Personal Code of Ethics

Ethics is defined as "moral rules or principles of behavior for deciding what is right and wrong" (Longman Dictionary of American English, p. 303). People have built their code of ethics based on their beliefs of what is right or wrong. People's ethics can be the ethics in their personal lives, academic environment, workplace, or their combination. As a student at University of Phoenix, I believe that my academic achievement will greatly depend on how well I define and follow my personal code of ethics in this academic environment. My personal code of ethics at University of Phoenix is the combination of the code of ethics that I have built through my personal lives and that I have learned from the Student Code of Academic Integrity. My personal code of ethics consists of integrity, respect, and responsibility.

Integrity is "the quality of being honest and having high moral principles" (Longman Dictionary of American English, p. 482). It plays an important role in the academic environment especially in the online studying. Integrity is an ethic that people have learned since they were elementary students. They have to be honest with the teacher, with their classmates, and people who they work with. They have always to tell the truth both inside and outside classrooms. They have to do their exams and assignments by their own. I have been practicing these basic ethical principles through my whole school life, which helps me to step-by-step achieve my goals successfully and to get respect from my teachers and classmates. Nowadays, online studying becomes an efficient way for people to achieve their academic goals. However, when students submit their assignments and exams online in this special academic environment, the dishonesty and plagiarism can happen more often than in regular