, I realized that utilizing writings from sources I was researchin​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​g were driving my Turnitin scores through the roof! It forced me to tap into my thought process and generate writings that were true to me, and not just poorly paraphrasing from sources that I was accessing. The philosophies that relate to academic integrity include everyday core values that distinguish the difference between right and wrong. In the Air Force we used the core values; Integrity First, Service before Self, and excellence in all we do. These three core values relate directly to graduate level writing in that it is most important that we maintain integrity within our writings to ensure that we obtain the most out of our curriculum by ensuring that we are stimulating our own thoughts and opinions, and not those of others. I do not feel that utilizing software to detect plagiarism is unethical, as it is simply a tool that assist us in ensuring that our work is not plagiarized, yet original and authentic. I find that the Turnitin score is actually a great tool in ensuring success. The similarity score generated by Turnitin provides students a snapshot of what can be improved on and mastered in the future. Plagarism not only negatively effects the writer, but also tarnishes the reputation of the original author. (Outreach, 2018) It's unfortunate that so many degrade the quality of their writing by simply utilizing inappropriate paraphrasing or copy and pasting too many main points throughout their work​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​.