1.1 Academic Integrity: An Introduction

What is academic integrity? In general terms, this phrase describes the act of making ethical choices in your intellectual work. As Dr. Parnaby describes in the video below, you can break down the terms this way:

Academic = intellectual work

Integrity = acting in an honest and truthful manner and taking responsibility for the choices you make

All members of the Cape Breton University community are responsible for understanding and upholding the highest standards of academic integrity. We demonstrate academic integrity by conducting our work with careful attention to the ethics of our courses, programs, disciplines, and higher education as a whole. Academic integrity matters because it is the basis of academic work. Pursuing your studies with integrity ensures that your degree has meaning — in other words, that it accurately reflects your skills, knowledge, and abilities.

In this video, Dr. Andy Parnaby, Dean of the School of Arts and Social Sciences, elaborates on what academic integrity is and why it matters.