Participation 3

Learning Goal: I’m working on a writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Integration of Faith & Learning 7: Academic Integrity and Originality

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17 (ESV)

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. Proverbs 19:1 (ESV)

James and the writer of Proverbs both imply one of the central tenets of the Christian worldview: there exist right and wrong, and we can know them for certain. Nonetheless, many of us take liberties with “truth” in life, but how much easier it is to take a shortcut when we’re not faced with our “authority” on a regular basis? Consider, for example, acts of cheating and plagiarism. At what point does a “shortcut” become cheating or plagiarism at the doctoral level? Explain.