Well this question is very much exclusive to the school, college or university you attend. Many places of education have a code of integrity setting out what they expect from students that attend their organization. The wording of the integrity code usually goes something along the lines of setting out the agreement between the institution and the pupil, what the institution can expect from the pupil, in terms of respect and behavior and a number of rules and regulations which both the college and its pupils are expected to adhere to.
In terms of what it means to you the answer is probably not very much but it is worth remembering that the code is there to protect you as much as it is there to protect the college. If you feel you have been let down in any way you can refer to this code of integrity as it is a form of contract. Likewise if an educational body feels a student has broken the code they may bring this up when deciding what punishment to take, rather like an employer in a case of breach of contract. If the code which applies to you has seven forms of dishonesty regarding academic achievement there is a good chance that one of those is plagiarism. Plagiarism is seen as one of the most serious offences within academic institutions and many a student has been thrown off a course or been marked down for copying someone else’s work, either a fellow student or from work which is on the Internet. Schools and colleges see this as nothing more than cheating and it is often looked upon as defying the learning process, it is also seen as an insult to teachers so definitely one of the most serious examples of dishonesty.
In terms of what it means to you the answer is probably not very much but it is worth remembering that the code is there to protect you as much as it is there to protect the college. If you feel you have been let down in any way you can refer to this code of integrity as it is a form of contract. Likewise if an educational body feels a student has broken the code they may bring this up when deciding what punishment to take, rather like an employer in a case of breach of contract. If the code which applies to you has seven forms of dishonesty regarding academic achievement there is a good chance that one of those is plagiarism. Plagiarism is seen as one of the most serious offences within academic institutions and many a student has been thrown off a course or been marked down for copying someone else’s work, either a fellow student or from work which is on the Internet. Schools and colleges see this as nothing more than cheating and it is often looked upon as defying the learning process, it is also seen as an insult to teachers so definitely one of the most serious examples of dishonesty.