My name is Ariel Miller. I am a student at National American University. It is my unfortunate, yet appreciative, responsibility to submit this paper on Academic Dishonesty. The purpose of this paper resulted from utter irresponsibility on my part. In an effort to meet a required deadline, along with a lack of proper time management, I submitted an assignment that contained plagiarism. I must admit that this was never my intentions and the first time I have been faced with such a situation. However, in an effort to take total responsibility, I recognize that my waiting until the last minute to complete an assignment is the root cause of this situation. In the past decade, professors across the country have noticed an alarming new trend—academic dishonesty is on the rise. More than half of college students surveyed admit to at least one instance of serious cheating in the past year (McCabe and Pavela). Information is incredibly easy to access on the Internet, and devices such as iPhones put that power, literally, into the palms of students’ hands. Many students entering universities today face extraordinary amounts of pressure for results academically, leading them to believe that cheating is necessary to succeed. This mentality is further cemented by examples in mass media, from professional athletes to CEOs cheating in order to get ahead. To battle this trend, colleges across the country have implemented honor codes. These codes vary widely depending on the institution; some merely outline unacceptable academic behaviors, others have a “no toleration” clause, and a few even regulate students’ dress and other social behavior. Many people think of plagiarism as copying another’s work, or borrowing someone else’s original ideas. But terms like “copying” and “borrowing” can disguise the seriousness of the offense. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It